Rutgers Baseball Finishes Regular Season Against Villanova
May 16 | Baseball
PISCATAWAY, N.J. (May 16, 2012) - Rutgers University baseball will close out the 2012 regular season with a three-game series against Villanova University at Bainton Field, starting Thursday, May 17. Each game in the set will begin at 1 p.m., as RU is 11-6 at home this season.
The Scarlet Knights have already clinched a berth to the BIG EAST Championships, scheduled to begin on Wednesday, May 23 at Bright House Field in Clearwater, Fla. RU can land as high as the fourth seed and as low as the eighth depending on the final weekend of conference action. Villanova currently holds the eighth and final spot in the standings and controls its own destiny to secure a seed.
The program will honor its four departing seniors in a ceremony prior to the Saturday game; Willie Beard (Spotswood, N.J.), Ryan Fasano (Stony Point, N.Y.), Russ Hopkins (Piscataway, N.J.) and Dan Perrine (Scotch Plains, N.J.).
RVision, presented by AT&T, will carry the Senior Day festivities and the contest on a tape-delay basis with lead broadcaster Danny Breslauer providing the play-by-play and Hopkins giving color commentary. WRSU will call each game of the series live on 88.7-FM and online at wrsu.rutgers.edu.
WRSU Broadcasters
Game One - Sach Chandan, Giustina Lorusso, Ben Yavelberg
Game Two - Jason Goldstein, Ryan Ulich, Joe Nardi
Game Three - Sach Chandan, Ben Cain, Dom DiLeo
GameTracker will also be available to follow live statistics. Links will be provided at ScarletKnights.com
RUTGERS LINKS: WEBSITE STATISTICS ROSTER SCHEDULE MEDIA GUIDE
VILLANOVA LINKS: WEBSITE STATISTICS ROSTER SCHEDULE QUICK FACTS
Probable Pitchers
Thursday, 1 p.m. - RHP Tyler Gebler (RU) (2-4, 4.80 ERA) vs. LHP Kyle Helisek (VU) (3-6, 5.74 ERA)
Friday, 1 p.m. - LHP Rob Smorol (RU) (7-3, 3.60 ERA) vs. RHP Pat Young (VU) (6-4, 4.25 ERA)
Saturday, 1 p.m. - RHP Ryan Fasano (RU) (5-5, 3.35 ERA) vs. RHP Max Almonte (VU) (1-5, 5.98 ERA)
Rutgers (28-22, 13-11 BIG EAST) dropped its most recent game to Iona, 5-4, on Wednesday, May 16 at Bainton Field. Junior third baseman Patrick Kivlehan (West Nyack, N.Y.) crushed his 13th home run of the season to take over the BIG EAST lead, while senior second baseman Dan Perrine (Scotch Plains, N.J.) recorded two hits. Sophomore right-hander Charlie Lasky (Freehold, N.J.) highlighted the pitching efforts with 3.2 hitless innings on the mound.
Kivlehan, a candidate for BIG EAST Player of the Year and All-America status, will attempt to win the triple crown of the BIG EAST, as he leads the league in batting average (.402), home runs (9) and RBIs (30), in addition to slugging percentage (.761) and runs scored (25) in conference action.
Head coach Fred Hill will go with the same pitching rotation for the eighth-straight weekend. Junior right-hander Tyler Gebler (Toms River, N.J.) will work the series opener once again, allowing five runs in 5.1 frames in his last start at Notre Dame. Classmate Rob Smorol (Clark, N.J.) picked up his team-leading seventh win against the Irish and fifth in league play after permitting just one earned run and five hits in six innings. Fasano will make his final start at Bainton Field, having pitched a complete game in a loss last weekend. The right-hander leads the team with 88.2 innings worked and 53 strikeouts.
Villanova (28-24, 10-14 BIG EAST) is fighting for the last berth to the BIG EAST Championships (see tiebreaker scenarios below) and has dropped four of its last five games, including a series loss at home against Cincinnati last weekend. Tyler Sciacca paces the offense with a .365 batting average and .440 on-base percentage for the Wildcats, while Matt Fleishman has slugged five home runs. Pat Young, who will start Friday's game, leads the team with 78.1 innings pitched and 59 strikeouts. Head coach Joe Godri is in his 11th season at the helm of the program with 278 wins to his record.
| Two-way ties | Winner | Reason | ||||
| Villanova/Pittsburgh | Villanova | Better win pct. vs. higher-ranked teams | ||||
| Villanova/Georgetown | Georgetown | 2-1 vs. VU | ||||
| Pittsburgh/Georgetown | Pittsburgh | 2-1 vs. GU | ||||
| Three-way ties | ||||||
| Villanova/Pitt/Georgetown | Pittsburgh | Pitt 2-1; GU 3-3; VU 1-2 | ||||
| Villanova/Pitt/West Virginia | West Virginia | WVU 3-3; VU 1-2; Pitt 1-2 | ||||
| Villanova/Georgetown/West Virginia | Georgetown | GU 4-2; WVU 3-3; VU 2-4 | ||||
| Four-way tie | ||||||
| Villanova/Pitt/Georgetown/West Virginia | Georgetown | GU 5-4; WVU 5-4; Pitt 3-3; VU 2-4 - GU 2-1 vs. WVU | ||||
The Scarlet Knights took the opener of the series at Villanova Ballpark last season on May 13, but VU rallied to win the final two games to win the set. VU also won the series, 2-1, in their last trip to Bainton Field from May 7-9, 2010. The Wildcats lead the all-time series, 36-31, going back to 1946 in the RU archives.
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