PISCATAWAY, N.J. - The Rutgers baseball team collected a season-high 19 hits and scored a season-high 21 runs in a 21-6 rout of Columbia Tuesday afternoon at Bainton Field which extended the Scarlet Knights' winning streak to six games.
A total of 23 Scarlet Knights appeared in Tuesday's contest, highlighted by the collegiate debuts of sophomore Julian Johnson (Pennsauken, N.J.) and freshmen Dan Malandruccolo (Mahwah, N.J.), Tim Reilly (Egg Harbor City, N.J.) and Kyle Bradley (Howell, N.J.). RU displayed a true team effort with no individual collecting more than two RBI in the game.
Rutgers (18-12) erased a 1-0 deficit with three runs in the second inning and never looked back en route to the 15-run victory over Columbia (10-19-1). RU followed a Columbia score in the third with three more runs to build a 6-2 advantage. Columbia pulled within three runs with a score in the top of the fourth but the Scarlet Knights ballooned their lead to 15-3 with a nine-run fifth inning.
In the fifth, junior Frank Meade (Linden, N.J.), who drew a leadoff walk, scored the first run of the frame. Junior Todd Frazier (Toms River, N.J.) hit an RBI triple to the gap in right-center field to plate another run. Senior Dave Williams (Franklin, N.J.) drove in the third run with a ground-rule double to center field. Sophomore Tom Edwards (Caldwell, N.J.) then followed with an RBI single to right field to chase Columbia's third pitcher of the game. Junior Jon Gossard (Harrington Park, N.J.) singled in a run and Meade, making his second appearance in the inning, followed with a bases-loaded single to plate sixth run. Sophomore Luis Feliz (New Brunswick, N.J.) then drilled a ball to deep center field, hitting off the center fielder's glove for an error and bringing home two runs. Frazier capped the scoring with a sacrifice fly to left field to drive in his second run of the frame.
Columbia plated a run in the sixth with but the Rutgers offense went back to work in the bottom half of the frame, scoring two more runs. Pinch hitter Dan Betteridge (Sewell, N.J.) found the gap in right-center field for his first career triple to score a run and pinch hitter Brett Garlick (Livingston, N.J.) singled to right field to score Betteridge and give Rutgers a 17-4 lead through six innings.
With the comfortable lead, starter Jon McCue (Hillside, N.J.), who improved to 3-0 with four strikeouts and no walks to go along with three earned runs on seven hits in six innings, handed the ball over to Tim Woodhull (West Windsor, N.J.) in the seventh. The Lions pushed across a pair of runs in the frame but RU got another run in the bottom half of the inning on an RBI double by Donny Callahan (Sparta, N.J.).
Senior O.J. DeChristofano (Pequannock, N.J.) made his first appearance in more than a year for the Scarlet Knights, working a 1-2-3 inning with a strikeout in the eighth for RU.
With Columbia's sixth pitcher in the game to start the eighth, Rutgers tacked on three additional runs to make it 21-6. Malandruccolo and Johnson were the run producers for the Scarlet Knights in their collegiate debuts with Malandruccolo hitting two-run double to left field and Johnson plating Malandruccolo later in the inning on an RBI single to right field.
In his collegiate debut, Bradley worked a quick ninth inning, while senior pitcher Chris Lillis (Fair Haven, N.J.) played third base for RU and Johnson made his debut in the field at left field. Bradley got a pop out to lead off the frame and, after giving up a triple, got the next batter to fly out to Callahan in right field where the junior showed off his arm, gunning out the Columbia runner attempting to score from third at home plate to end the game.
The Scarlet Knights wrapped up their five-game homestand a perfect 5-0. Rutgers returns to action tomorrow, traveling to Newark, Del. for a 3:00 p.m. game with Delaware.
