A lot of baseball teams would be happy with one win in a four game set against the No. 12 team in the country.
But the Rutgers baseball team cannot help but feel a little empty after going 1-3 in their first series for the season against No. 12 Miami.
“It was nice it the sense that we got a win and we beat the No. 12 team in the country, but we’re not satisfied,” said sophomore second-baseman Brandon Boykin. “I mean we should have won both games [on Saturday], and possibly the first game on Friday. So it was nice but we’re definitely not satisfied.”
Junior Casey Gaynor started game one of the series and pitched a solid five innings, giving up only one earned run but left the game with his team losing 2-1.
The floodgates opened after Gaynor’s exit when the Scarlet Knights let up four more unanswered runs and lost the game 6-1.
As they had in game one, the Knights had the lead in game two, but this time they were able to hold it through five innings. A two-run single by sophomore designated hitter Pat Biserta gave RU a 2-1 lead in the fifth. But Miami came back and put up three runs in the sixth and held on for a 4-2 win.
In game three, the Knights once again jumped out to an early lead by tacking on a run with sophomore Jaren Matthews’ RBI in the first inning. The two teams traded runs for the next five innings and entered the sixth tied at four. With no outs in the inning, Boykin scored the go ahead run on a wild play that saw sophomore score from first on a sacrifice bunt by sophomore Michael Lang.
“As the third baseman came down and fielded the ball, I was able to get to third,” Boykin said. “And as I was rounding third, I looked around and the catcher was covering third, the shortstop was covering third, the third baseman was walking back to third and the pitcher was just standing on the mound, and me and my coach saw that, so I just took off.”
Senior Tony Wargo would close the game and the Knights would notch their first win of the season.
Sunday saw the most lopsided game of the series when Miami roughed up six RU pitchers and won the game 18-9.
Despite not being satisfied with the results, many of the Knights were pleased with much of what they saw in Miami.
“I thought we showed that we could absolutely play with Miami,” said freshman pitcher Charlie Law, who started the first game of his college career in the Knights’ victory on Saturday. ”We weren’t outmatched by any means, and I just feel like some of the final scores didn’t show how we really played.”
Knights lose three of four against Miami
Published: Sunday, February 22, 2009
Updated: Sunday, February 22, 2009
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