PISCATAWAY, N.J. - All nine Rutgers starters collected a hit, led by senior Mike Bionde's (Pompton Plains, N.J.) 3-for-4 effort, as the Scarlet Knights cruised to a 6-1 victory over Lafayette Thursday afternoon at Bainton Field.
Rutgers (27-16) jumped on Lafayette (28-16) with two runs in the first. RU did all its damage to the right side of the field with Bionde leading things off with a single to right field and Ryan Hill (Hillsdale, N.J.) lining a ball through the hole between first and second for another hit. Lafayette starter Brian Cope then hit Dave Williams (Franklin, N.J.) to load the bases. Sophomore Tom Edwards (Caldwell, N.J.) made the Leopards pay with a two-run single to right field to score Bionde and Hill.
Sophomore Luis Feliz (New Brunswick, N.J.) drilled a ball to the gap in right-center field to leadoff the fifth to set up a third run. Three batters later, with the bases now loaded and Cope out of the contest, Williams got Feliz home with a groundout to second.
Lafayette got its only run of the game with a two-out rally in the sixth when James Conrad singled and scored on Chris Luick's triple on the next play to make it 3-1. Sophomore Jason Downey (Ballston Lake, N.Y.) relieved Sean Spicer (Pearl River, N.Y.). After Downey's first delivery, catcher Frank Meade (Linden, N.J.) picked off the runner at third to end the frame.
The Scarlet Knights offense gave the relievers some breathing room with two runs in the sixth to build a 5-1 advantage. Junior Jon Gossard (Harrington Park, N.J.) extended his hitting streak to 20 games with a leadoff single, was sacrificed over and scored on a Meade single to left field. Meade moved over to second on a Todd Frazier (Toms River, N.J.) single and came around to score when Bionde laced a ball down the left-field line for an RBI double.
Rutgers threatened for more in the seventh, loading the bases with two outs on a Williams double and a pair of walks by Meade and Edwards but newly-inserted Jason Morytko got pinch hitter Nick Stavrakis (Warren, N.J.) to fly out to end the inning.
In the eighth, Williams came up with runners on the corners, thanks to a pair of singles by Bionde and Hill. The senior slugger plated the Scarlet Knights' sixth and final run with a sharp shot between first and second that was fielded for the fielder's choice at second but allowed Bionde to score his second run of the contest.
Seeing his first action in more than a month due to injury, Spicer worked a solid 5.2 innings with two strikeouts, no walks and just one run on four hits to improve to 2-1. The senior hurler retired the first nine batters of the game. A trio of Scarlet Knight relievers in Downey, Kevin Lillis (Fair Haven, N.J.) and Matt Patterson (Passaic, N.J.) combined for 3.1 innings of shutout ball.
Cope was charged with the loss for Lafayette, falling to 4-2 with three runs on five hits and three strikeouts in 4.1 innings.
Frazier collected his 212th career hit to pass current Kansas City Royal starting centerfielder David DeJesus (1998-2000) and move into eighth place on the Rutgers career hits chart. Hill drew his 43rd walk of the season to move into third place on the school's single-season list.
Rutgers hosts Cincinnati in a three-game series this weekend at Bainton Field. The Scarlet Knights and Bearcats will open the series with a doubleheader on Saturday, beginning at noon.
