With the victory, Lehigh improves to 8-5 on the dual season and 4-2 against EIWA opponents. Rutgers falls to 9-5 overall and 6-2 in EIWA duals.
"Any time you wrestle a conference opponent it feels good to get that 'W'," said Lehigh head coach Pat Santoro. "Rutgers always has a good team. To come in an win eight matches like we did is great. We're just looking for a higher pace."
Gardner opened the dual with Lehigh's only bonus point win of the evening as he pinned Tyson Dippery in 2:50 at 141. An early takedown gave Gardner a 2-0 lead and after Dippery came up looking for a reversal, Gardner threw in a whizzer and flipped Dippery to his back during a scramble.
"Laike just keeps wrestling," Santoro said. "He was wrestling a really dangerous opponent and a really talented one so we knew it would be a tight match, but Laike wrestled through all positions, which is what you have to do at this level. He's getting better every week."
Lehigh's 6-0 lead was short-lived as the Scarlet Knights pulled even when Ken Theobold upset 13th-ranked freshman Mitch Minotti with a second period pin at 149. Minotti scored a first period takedown to lead 2-1 after one period but in the second, Theobold secured a reversal and used a cradle to put Minotti on his back as he secured the fall at the 4:38 mark.
From there Lehigh won the next five bouts to build a 21-6 lead. On a night when the Mountain Hawks honored their four-person senior class, senior Joey Napoli rallied for a 7-4 decision over Anthony Perrotti at 157. Perrotti scored the first takedown of the match before the wrestlers traded reversals. A Napoli escape made it 4-3 Perrotti after one period, but Napoli had the only other offensive scoring in the match with a second period takedown and added 1:25 of riding time advantage.
At 165, sophomore Ben Haas picked up his second straight victory, downing Nick Visicaro 8-2. Haas scrambled through a Visicaro shot for a first period takedown and extended his lead with five points in the second period on a reversal and three point near fall when Visicaro's attempt to roll Haas onto his back misfired. Haas allowed a third period escape but collected 3:17 of riding time.
"He got majored by that kid last year and really turned it around tonight," Santoro said of Haas' performance. "He's gaining more confidence now and that's the key. When you get into February you want to start getting some confidence and Ben's doing that."
The match at 174 between freshman Elliot Riddick and Phil Bakuckas featured minimal action and scoring through the first six minutes, but Riddick broke a 1-1 tie with a takedown on the edge and added a second score in the final seconds to win 5-2 and give Lehigh a 15-6 lead at intermission.
Freshman Zach Diekel opened the second half of the dual with a 5-2 decision over Dan Seidenberg at 184. Diekel scored takedowns in the first and third periods and added more than two minutes of advantage time.
Sophomore John Bolich capped the five bout Lehigh run with a 6-5 decision over Hayden Hrymack at 197. Trailing 5-3 after giving up a late second period reversal, Bolich reversed Hrymack early in the third and kept him down, earning the winning point with a 2:21 riding time advantage.
In one of the more anticipated bouts of the evening sophomore heavyweight Max Wessell met Billy Smith in Wessell's first match since upsetting eighth ranked JT Felix of Boise State. With neither wrestler able to break through from neutral, the match was tied 1-1 through regulation and 2-2 through the first set of overtime periods. The match went into the second set of tiebreakers where Smith escaped and then scored a takedown in the first half while Wessell could only muster an escape as Smith held on for a 5-3 decision, Rutgers' second and final win of the evening.
Lehigh finished the dual strong, winning the final two bouts. At 125, freshman Darian Cruz broke open a tight 3-1 match with a third period takedown and two point near fall to defeat Sean McCabe 7-2. Sophomore Mason Beckman won the final bout 2-1 over Vinnie Dellefave at 125 with Beckman riding out the third period for the decisive point.
"At times, we let Rutgers dictate the pace of the match," Santoro said. "I don't think we were using our hands enough to get the momentum going. We had a chance to get some stall calls and we took the pressure off the gas pedal. Those are easy fixes that we will work on, but we have to be able to do it mentally all the time."
The Mountain Hawks will return to action Friday night when they host No. 4 Iowa at Stabler Arena in the Hawkeyes' first visit to Bethlehem since November 1990. Match time is set for 7 p.m. Tickets can be purchased online anytime at LehighTickets.com or by calling 610-7LU-GAME during normal business hours.
Results:
141 – Laike Gardner (Lehigh) Fall Tyson Dippery (Rutgers) 2:50
149 – Ken Theobold (Rutgers) Fall Mitch Minotti (Lehigh) 4:38
157 – Joey Napoli (Lehigh) dec. Anthony Perrotti (Rutgers) 7-4
165 – Ben Haas (Lehigh) dec. Nick Visicaro (Rutgers) 8-2
174 – Elliot Riddick (Lehigh) dec. Phil Bakuckas (Rutgers) 5-2
184 – Zach Diekel (Lehigh) dec. Dan Seidenberg (Rutgers) 5-2
197 – John Bolich (Lehigh) dec. Hayden Hrymack (Rutgers) 6-5
285 – Billy Smith (Rutgers) dec. Max Wessell (Lehigh) 5-3, tb 2
125 – Darian Cruz (Lehigh) dec. Sean McCabe (Rutgers) 7-2
133 – Mason Beckman (Lehigh) dec. Vinnie Dellefave (Rutgers) 2-1
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