Bethesda, Md. - Rutgers starting lefty Matt Pustay struck out eight and scattered five hits over seven innings to stymie the Georgetown bats as the Scarlet Knights took the BIG EAST series opener, 9-5 over the Hoyas on Friday at Shirley Povich Field. Georgetown drops to 23-28, 9-12 in league play.

GU's Brandon Davis (Poway, Calif./The Bishop's School) tattooed his third homer of the season with a solo shot in the second inning and drove in two more runs with a double in the eighth. Sophomore Matthew Harrigan (Syracuse, N.Y./Christian Bros. Acad.) also had two hits for the Hoyas to go along with a run driven in.

Georgetown took a 2-1 in the bottom of the second. After Davis' two-out home run, two batters later Matthew Maranges (Miami, Fla./Belen Jesuit Prep) singled home Harrigan who doubled.

The game was tied 3-3 in the fifth before Rutgers plated three runs to take a 6-3 lead.

Jeff Grose doubled to lead off the inning and moved to third on a Mike Bionde single. Todd Frazier drove in a run with a sacrifice fly. After Ryan Hill drew a walk, Frank Meade tripled down the leftfield line for two RBI.

The Scarlet Knights (25-22-2, 11-11) extended the lead to 9-3 in the seventh when RU recorded three hits and took advantage of three Hoya errors.

Georgetown tallied two runs in the eighth to cut the deficit to 9-5 but Rutgers reliever Joe Baione wiggled out of a bases-loaded, one out jam to keep Georgetown at bay. Ryan Craft (Jupiter, Fla./The Benjamin School) singled ahead of Drew Dargen's (Edmund, Okla./Edmund North) walk. After a fly out, Davis doubled off the right centerfield wall for two RBIs. Baione came on for Rutgers and walked two consecutive batters to load the bases with one out. GU's Derek deGrijs (Nashville, Tenn./Goodpasture) the reached on a fielder's choice on a groundout back to the mound before Baione struck out the final batter of the inning to end the threat.

Grose finished with three hits out of the leadoff spot for Rutgers while Ryan Hill and Tim Querns each notched two hits.

Georgetown starter Warren Sizemore (Hamilton, Ohio/Ross) struck out six in 6.2 innings but took the loss (4-5). Sophomore righty Ben McKean (Concord, Mass./St. Mark's School) allowed just one hit in two innings of relief.

Georgetown and Rutgers will hit the diamond again on Saturday, May 13 at 7 p.m. before concluding the weekend set on Sunday, May 14 at 1 p.m.