LAWRENCEVILLE, N.J. – Despite a 14-hit attack for the Rutgers baseball team, the Scarlet Knights fell to Rider, 13-5, Wednesday afternoon at Sonny Pittaro Field in Lawrenceville, N.J. Rutgers moved to 9-12 on the season, while Rider improved to 6-9.

Rutgers threatened for the early advantage, loading the bases in the second, but Rider starter Derek Caldwell got Brandon Boykin (Teaneck, N.J.) to fly out to right field to end the frame.

John Ralston found the gap in left-center field for a one-out double in the second and Darron Lattomus got him home on the next play with an RBI single through the right side. The Broncs got a second run home in the inning on a sacrifice fly to take an early 2-0 lead.

Rider loaded the bases with no outs recorded in the third and got its first run across courtesy of a Steven Zavala (Randolph, N.J.) balk. After a walk to re-load the bases, Greg Bayard (Scotch Plains, N.J.) came in for Zavala. A Ralston singled to left-center field scored two runs and the Broncs pushed across three more runs in the inning, capped by a Matt McCollum RBI double down the right-field line to make it 8-0.

The Scarlet Knights got on the board in the fifth when Jarred Jimenez (Monroe, N.J.) followed a Boykin double and a Dan Betteridge (Sewell, N.J.) walk with a two-run triple to the gap in left-center field to make it 8-2.

Rider added a single run in the fifth and three runs in the sixth to extend its lead to 12-2.  

Redshirt freshman Nick Gaeta (Montville, N.J.) entered as the catcher in the sixth inning and led off the seventh frame with his first collegiate hit – a line drive single to left field. Gaeta came around to score later in the inning on asingle up the middle from pinch hitter Charlie Law (Mainland, N.J.). The Scarlet Knights threatened for more in the frame, loading the bases with one out, but newly-inserted Rider hurler Nate Eppley got out of the jam with an inning-ending double play.

Steve Galella added a run for the Broncs with an eighth-inning solo home run to make it 13-3.

Back-to-back doubles off the wall from Jimenez and Michael Lang (Dumont, N.J.) gave the Scarlet Knights a pair of runs in the ninth.

Zavala (1-1) struck out three but surrendered six runs on four hits in two innings in the loss for Rutgers, while Caldwell (1-2) worked five innings with six strikeouts and two runs on six hits to earn the win for Rider.

Rutgers will host its first weekend series of the 2009 season this Friday through Sunday when the Bearcats of Cincinnati travel to Bainton Field. The BIG EAST series gets under way with a 3:00 p.m. game Friday, followed by a 1:00 p.m. game Saturday and a noon game Sunday.