PISCATAWAY, N.J. (March 30, 2011) – The Rutgers baseball team dropped an 11-5 decision to Wagner Wednesday afternoon at Bainton Field in Piscataway.
The Seahawks (6-14) scored six runs on six hits in the first inning and chased RU starter Willie Beard (Spotswood, N.J.) out of the game in the process to build an early lead.
Senior Sean Campbell (Trenton, N.J.) came in on relief of Beard and finished out the first inning on the mound. The senior pitcher was struck with a ball during his warm-up pitches in the second inning and was forced out of the game, leaving the field under his own power to the cheers of the fans at Bainton Field. Junior hurler Ryan Fasano (Stony Point, N.Y.) came into the game for the Scarlet Knights.
Freshman Brian O’Grady (Warminster, Pa.) led off the bottom half of the first with a single and came around to score later in the frame on a single to right field from fellow freshman Michael Zavala (Randolph, N.J.) to put the Scarlet Knights (8-14) on the board.
Senior D.J. Anderson (Randolph, N.J.) drew a five-pitch walk and Zavala followed with a single to left field with one out in the third to set-up another scoring opportunity for the Scarlet Knights. A passed ball advanced both runners into scoring position where senior Russ Hopkins (Piscataway, N.J.) hit a line-drive down the third-base line for a single to plate Anderson and cut the Wagner lead to 6-2.
Wagner’s Kevin McDonnell led off the fourth with a double to the gap in left-center field and came around to score later in the frame to extend the Seahawk lead.
Anderson doubled home fellow senior Michael Lang (Dumont, N.J.) in the seventh to cut the Seahawk advantage to 7-3.
As he did in the fourth, McDonnell opened the eighth inning with a double and came around to score to push the Wagner lead back to 8-3.
The Seahawks added three runs in the ninth to extend the advantage to 11-3.
The Scarlet Knights scored a pair of runs in the bottom half of the ninth as sophomore Juan Lisojo (Belleville, N.J.) came up with runners on the corners and collected his first collegiate hit and RBI with a single to left field to bring Lang home and freshman Joe D’Annunzio (Scotch Plains, N.J.) drove home Anderson on a single to center field off newly-inserted Wagner hurler David Rees.
Chris Rautenstrauch (1-1) earned the win with four innings of one-run relief for Wagner as Seahawk starter Matt Gavin (one earned run on four hits in three innings) didn’t work the required number of innings to pick up the victory. Beard (2-1) suffered the loss for RU in two-thirds of an inning of work. Fasano struck out two and surrendered one run on four hits in four innings of relief work for the Scarlet Knights.
The victory was the first for Wagner head coach and former Scarlet Knight Joe Litterio (1991-93) against his alma mater in 11 career games against RU. It was the Scarlet Knights’ second loss to the Seahawks in 21 career meetings between the schools.
Rutgers will continue its seven-game homestand when the Scarlet Knights open a three-game series with Seton Hall at Bainton Field Friday at 3 p.m.
