QUEENS, N.Y. - The Rutgers baseball team dropped a 10-7 decision to St. John's Saturday afternoon at Jack Kaiser Stadium. The Scarlet Knights fell to 12-12 overall and 3-2 in the BIG EAST, while the Red Storm improved to 12-10 overall and 3-2 in league play.

Rutgers jumped on top 1-0 with a run in the second when the hot-hitting Tom Edwards (Caldwell, N.J.) singled to right field to lead off the frame and scored one play later on a double to right field off the bat of Jon Gossard (Harrington Park, N.J.).

St. John's, however, strung together four hits, including a double to score three runs in the bottom of the second to take a 3-1 edge.

Junior Todd Frazier (Toms River, N.J.) tripled to center field in the second and scored on a Mike Bionde (Pompton Plains, N.J.) sacrifice fly on the next play to creep within a run.

Rutgers starter Steve Healing (Brick, N.J.) ran into trouble in the third, loading the bases with one out. But the Scarlet Knight senior got a big strikeout and was one out away from getting out of the inning unscathed. The Red Storm, however, sandwiched a pair of singles around an infield error to score four runs to chase Healing out of the game. SJU added another run off freshman reliever Kevin Lillis (Fair Haven, N.J.) before the RU hurler fielded a comebacker to get out of the inning. 

Down, 8-2, Rutgers rallied in the fourth. The Scarlet Knights loaded the bases with no outs on consecutive singles by Edwards, Gossard and Donny Callahan (Sparta, N.J.). Freshman Jarred Jimenez (Monroe, N.J.), making his first career start, hit into a double play but Edwards scored from third. RU then staged a two-out rally when Luis Feliz (New Brunswick, N.J.) lined a ball to left field for an RBI single and Frazier drilled a ball off the wall in right-center field for an RBI double to cut the St. John's lead to 8-5.

After a 1-2-3 fourth for Lillis, the Scarlet Knights scored another run in the fifth as Ryan Hill (Hillsdale, N.J.) greeted new pitcher Matt Tosoni with a double to right field and scored two plays later on an Edwards RBI single to make it 8-6.   

Ryan Mahoney gave the Red Storm some breathing room with a two-out, two-run home run in the sixth that gave SJU a 10-6 advantage. Two more hits in the inning ended Lillis' outing with Matt Patterson (Passaic, N.J.) finishing out the frame.

Rutgers threatened in the eighth with a man on third but could not bring him home. The Scarlet Knights pushed across a run in the ninth when Frazier (single) scored on a double by pinch hitter Dave Williams (Franklin, N.J.) to make it 10-7 but RU would get no closer.  

Edwards continued his hot hitting with his fifth-straight multi-hit game, finishing 3-for-4 from the plate on Saturday. Frazier and Hill also had three hits for the Scarlet Knights on Saturday.

Healing (3-3) took his first loss in three starts, striking out two, while allowing four earned runs (eight total) on 10 hits in 2.2 innings. Lillis struck out a pair in three innings of middle relief, while allowing his first career runs. Patterson pitched 2.2 innings of no-hit ball to finish it.    

Tosoni (3-3) worked five innings of relief, allowing two runs on six hits with five strikeouts to earn the win.

The Scarlet Knights and Red Storm will conclude their series on Sunday at 1:00 p.m. Freshman righty Casey Gaynor (Toms River, N.J.) will be on the mound for Rutgers against junior lefty George Brown for St. John's