4/10/2004
Box Scores: Game 1 - Game 2
PISCATAWAY, N.J. ? The Georgetown baseball team dropped two games on the road to Rutgers on Saturday, falling 2-0 in the first contest, and ending the day with a 11-1 loss in the nightcap.
The two-game sweep marked the first time this season that the Hoyas failed to win at least one game in a BIG EAST series. It is also marks the first time since Feb. 29 that the Hoyas (19-20, 5-8) have dipped below .500.
Rutgers, meanwhile, extended their team win streak to nine games, and improved to 16-13 overall and 8-2 in league play. The Scarlet Knights are currently in second place in the league standings.
Backed by standout starting efforts from Steve Healing and Aaron Kalb and shutout relief outings from Erik Dial and Matt Pustay, the Scarlet Knights held the Hoyas to just one run over two games. Junior Jeff Frazier powered the Rutgers offense with six runs batted in on the day.
The Scarlet Knights scored early in the opener, plating a pair of runs on RBI singles from Frazier and Johnny Defendis in the first inning, and then relying on the pitching of Healing and Dial to seal the win. Healing pitched five shutout innings, allowing five hits and no walks, while striking out three. He battled out of a two-on, one-out jam in the first and left two more stranded in the second before cruising through his final three innings of work. He turned the ball over in the sixth to Dial, who allowed a leadoff double to Billy Quinn (Alta Loma, Calif./ Alta Loma), but retired the final six hitters of the game, and closed out the game with a strikeout for his first career save.
In the nightcap, Rutgers got on the board when Nick Cerulo drilled a solo home run with one out in the third and added another in the fourth on a solo shot from Jeff Grose. Kalb cruised through the first five innings, but tired in the sixth, allowing a leadoff double by Parker Brooks (Las Vegas, Nev./ Bishop Gorman) and a pair of singles by Michael Lombardi (Brookhaven Hamlet, N.Y./ St. Anthony's) and Ron Cano (El Segundo, Calif./ El Segundo), which led to a Georgetown run and cut Rutgers' lead to 2-1.
With runners on first and second and two outs, Pustay struck out the next Georgetown batter to end the threat and, following a 1-2-3 sixth, Rutgers exploded for nine runs in the final two innings.
Freshman Erick Chandler (Somerset, N.J./ Rutgers Prep) held Rutgers in check through six innings, allowing just two hits, but ran into trouble in the seventh. He ended the game with five earned runs in 6.2 innings pitched, with three walks and three strikeouts. The loss dropped him to 4-3 on the year.
Sophomore Stephen Burns (West Chester, Pa./ Malvern Prep) took the hard-luck loss in game one, where he went 6.0 innings, surrendering two earned runs on nine hits, with four walks and three strikeouts.
Healing (4-1) earned the win in game one, while Kalb (4-0) took the win in game two. Kalb allowed four hits and one run in 5.2 innings. Dial (2.0 IP, 1 H 0 R) saved the first game and Pustay (3.1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 7 K) earned the save in game two.
Frazier led the Scarlet Knights offensively, collecting three hits and an RBI in the opener and two hits and five RBI in the second game. Cerulo was a combined 3-for-4 with two walks.
Cano had hits in both games for the Hoyas, raising his season batting average to a team-leading .346. Cano is 12 for his last 19 (.632), dating back to last week, and after going 2-for-3 in game one, he has moved into a tie with Lombardi for the team lead in multiple-hit games with 12. Lombardi?s RBI single in game two provided Georgetown?s lone run of the doubleheader.
The Hoyas take to the road again this Tuesday, when they square off against Navy at 3:00 p.m.
