NEW YORK, N.Y. (April 7, 2010) – The Rutgers baseball team dropped a 12-11 decision to Columbia Wednesday afternoon at Robertson Field in New York, N.Y. RU (15-12) took an 11-10 lead in the seventh before Nick Ferraresi put Columbia (12-12) on top with a two-run home run in the bottom half of the inning to give the Lions the win.
Junior Brandon Boykin (Teaneck, N.J.) led off the first with his third home run in as many games and fellow junior Jaren Matthews (Teaneck, N.J.) followed with a solo home run later in the frame to stake Rutgers out to an early 2-0 lead.
Columbia responded with a run in the bottom half of the first but RU got that run right back with an RBI single to left field from Dan Betteridge (Sewell, N.J.) to hold the two-run lead.
The Lions used a pair of walks and a pair of hits, highlighted by an RBI double from Ferraresi, to plate three runs in the bottom half of the second and capture its first lead.
RU scored a run off an error and got a two-run home run from Ryan Kapp (Toms River, N.J.) in the third to surge back on top, but a pair of Lion home runs in the bottom half of the frame tied it up at 6-6 as both starters were chased out of the contest in the third.
An RBI single from Justin Olsen (Garfield, N.J.) broke the tie in the fourth, but Columbia responded with four runs with two outs in the bottom of the inning to re-capture the lead.
The Scarlet Knights got two runs in the sixth and two more in the seventh off a pinch hit two-run home run from Jayson Hernandez (Belmar, N.J.) – the first of his career – to take an 11-10 lead in the see-saw battle.
The Lions came right back with the two-run home run from Ferraresi in the bottom half of the seventh to make it 12-11.
Rutgers threatened in the eighth, loading the bases with two outs but couldn’t get the tying run home.
Columbia’s Eric Williams (2-0) recorded the win with two innings of relief, while senior Kevin Lillis (Fair Haven, N.J.) suffered the loss in relief.
Rutgers travels to South Bend, Ind. to open a three-game series with Notre Dame, beginning Friday at 5 p.m.
