NORFOLK, Va. (March 20, 2010) – The Rutgers baseball team used a two-out, six-run rally in the eighth inning that included two of the Scarlet Knights’ five home runs on the day to down Old Dominion, 14-11, Saturday afternoon at Bud Metheny Complex and even the series at a game apiece.
Junior Jared Jimenez (Monroe, N.J.) led the Scarlet Knights’ 13-hit attack with three hits, including a solo home run in the seventh and a three-run home run in the eighth inning to guide RU to victory.
Junior Pat Biserta (Pt. Pleasant, N.J.) hit his seventh home run in his last nine games with a solo shot in the first to stake RU out to the early lead.
Nathan Hartman hit a grand slam in the opening frame for the first of five home runs for ODU to make it 4-1 after one inning.
RU (7-10) and ODU (11-11) traded runs in the second and the Scarlet Knights got two more runs in the third on a two-run home run from junior D.J. Anderson (Randolph, N.J.). The Monarchs countered with their third home run in as many innings to make it 6-4 after three frames.
Senior Dan Betteridge (Sewell, N.J.) opened the fourth with a triple and junior Brandon Boykin (Teaneck, N.J.) drove him home two batters later for his second RBI of the contest.
The Scarlet Knights re-captured the lead with two runs in the sixth to chase starter Ben Tomchick out of the game in the frame.
Old Dominion came right back with a Scott RBI double in the bottom half of the sixth to tie it up at 7-7 and chase Rutgers starter
Casey Gaynor (Toms River, N.J.) out of the game in the frame.
Jimenez hit a two-out home run to give RU the lead in the top of the seventh, but ODU came right back again with back-to-back home runs from Chris Buss and Joe Velleggia in the bottom half of the inning to take a 9-8 advantage.
Newly-inserted ODU reliever Brandon Smith got two quick outs to open the eighth, but Michael Lang (Dumont, N.J.) prevented a 1-2-3 inning with a home run to left field to tie it up and open the flood gates for a six-run, two-out rally. Biserta followed with a walk and freshman Steve Nyisztor (Toms River, N.J.) followed with a single. Pinch hitter Ryan Kapp (Toms River, N.J.) drove both runners home with a two-run double to center field. An Anderson walk was followed by Jimenez’ second home run in as many innings, bringing home three runs to give the Scarlet Knights an insurmountable 14-9 advantage.
The Monarchs got a pair of runs off newly-inserted reliever Tyler Gebler (Toms River, N.J.) in the bottom half of the eighth but the freshman settled in and didn’t allow another run en route to the Scarlet Knight’s 14-11 victory.
Gaynor worked 5.1 innings and struck out two in the no-decision for RU. Freshman Rob Smorol (Clark, N.J.) earned the win in relief. Tomchick lasted 5.1 innings as well with seven runs surrendered on eight hits, but Smith (2-2) took the loss in relief with the six runs surrendered in the eighth inning.
The Scarlet Knights and Monarchs will close the series with the rubber game set for 1 p.m. game on Sunday.
