Rutgers Baseball Hosts St. John's to Close Regular Season
May 19 | Baseball
PISCATAWAY, N.J. (May 19, 2010) – The Rutgers baseball team will look to improve its seeding in next weekend’s BIG EAST Baseball Championship in Clearwater, Fla. when the Scarlet Knights host St. John’s in a three-game series Thursday through Friday at 1 p.m. at Bainton Field. The series marks the final three regular-season games for the Scarlet Knights, who will honor their nine-member senior class prior to Saturday’s regular-season finale.
RU, which posted an 8-2 victory over FDU Wednesday afternoon, enters the series 26-23 overall with a 13-11 mark in the BIG EAST, good for sixth-place in the conference standings. The Scarlet Knights can move up to as high as fourth place this weekend with fourth-place St. John’s sitting two games ahead of them and fifth-place USF – which RU holds a tiebreaker over by virtue of a sweep earlier this season – sitting a game-head of Rutgers.
Junior All-American candidate Pat Biserta (Pt. Pleasant, N.J.) is 10th in the league in hitting with a .376 batting average and ranks seventh with a .396 clip in conference games. He ranks third in the BIG EAST and 17th nationally in home runs with 18 this season. The junior’s 147 total bases are also fifth in the conference. His 18 home runs are four shy of the school record of 22 home runs in a season held by Todd Frazier in 2007. His 25 career home runs are tied for sixth in school history.
Second baseman and Freshman All-American candidate, Steve Nyisztor (Toms River, N.J.) ranks second in the BIG EAST in hitting among freshmen and eighth overall in the league with a .392 batting average. The Scarlet Knight ranks second in the BIG EAST in hitting with a .422 clip in league action. The freshman is hitting .475 (29-for-61) with runners in scoring position.
Sophomore outfielder/designated hitter, Ryan Kapp (Toms River, N.J.) is hitting .320 overall with 11 doubles and eight home runs. He has played in 38 of RU’s 49 games with 21 starts. The sophomore played in all three games at Seton Hall last weekend and was named to the BIG EAST Weekly Honor Roll after driving in six runs on three doubles and a home run in RU’s two wins against SHU. In 11 pinch-hit appearances this season, Kapp has collected five hits, including a two-run double and a two-run home run.
Senior righty Casey Gaynor (Toms River, N.J.) will take the mound in game one for the Scarlet Knights on Thursday. Gaynor, making his school-record 51st career start, is just 13 strikeouts shy of Bobby Brownlie’s school-record career total of 235 set from 2000-02. He has posted six wins in his last eight starts, including the victory last Friday at Seton Hall. Gaynor’s 13 starts this season are tied for the fifth-most in school history in a season.
Senior lefty Dennis Hill (Hillsdale, N.J.) will be on the mound for Friday’s contest after notching his second complete game of the season last time out at Seton Hall. The senior didn’t allow an extra-base hit and allowed just one run with three strikeouts against the Pirates.
Freshman lefty Dan O’Neill (Garfield, N.J.) will toe the rubber in Saturday’s series finale after working into the fifth in a no-decision last Sunday at Seton Hall.
The program will salute its nine seniors – Dan Betteridge (Sewell, N.J.), Kyle Bradley (Howell, N.J.), Gaynor, Matt Giannini (Millington, N.J.), Jayson Hernandez (Belmar, N.J.), Hill, Jarred Jimenez (Monroe, N.J.), Kevin Lillis (Fair Haven, N.J.) and Sean Peterson (Wall, N.J.) – prior to Saturday’s contest. Betteridge, Bradley, Gaynor, Giannini, Jimenez and Lillis all played a role in the 2007 team that tied the school record with 42 wins and captured both the BIG EAST Regular-Season and Tournament titles.
St. John’s is 35-16 overall and 15-9 in the BIG EAST heading into the weekend. The Red Storm posted a 17-9 victory at Boston College Tuesday afternoon. Freshman left fielder Jeremy Baltz is hitting .417 with 16 doubles and 20 home runs. He ranks third in the league in hitting, first in RBI (71), second in total bases (161) and is second in home runs. The Red Storm are hitting .332 as a team. Baltz was named the BIG EAST and National Player of the Week last week after hitting four home runs and driving in seven runs in a win at Louisville last weekend.
Freshman righty Kyle Hansen (7-1, 3.95 ERA) will pitch Thursday’s series opener, while senior righty Bruce Kern (5-5, 6.29 ERA) will work Friday’s contest and freshman righty Matt Carasiti (6-3, 5.96 ERA) will get the ball in Saturday’s series finale. Junior righty closer Daniel Burawa is the Red Storm’s closer with eight saves and a 1.02 ERA in 23 appearances.
St. John’s holds a 45-31 advantage in the all-time series between the two schools.
