NEWARK, NJ - Freshman third baseman Christian Diaz (New Milford, NJ/New Milford HS) blasted a grand slam to cap a five-run fourth inning and senior righthander Travis Bilak (Bayonne, NJ/Bayonne) pitched six strong innings to help Rutgers-Newark to a 10-4 win over John Jay in the title game of the ECAC Metro Baseball Championship in Bears & Eagles Riverfront Stadium.

Diaz, who also had a sacrifice fly in the sixth, hammered his fifth home run of the season over the leftfielder wall with two out and the bases loaded in the bottom of the fourth to push the Scarlet Raider lead to 8-0.  Diaz went two for three on the day, drawing a walk and scoring in the second inning.

Bilak (5-5-) blanked the Bloodhounds through the first five innings on just three hits before giving up three runs on three hits in the sixth.  He finished with four strike outs and two walks before giving way to senior righthander Stephen Rice (Wharton, NJ/Morris Hills) and senior closer Scott Barchetto (Paramus, NJ/Paramus).  Rice gave up a run on two hits while striking out a pair in two innings of work before Barchetto faced four batters in the top of the ninth to ice the victory.

Junior shortstop Dave Sica (Lyndhurst, NJ/Lyndhurst), who scored three times and played flawlessly in the field on Sunday after going three for four at the plate on Saturday, was named the Most Valuable Player for the four-team affair.  He also stole two bases in the contest to push his season total to 20.

Rutgers-Newark won its second ECAC Metro title with the other coming in 1994.  The Raiders finish the year at 23-20 while JohnJay capped a record-setting 30-14 campaign.

Junior third baseman John Farmer (Toms River, NJ/Toms River East) went three for four with an RBI double in the sixth to plate the Raider's final run.  Also getting two hits each for the Raiders were junior leftfielder Brent DiMarco (Nutley, NJ/Nutley) and junior designated hitter Tom Callari (Oradell, NJ/River Dell).  Junior first basemanBill Mercurio (Wappinger Falls, NY/Arlington) drove in a pair of runs with a sacrifice fly in the third and a bases-loaded walk in the fourth to set the stage for Diaz's homer.

Sophomore centerfielder Kenneth Sepulveda (Valley Stream, NY/Valley Stream) ripped his 17th double of the season to deep right field to break up Bilak's shutout bid and junior first baseman Joshua McElroy (Colchester, CT/Bacon Academy) followed with a two-run single down the leftfield line as the Bloodhounds scored three times in the sixth to make it 8-3.  Sepulveda and McElroy were the only JohnJay players with two hits in the contest.

Singles by junior centerfielder James DeCesare (Staten Island, NY/Moore Catholic) and Sepulveda followed by a walk to McElroy loaded the bases for the Bloodhounds with one out in the eighth, allowing DeCesare to score on a checked-swing dribbler in front of the plate off the bat of freshman shortstop Michael Cafagno (Bedford Hills, NY/Family Foundation).

Junior Joseph Ayala (Bronx, NY/St. Raymond) took the loss for John Jay, giving up just three earned runs while striking out three and walking two in four full innings on the mound.  Freshman Emmanuel Rodriguez (Manhattan, NY/Manchester) did not allow a baserunner in two innings as he closed out the game for the Bloodhounds.