March 12, 2008

Box Score

PISCATAWAY, NJ - NJIT took two leads in the first four innings, but a 10-run Rutgers outburst the fourth keyed a 16-3 baseball win for the Scarlet Knights against the visiting Highlanders Wednesday afternoon.

Rutgers, led by coach Fred Hill, who came into the 2008 seasons with 787 wins in 24 seasons with the Scarlet Knights, was a deceptive 3-6 entering Wednesday's game. Five of the six losses were on the road against teams ranked in the national Top 25 and all three Rutgers wins had come against those same Top 25 teams--Old Dominion, Georgia Tech and Texas A&M.

NJIT finished with nine hits, led by senior DH Matt Schlitter, who finished 3-for-4 and is 9-for-12 in his last three games.

Freshman RF Dom Hayes drove in all three Highlander runs and was 2-for-3, including his first career home run, a solo shot leading off the fourth inning. Freshman 2B Matt Marotta finished 2-for-4.

Sophomore RHP Mike Burgaleta, the third of six NJIT hurlers and the reliever who opened the decisive bottom of the fourth inning for the Highlanders was charged with the loss.

The winning pitcher was Rutgers starter, junior RHP Jon McCue, who scattered five hits over seven innings, while allowing all three Highlander runs. McCue walked one and struck out six.

The Scarlet Knights got 10 hits and also reached base on 14 walks in scoring their 16 runs (14 earned) against the Highlanders.

Nine of the Rutgers hits were divided evenly among three men: senior C Jon Gossard (3-for-5); junior CF Luis Feliz (3-4); and, sophomore SS Dan Betteridge. Feliz and Betteridge each drove in two runs, as did senior 2B Victor Cegles and freshman 1B Jaren Matthews got three RBI in a 1-for-2 day.

NJIT scored first in six of its opening nine games, including five times in the first inning, and Wednesday's game continued the trend when the Highlanders picked up two runs on a two-out single by Hayes.

Sophomore starting LHP Bobby Wyrwa of the Highlanders held Rutgers off the scoreboard in the first inning, but the Knights pulled even on Betteridge's two-run homer in the bottom of the second inning.

NJIT came in planning to use a bunch of pitchers in short stints, so Wyrwa gave way to junior ace LHP PJ Saporito, who blanked Rutgers in his one inning of work, the third.

Hayes, who would drive in all three Highlander runs, put them ahead one last time when he led off the fourth inning with a solo shot over the right field fence.

The bottom of the inning proved to be NJIT's undoing, however, as the 3-2 lead turned into a 12-3 deficit for the Highlanders. Three relievers combined to allow 10 runs, five hits and six walks in the inning.

Consecutive bases-loaded walks forced in three runs and another scored on a wild pitch with the bases full before a three-run triple by Matthews and a two-run double by Feliz combined to plate the last five runs of the inning.

Rutgers added two runs in sixth inning and two more in the eighth for the final score of 16-3.

NJIT, which has played its first 10 games away from home will take Spring Break in Florida, where the Highlanders are scheduled to play six games between March 15 and March 21. First up is a 5 pm game on Saturday in West Palm Beach against Penn, the 2007 Ivy League Gehrig Division regular season champion.