May 2, 2001
Box Score
EASTON, Pa. (www.lafayette.edu) - Lafayette mounted a late comeback, scoring seven runs over the final four innings, but fell three runs short to Rutgers on Wednesday at Metzgar Fields in non-conference baseball action. The loss was the Leopards' season finale and pitted them against their toughest competition of the season, a 37-13 Rutgers team that is receiving Top 25 votes in all of the major polls.
Rutgers did the majority of its scoring in the first four innings. The Scarlet Knights scored three runs in the first and third innings and four in the fourth to lead 10-0. Val Majewski's sac fly and Mike Popowski's two-run home run with Bill McCarthy aboard accounted for Rutgers' three runs in the first off of Lafayette sophomore starter Matt Tambellini (Millville, N.J./Sacred Heart).
Rutgers struck for another three-spot in the third inning off of sophomore reliever Joe Saporetti (Woodbury Heights, N.J./Gateway Regional). McCarthy brought home the first run of the inning on an RBI-groundout with two runners in scoring position. Popowski recorded his second hit of the game with an RBI-single to give Rutgers a 5-0 lead. The Scarlet Knights added another run on a sac fly from Steven Normane.
Lafayette relivers walked in Rutgers' first three runs in the top of the fourth. Normane gave Rutgers a 10-0 lead with his second sac fly in as many innings.
The Lafayette offense got on the board in the home half of the fourth. Freshman Craig Alexander (Fairport, N.Y./Fairport) got the inning going with a double that bounced off the warning track in right. Tambellini, who remained in the game as the designated hitter, doubled him home with a shot that fell inches short of clearing the right field fence.
Lafayette got to Rutgers starter David Santiago for two runs in the bottom of the sixth. Freshman pinch hitter Nick Taro (Bernardsville, N.J./Bernardsville) plated Alexander who had reached on a walk. Tambellini also scored on the play as the Rutgers' rightfielder released a wild throw that got by the third baseman to make the score 10-3.
Rutgers got one of the runs back in the top of the seventh on Majewski's team-leading eight home run of the season.
In their final three at-bats of the game, the Leopards continue to chip away at the Rutgers' lead. Lafayette scored two runs in the bottom of the seventh on a bases-loaded walk to Alexander and a sac fly from Tambellini's aluminum alloy bat.
In the eighth, shortstop Eric Vacca (Philadelphia, Pa./Chestnut Hill Academy) drove in a run with an RBI-single. Freshman Adam Rosenberg (Ocean Grove, N.J./Neptune), who went 3-for-5 on the day, doubled home another run to make it 11-7. Rosenberg finished the season with a .383 average.
The Leopards had a final chance in the ninth off of Rutgers' reliever Jason Bergmann. The Leopards couldn't get the offense going unto there were two outs in the inning. Pinch hitter Jon Kline (Hingham, Mass./Thayer Academy) drew a walk and was immediately pinch run for by Tye Gonser (The Dalles, Ore./The Dalles). Gonser advanced to second when the Leopards' next batter, Jason Moll (Montville, N.J./Newark Academy), was hit by a pitch. Vacca drove in Gonser with an RBI-single to right field. The rally, the game, and the Leopards' 2001 season came to an end when Bergmann got Jason Boyd (Littlestown, Pa./Littlestown) to fly out to center.
Santiago earned the win for Rutgers, throwing six innings while allowing three runs (2 earned) on seven hits and two walks. Santiago (5-0) also struck out six. Tambellini, one of seven Lafayette pitchers head coach Joe Kinney used on the day, took the loss. He allowed three runs on three hits, a walk and a strikeout.
The Leopards finish the season 10-32. In the 2002 season, Lafayette will return all but one position player and will have five freshmen returning who have played in 20 or more games.
