SOUTH ORANGE, N.J. (May 14, 2010) – The Rutgers baseball team broke a 2-2 tie with four runs in the fifth and never looked back with runs in each of the final five innings en route to a 15-3 victory over Seton Hall Friday night in the BIG EAST baseball series opener that lasted nearly four hours at Owen T. Carroll Field. With the win, the Scarlet Knights improved to 24-22 overall and 12-10 in the BIG EAST, while the Pirates fell to 17-27-1 and 6-16 in the conference.
Every starter collected at least one hit with junior Jaren Matthews (Teaneck, N.J.) leading the way with three hits and sophomore Ryan Kapp (Toms River, N.J.) recording a pair of doubles in the contest. Senior Casey Gaynor (Toms River, N.J.) worked six strong innings to earn his sixth win in his last eight starts, while reliever Rob Smorol (Clark, N.J.) finished it off with three innings of hitless relief.
Knotted at 2-2 through four innings, freshman Steve Nyisztor (Toms River, N.J.) doubled down the left-field line with one out in the fifth and scored on a Matthews single on the next play to spark a four-run inning for the Scarlet Knights. Kapp found the gap in left-center field for an RBI double later in the inning to chase Seton Hall starter Joe DiRocco out of the contest. Senior Dan Betteridge (Sewell, N.J.) singled home the final two runs of the frame to give RU the 6-2 advantage.
The Scarlet Knights followed a Seton Hall run in the bottom half of the fifth with two more runs in the sixth to open an 8-3 lead.
RU stretched its lead to 9-3 with a run in the seventh and Gaynor handed the ball over to Smorol in the bottom of the frame. The freshman struck out two and retired the side in order in the inning.
The Pirates, who were victimized by errors throughout the contest, allowed Michael Lang (Dumont, N.J.) aboard on an infield miscue to open the eighth and the junior came home later in the frame on a Nyisztor sacrifice fly to score the first of four runs in the inning. Matthews ripped a ball down the right-field line for a double and scored on a Jayson Hernandez (Belmar, N.J.) single on the next play. Sophomore Russ Hopkins (Piscataway, N.J.) singled to right field and Kapp recorded RU’s fourth-straight hit with his second double of the contest to bring home two more runs and make it 13-3
Biserta doubled home a run and pinch hitter Dan Perrine (Scotch Plains, N.J.) singled home a run in the ninth to extend the lead to 15-3. Smorol capped his stellar relief appearance with a 1-2-3 ninth to seal the win.
Gaynor, making his school-record 50th career start, improved to 7-5 on the season with five strikeouts and three runs allowed in six strong innings of work. He is now just 13 strikeouts shy of the school career record strikeout total of 235 held by Bobby Brownlie from 2000-02.
Smorol didn’t surrender a hit in three shutout innings of relief to post his first collegiate save.
Rutgers and Seton Hall continue the series with a 1 p.m. game Saturday. Senior lefty Dennis Hill (Hillsdale, N.J.) will be on the mound for the Scarlet Knights against freshman righty Frank Morris for the Pirates.
