CINCINNATI, Ohio - Rutgers fell behind early on a first-inning grand slam from Cincinnati's Mike Spina and the Scarlet Knights couldn't claw their way back in a 7-3 loss to the Bearcats in the series finale Sunday afternoon in front of 738 fans at Marge Schott Stadium.
The Scarlet Knights, who are now 20-25-1 overall, end the weekend tied with Villanova for eighth place in the BIG EAST standings with an identical 9-12 league mark. Rutgers hosts the Wildcats in a three-game series next Friday through Sunday at Bainton Field. Cincinnati, with a mark of 29-18 overall, is alone in third place in the conference with a 14-7 league record.
Cincinnati starter Brian Garman flirted with danger in the first inning as the Bearcat hurler surrendered a leadoff single to Michael Lang (Dumont, N.J.) before hitting Dan Betteridge (Sewell, N.J.) and loading the bases with a four-pitch walk to Jon Gossard (Harrington Park, N.J.). Garman's first offering to Jaren Matthews (Teaneck, N.J.) was wild, allowing Lang to come home, but he rebounded with a pair of strikeouts to prevent any further damage.
A leadoff single from Tony Campana and a pair of walks loaded the bases with no outs for the Bearcats in the bottom of the first. Rutgers starter Casey Gaynor (Toms River, N.J.) sent the Bearcats' cleanup hitter down on strikes, but Mike Spina hit a grand slam over the right-field fence two pitches later to make it 4-1.
Gaynor settled down after the first with four scoreless innings and worked an effective five frames with five strikeouts in a scheduled limited outing in his second game back from injury. Sophomore Kyle Bradley (Howell, N.J.) replaced him in the sixth.
Lang led off the seventh with a single through the left side and one out later stole second where Tom Edwards (West Caldwell, N.J.) brought him home with a double down the right-field line to make it 4-2 and chase Garman out of the game. Cincinnati went to its bullpen to bring in Jake Geglein and the move paid off as the reliever struck out the Scarlet Knights' No. 4 and No. 5 hitters to end the inning.
Cincinnati got its first two runners aboard in the bottom of the seventh and sacrificed them over where Josh Harrison scored both Bearcats with a single to center field to make it 6-2. The Bearcats then added a run in the eighth to build a 7-2 advantage.
Lang singled to lead off the ninth and Edwards followed with a single to left field two batters later to drive him home for the second time in two innings to make it 7-3, but Geglein induced a pair of infield flyouts to seal the victory for his seventh save of the season.
Garman scattered seven hits and allowed two runs with six strikeouts in 6.1 innings to improve to 4-2 overall, while Gaynor (2-5) took the loss.
Edwards and Lang each had three hits to combine for six of the Scarlet Knights' 10 hits in the contest. The Scarlet Knights were victimized by 11 runners left on base.
Rutgers welcomes FDU to Bainton Field for its final midweek game of the regular season this Wednesday at 3:30.
