PISCATAWAY, N.J. - Rutgers rallied from an early deficit with four runs each in the fifth and sixth innings to tie it at 9-9, but St. John's plated a run in the seventh and two more in the ninth to earn a 12-9 victory over the Scarlet Knights in BIG EAST baseball action at Bainton Field Saturday afternoon.
With the win, the Red Storm (16-4, 3-0 BIG EAST) swept the series from the Scarlet Knights (5-12, 0-3 BIG EAST), marking the first time since the 2006 season (May 18-20 at Connecticut) RU was swept in a league series. It was the first time since the 2004 season (May 21-23 against Villanova) the Scarlet Knights were swept at home.
Down 6-0 in the third, Rutgers plated its first score when Tom Edwards (West Caldwell, N.J.) hit a bases-loaded sacrifice fly to left field.
RU then stormed back against the Red Storm with a four-run fifth inning to cut the St. John's lead to 6-5. The inning started with three-straight walks issued by reliever Nick Cenatiempo to Donny Callahan (Sparta, N.J.), Brett Garlick (Livingston, N.J.) and Dan Betteridge (Sewell, N.J.) to load the bases. Following a pitching change, Edwards drove in his second run of the day in similar fashion as his first RBI with a sacrifice fly to left. With two outs in the inning, RU collected three-straight run-producing singles from Jaren Matthews (Teaneck, N.J.), Jarred Jimenez (Monroe, N.J.) and Jayson Hernandez (Belmar, N.J.) to cut the SJU advantage to one.
St. John's used a pair of infield fielding errors to quell the Rutgers rally with a three-run sixth inning and build its lead to 9-5.
The Scarlet Knights set the stage for another big inning in the sixth, loading the bases on a Garlick single, and a pair of walks by Betteridge and Edwards. Then, cleanup hitter Jon Gossard (Harrington Park, N.J.) did just that with a line-drive single to left-center field that drove in two runs before a failed putout at second as Gossard attempted to advance on the throw home sent the ball back into the outfield and allowed a third run to score and Gossard to move all the way to third. A Matthews sacrifice fly to left later scored Gossard on a close play at the plate for the tying run.
With reliever Kevin Lillis (Fair Haven, N.J.) on the mound to start the seventh, the Scarlet Knights were victimized by another error as Paul Karmas reached base to leadoff the inning and scored the go-ahead run later in the frame on a Gil Zayas hard-hit grounder that snuck just inside the left-field foul line for a double to put St. John's back on top, 10-9.
The Red Storm added two insurance runs in the ninth off Scarlet Knight relievers Matt Patterson (Passaic, N,J.) and Jason Downey (Ballston Lake, N.Y.) to make it 12-9 and SJU reliever Colin Lynch held off Rutgers in the ninth to post his second save of the series.
Miguel Valcarcel (1-0) picked up the win for St. John's in 2.1 innings of relief work as the Red Storm used six pitchers in the contest. Lillis (2-1) suffered the loss with the one run in the seventh.
Rutgers continues its nine-game homestand with a Tuesday game against Rider at Bainton Field. First pitch is slated for 3:30 p.m.
