GREENVILLE, N.C. (March 12, 2011) - The Rutgers baseball team dropped a 5-0 decision to East Carolina in the Keith LeClair Classic at Clark-LeClair Stadium Saturday afternoon. The Scarlet Knights move to 5-7 on the season, while the Pirates move to 11-3 on the year.
For the second-straight day in the Keith LeClair Classic, RU witnessed a strong pitching performance from its opponent as ECU's Mike Wright (3-0) worked seven shutout innings and struck out six to earn the win for the Pirates.
East Carolina loaded the bases without recording an out in the fourth and two batters later got a two-run single to the gap in left-center field from Jack Reinheimer to give the Pirates the early advantage.
ECU loaded the bases again without recording an out one inning later on a Corey Thompson infield single, John Wooten double down the left-field line and a Zach Wright walk. Chris Gosik pushed across the Pirates' first run of the fifth frame with a fielder's choice and the Scarlet Knights went to their bullpen to bring in Ryan Fasano (Stony Point, N.Y.) for starterRob Smorol (Clark, N.J.). A Chase McDonald sacrifice fly to right field scored a second run later in the inning for the Pirates to give them a 4-0 lead.
Rutgers threatened in the seventh as freshman Michael Zavala (Randolph, N.J.) was struck with a pitch to lead off the inning and moved all the way to third with two outs, but Wright got out of the jam with a ground ball back to the mound to record the final out of the inning.
The Pirates added a run in the eighth to make it 5-0.
Smorol worked into the fifth with three strikeouts and four earned runs allowed on five hits for the Scarlet Knights. Fasano pitched 2.1 innings of scoreless relief and sophomore Jerry Elsing (Montville, N.J.) worked the final 1.1 innings for RU.
Freshman Nick Favatella (Washington Twp., N.J.) led the Scarlet Knights with a 2-for-3 performance at the plate.
Rutgers will conclude competition in the Keith LeClair Classic Sunday at 10 a.m. against Monmouth. Junior righty Nathaniel Roe (Plainfield, N.J.) will be on the mound for the Scarlet Knights against sophomore lefty Dan Smith for the Hawks.
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