Published: March 30, 2007
QUEENS, N.Y.
Sophomore left-hander
Scott Barnes held Rutgers to one run and worked into the ninth
inning, as the Red Storm (11-10, 2-2 BIG EAST) defeated Rutgers
(12-11, 3-1) at Jack Kaiser Stadium on Friday afternoon. The
series-opening win was the Red Storm's fourth straight victory, and
moved the team's record over .500 for the first time this
season.
Barnes blanked the Scarlet Knights over his first five innings
and allowed one run on nine hits over eight-plus innings to lower
his season ERA almost a full run, from 5.26 to 4.28. The sophomore
struck out four batters, walked three and threw 74 of his 112
pitches for strikes. Classmate
Colin Lynch got the final three outs in relief to pick up his
fifth save of the season.
The top four hitters in the Red Storm lineup all drove in a run,
while junior
Michael Aicardi added three hits and a two-out RBI from the
bottom. Aicardi, a transfer from Skyline Junior College, continued
his torrid start at the plate, upping his season average to .516
(16-for-31) to go along with three extra-base hits and eight RBI.
Brian Kemp,
Chris Joachim and
Sam DeLuca each had two hits, an RBI and a run scored to lead
the offensive effort.
Kemp led off the Red Storm first with a triple to deep
right-center field, as St. John's plated two runs to jump on top,
2-0. Joachim would plate Kemp with an RBI single, then steal second
base and score on a single by DeLuca.
Rutgers scored its lone run in the top of the sixth inning,
breaking up Barnes' shutout bid with one hit and one walk. Todd
Frazier led off the inning with a walk, moved to second on a
groundout and scored on a single by Ryan Hill.
The Red Storm gained some separation with two more key runs in
the bottom of the sixth and one in the bottom of the seventh to
grab a 5-1 lead. Aicardi and Kemp hit two-out RBI singles in the
sixth, and
Gil Zayas ripped an RBI double to score DeLuca in the
seventh.
Barnes worked into the ninth inning for the first time in his
career, but exited after allowing a pair of bloop singles to start
the frame. With runners on first and second and no outs, Lynch came
on and retired three straight hitters, one by strikeout, to record
his fifth save of the season.
The Red Storm looks for its fifth straight win on Saturday at 1
p.m., when St. John's right-hander
Jared Yecker (2-3, 3.49 ERA) gets set to face Rutgers
right-hander Steve Healing (3-2, 3.72 ERA) at Jack Kaiser
Stadium.