LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Louisville outdueled Rutgers to earn a 3-1 victory in game one and a 4-3 win in the nightcap to sweep Friday's BIG EAST baseball doubleheader in front of 1,398 fans at Jim Paterson Stadium, eliminating the Scarlet Knights from postseason competition.
Rutgers (22-29-1) needed to win at least two games against Louisville (37-18) to earn one of the final spots in next week's BIG EAST Tournament, but dropped both decisions on Friday, mathematically eliminating the Scarlet Knights. RU will close out its 2008 season against the Cardinals with a noon game on Saturday.
Rutgers starter Matt Giannini (Millington, N.J.), making his school-record 40th start, scattered seven hits over eight innings in a strong performance that was overshadowed by Louisville hurler Justin Marks in the first game of Friday's doubleheader. The Cardinal surrendered just two hits and one run with eight strikeouts to improve to 7-1. He retired 10 straight at one point, spanning the second to the fifth inning.
The Scarlet Knights thwarted an earlier scoring attempt from the Cardinals when Giannini induced a fly ball to right field with a man on third and one out in the third inning. Right fielder Michael Lang (Dumont, N.J.) registered the putout and gunned down the Cardinal base runner attempting to score at home plate for the final out of the inning.
Junior Vinnie Sangemino (Nutley, N.J.) broke up Marks' bid for a no-hitter in the sixth with a leadoff single to center field. A failed sacrifice attempt erased Sangemino as Vic Cegles (Phoenix. Ariz.) reached first on the bunt. The Scarlet Knights, however, benefited from a wild pitch to move Cegles into scoring position and the Scarlet Knight moved to third on a fly out to center field. Sophomore Dan Betteridge (Sewell, N.J.) then took Marks' first offering to center field for a line-drive single to score Cegles and give Rutgers a 1-0 lead.
Louisville broke through with a two-out rally in the bottom half of the sixth. Justin McClanahan ripped the first pitch he saw down the left-field line barely sneaking inside the foul line for a double to set up the tying score. Giannini was one pitch from getting out of the inning unscathed but the payoff pitch to Chris Dominguez, the BIG EAST Preseason Player of the Year, was taken to left field for an RBI single to score McClanahan. Two pitches later, Stewart Ijames put the Cardinals on top for good with a two-run home run over the right field fence.
The Scarlet Knights saw another strong effort on the mound in game two as sophomore Kyle Bradley (Howell, N.J.) retired the first four hitters of the game and allowed just two hits in six innings of work.
Rutgers took the early lead in game two as well, as freshman Jaren Matthews (Teaneck, N.J.) hit a solo home run to right field for his 10th home run of the season.
Like they did in the first game, the Cardinals answered with multiple scores in the bottom half of the inning to go on top. Bradley loaded the bases with two outs and Phil Wunderlich came up with some timely hitting for the Cards, delivering a bases-clearing double to the gap in left center field to put Louisville up 3-1.
The Cardinals added a pivotal insurance run in the sixth when Dominguez led off the frame with a walk and two plays and a wild pitch later scored on a sacrifice fly.
The run proved to be crucial for Louisville as Betteridge hit a two-run home run off newly-inserted Thomas Royse in the eighth to make it 4-3.
Matthews led off the ninth against closer B.J. Rosenberg and was sacrificed over into scoring position but Rosenberg got a fly out and sealed his second save of the day with a strikeout.
The Scarlet Knights' pitching staff held the Cardinals, one of the top-hitting teams in the BIG EAST with a team batting average of .310 entering the series, to just nine combined hits in the doubleheader. Sophomore Kevin Lillis (Fair Haven, N.J.) and senior Matt Patterson (Passaic, N.J.) combined for two innings of scoreless relief in the second game.
