After Rutgers baseball fell to Louisville in the second round of the 2007 Big East Tournament, the Scarlet Knights would need to win four consecutive elimination games to secure the league's automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament. The climb started with an 11-0 rout over Villanova, as junior Todd Frazier went 4-for-6 with a home run and three doubles.
 
Next up, RU needed to beat Louisville, a team that had won six-straight in the series, twice on the same day. Frazier led off the game with a walk to spark a two-run first, but the Cardinals responded with four unanswered runs and took a 4-2 lead into the fifth. Frazier popped another long ball to cut into the margin, with the Scarlet Knights posting six in the seventh inning and holding on for a 12-10 win to force a rematch. Frazier scored the first run and Sean Spicer pitched a complete game in a 3-1 triumph that sent Rutgers to the championship game.
 
Frazier reached three times, including a towering blast over the scoreboard at Brooklyn's KeySpan Park that chased the UConn starter in the fifth inning. With Steve Healing holding the Huskies to three runs over eight innings and Kevin Lillis thwarting a late rally, Rutgers won 7-6 to complete the run to the title.
 
Frazier went 13-for-25 (.520 batting average) with five walks (.600 on-base percentage) and three long balls (1.080 slugging percentage) in the six games at the Big East Tournament to earn the Jack Kaiser MVP Award. He scored 12 runs, which was more runs than five teams (St. John's, Notre Dame, USF, Villanova and Pittsburgh) combined in their games in the tournament.
 
"First of all, I remember winning the whole thing," Frazier said. "Second, the home runs I hit. Some of the further balls I've ever hit in my career. And how much fun we had. We were just a fun group that loved to play. We had a really good offense, a really good defense and good pitching. It was so much fun playing with that group in 2007. We deserved everything we got because we played the game the right way and we didn't take no crap. That's what I loved about it."
 
"The home runs that he hit there were dramatic," long-time coach and 1997 Rutgers Hall of Fame inductee Glen Gardner said. "He hit them to the roller coaster there. But it's not just the homers that everyone remembers. It was also how he made us all better. He made his teammates and the coaches better around him."
 
Frazier, who is originally from Point Pleasant, New Jersey, will be inducted in the Rutgers Athletics Hall of Fame on Friday evening.
 
"This really is quite an honor," Frazier said. "I can't thank Rutgers University and the people who are involved with the Hall of Fame enough. I had some fun here and loved every second about it. To get that enshrinement, I couldn't be happier. This is going to be on top of the list of all accolades for sure."
 
Frazier is the youngest of three brothers. Charlie, who pitched to Todd in the MLB Home Run Derby, was selected by the Florida Marlins in the sixth round out of high school and played six seasons in the minors. The middle brother, Jeff, played at Rutgers, earning All-America status in 2002 (freshman) and 2004 before being taken in the third round by the Detroit Tigers. He broke into the big leagues in 2010.
 
"The first time I saw Todd play was in a summer game when he was coming out of his sophomore year in high school," Gardner said. "I knew him from his brothers and I went and watched him in a wooden bat league. At the end of the game I asked him about his bat. As a sophomore in high school, he was swinging a 35 (inch) bat, while most swing a 33 or less. I asked him where he got it and he said from his brothers. I was amazed that someone that young could handle a bat that size. When I went home that night I knew we would be all over this guy for the next couple years."
 
Frazier, who starred on the Toms River East American Team that won the 1998 Little League World Series title, narrowed his college list to two schools: Rutgers and Clemson. When Frazier took a visit to Clemson, Gardner and Todd's father, Charlie Sr., thought that would seal the deal in going south.
 
"Todd went on a visit to Clemson before he committed to us and his father called me and said, 'I think we lost him. I think he's going to go Clemson,'" Gardner recalled. "Obviously, I was disappointed. But then when he got back home, Todd called me and said he was coming to Rutgers. I was feeling pretty good about that."
 
"I knew Rutgers University was great and Fred Hill was the deciding factor," Frazier said of his decision. "I knew they didn't want this guy from Jersey coming down and taking over. I said I'm going to Rutgers, where I'm born, I'm raised, I can prosper. I made the right decision."
 
Hill, the legendary Rutgers skipper, passed away in March at age 84. The Verona, New Jersey, native totaled 1,089 collegiate wins, including 941 in 30 years leading the Scarlet Knights. Hill is a member of American Baseball Coaches Association Hall of Fame and the Rutgers Athletics Hall of Fame.
 
"I get the goosebumps thinking about it now how he inspired me to be the player I am and how focused I am," Frazier said of Hill. "I think about him every game and always give a tip of the cap to him to the skies and heavens. 'Hey Moose, thanks for watching.' Along with his wife Evelyn, they're just a great family. I wish he could be here today. He's one of my favorite guys and I really miss him."
 
Frazier made an impact in his first season in 2005, slugging .505 with nine homers and 36 RBIs, while adding 19 stolen bases. He picked up Freshman All-America honors from multiple media outlets.
 
"He was a senior as a freshman," Gardner said. "When he walked in as a freshman, he was telling the seniors what to do in his way. I was always telling him to wait a little while before taking charge since he was only a freshman, but he was a natural leader that others followed right away."
 
After slashing .366/.471/.599 in 2006 to earn First Team All-Big East, Frazier elevated his game once again in 2007. Crushing a school-record 22 homers, the leadoff hitter knocked in 65 runs, had a .502 on-base percentage, a .575 slugging percentage and stole 25 bases to unanimously claim Big East Player of the Year and become a consensus First Team All-America pick.
 
"We did everything together as a team, whether it was studying, practice, partying, you name it," Frazier said of the 2007 team. "We had a good time and didn't let anyone stray from the pack. We were focused on us."
 
Rutgers won 42 games that season to tie the school record and earn a berth to the NCAA Regionals after the run to win the Big East Tournament. Frazier finished his collegiate career as the Scarlet Knights' all-time leader in home runs (42) and runs scored (210), second in walks (138) and total bases (434), third in hits (241), slugging percentage (.625) and stolen bases (65) and fifth in runs batted in (152) despite only playing three seasons. He was drafted by the Cincinnati Reds as the 34^th overall pick and just wrapped up his ninth season in the major leagues.
 
"We had a great team in 2007 and were hard to beat," Gardner said. "They say that Reggie Jackson was the straw that stirs the drink, Todd was our stirrer. He just wanted to win."




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