CLEARWATER, Fla. (May 29, 2010) – The sixth-seeded Rutgers baseball team saw its run to the BIG EAST Baseball Championship come to an end early Sunday morning with a 7-4 loss to second-seeded Connecticut in the semifinals of the eight-team tournament at Bright House Field in Clearwater, Fla. The loss eliminates the Scarlet Knights from postseason competition. RU ended the season 30-26 overall.
Rutgers had won its first two games of the tournament to advance to the semifinal round before UConn defeated RU, 11-10, in 10 innings in a four-hour game that began at 10 a.m. on Saturday to force the elimination game that began just prior to 10 p.m. Saturday evening.
Connecticut (47-13), the away team in the evening contest, jumped out to an early lead on Mike Nemeth three-run home run in the first inning.
Junior Michael Lang (Dumont, N.J.) opened the bottom half of the first with a walk and fellow junior Pat Biserta (Pt. Pleasant, N.J.) moved him over to third with a single where freshman Steve Nyisztor (Toms River, N.J.) plated the first run with a sacrifice fly. Sophomore Russ Hopkins (Piscataway, N.J.) singled home Biserta later in the frame to cut the UConn lead to one run.
Nemeth drove home a run with a single to center field in the third and George Springer drove home a run with a single to left field in the fifth to give the Huskies a three-run lead at 5-2.
The Scarlet Knights stormed back in the seventh as junior Brandon Boykin (Teaneck, N.J.) doubled to left-center field and Lang was hit by a pitch to put a pair of runners on with one out. Both runners moved into scoring position with two outs and an opportunistic Nyisztor plated both runs with a single to center field to pull within one run at 5-4.
Billy Ferriter singled home a pair of runs for Connecticut in the eighth to put the Huskies back up by three scores, at 7-4.
UConn brought in its closer Dan Feehan, who earned the save with a scoreless ninth to seal the win.
Pat Butler posted the win for UConn with three strikeouts and three runs allowed on five hits in 6.1 innings.
Freshman Jerry Elsing (Montville, N.J.), who started the game for RU in the evening contest, took the loss with three strikeouts and five runs allowed in 4.1 innings.
Despite the loss, Rutgers recorded its 18th 30-win season under veteran head coach Fred Hill in a year where the RU mentor posted his 1,000th career win. The program saw the end of the careers of its nine-member senior class, who played a key role in RU’s success the last four seasons that included a BIG EAST regular season and tournament title in 2007. Ten Scarlet Knights who appeared in Saturday night’s contest have eligibility remaining, giving the program potential for a successful future “On the Banks.”
