PISCATAWAY, N.J. (May 7, 2011) – The Rutgers baseball team saw a pair of ninth-inning rallies fall short as the Scarlet Knights fell to Notre Dame 5-4 in the first game and 3-0 in the second contest of a doubleheader Saturday afternoon at Bainton Field.
Senior Michael Lang (Dumont, N.J.) hit a solo home run with two outs in the ninth inning of game one to pull Rutgers (16-27, 7-13 BIG EAST) within a run, but reliever Will Hudgins rebounded with a game-ending strikeout to seal the series-opening win for Notre Dame (18-23-1, 9-10). With a three-run deficit in the nightcap, RU put a pair of runners on and brought the tying run to the plate with one out in the ninth before ND reliever Sean Fitzgerald came in to end the threat and seal the Irish’s second win of the afternoon with a pair of strikeouts.
In the day’s opening contest, Notre Dame used doubles from Alex Robinson and Eric Jagielo and a single from Trey Mancini to push across two runs in the first inning for the early lead.
The Scarlet Knights answered with three runs on four hits in the bottom half of the second, including an RBI double from Jeff Melillo (Annandale, N.J.) and a two-run single from Nick Favatella (Washington Twp., N.J.) to surge past the Irish, 3-2.
Joe Hudson found the gap in right-center field for a one-out double and came around to score for Notre Dame on a Mick Doyle single that hugged the third-base line in the fourth to tie the game up at 3-3.
RU put runners in scoring position in the fifth, sixth and seventh frames but couldn’t produce the go-ahead run.
ND’s Adam Norton opened the eighth with a hard grounder deep in the hole on the left side for an infield single and was sacrificed over into scoring position where Hudson delivered again. The Irish No. 8 hitter found the gap in right-center field for his second-straight double to bring home Norton and give Notre Dame its first advantage since the opening inning. ND pushed across a second run in the frame after Hudson moved to third on a Doyle single and scored on a sacrifice fly from Frank Desico to pull ahead 5-3, ending starter Tyler Gebler’s (Toms River, N.J.) day.
The second run proved to be crucial as Lang took the first pitch he saw in the ninth over the left-field fence for the solo home run before Hudgins rebounded with a game-ending strikeout to seal the win.
Hudgins (4-0) picked up the win in relief with three innings of one-run ball on two hits and three strikeouts. Gebler (3-5) struck out two and surrendered five runs in 7.2 innings in the loss for the Scarlet Knights.
In game two, Notre Dame starter Cole Johnson pitched 8.1 innings of scoreless ball and the Irish used a run in the first and two in the second to post their second victory of the afternoon. Johnson surrendered just three hits and recorded 12 strikeouts in the contest, retiring 10-straight at one point.
Mancini tripled home ND’s run in the first. In the second, Greg Sherry followed a Norton double with an RBI single up the middle to plate Notre Dame’s first run in the frame. An RU miscue allowed Sherry to advance to second on the play, setting up the Irish’s second score of the inning. Notre Dame manufactured their second score of the frame after Sherry moved over to third on a fly out to center field and came home on a sacrifice bunt back to the pitcher from Doyle.
Rutgers starter Rob Smorol (Clark, N.J.) settled down after the first two innings with scoreless frames the rest of the way in the complete-game performance. Despite suffering the loss, he surrendered just four hits in his final seven innings of work and posted six strikeouts overall in the contest.
Senior D.J. Anderson (Randolph, N.J.) singled back up the middle with one out in the ninth and Russ Hopkins (Piscataway, N.J.) drew a walk off a full count to put a pair of runners on and bring the tying run to the plate. With two runners on, Notre Dame was forced to go to its bullpen for the first time in the contest. Fitzgerald came in and quickly ended RU’s rally with a pair of strikeouts for his second save of the season.
Lang collected two hits on the day to push his career hit total to 215 and move him into a tie with Bob Windows (1992-95) for eighth place on the Rutgers career hits chart. He also collected his 23rd career home run to move him into a tie with Glen Gardner (1986-88), Ryan Hill (2005-07) and Jaren Matthews (2008-10) for ninth place on the school’s all-time home runs list.
Mancini finished the day 7-for-8 at the plate with two RBI in the two games for Notre Dame.
Rutgers and Notre Dame will meet in the series finale Sunday at noon at Bainton Field. The contest will serve as Senior Day for the program as RU will honor its four-member senior class, including third baseman D.J. Anderson (Randolph, N.J.), outfielder Brandon Boykin (Teaneck, N.J.), pitcher Sean Campbell (Trenton, N.J.) and Lang. Junior righty Ryan Fasano (Stony Point, N.Y.) will get the ball for the Scarlet Knights against senior righty Todd Miller for the Irish.
