Rutgers is 1-5 on the season after facing No. 12 Miami in a three-game series to open the season and Iowa, Northwestern and Purdue in the Big Ten/BIG EAST Baseball Challenge last weekend in St. Petersburg, Fla. The Scarlet Knights picked up their first win of the season with a 6-5 triumph against the Boilermakers on Sunday.

 

Junior outfielder/designated hitter Pat Biserta (Pt. Pleasant, N.J.) leads the Scarlet Knights regular starters with a .346 batting average. He has hit three home runs and driven in a team-leading seven runs in the first six games. Biserta was named to the Big Ten/BIG EAST Baseball Challenge All-Tournament Team last weekend after collecting five hits in 14 at-bats. In RU’s Sunday contest against Purdue, he went 3-for-5 with a home run and three RBI to help guide the Scarlet Knights to their first win of the season. 

 

Rutgers will go with the same pitching rotation as it has used the previous two weekends with senior righty Casey Gaynor (Toms River, N.J.) getting the ball in Friday’s series opener, senior lefty Dennis Hill (Hillsdale, N.J.) toeing the rubber in Saturday’s game and sophomore righty Willie Beard (Spotswood, N.J.) working Sunday’s series finale.

 

Gaynor will be making his 40th career start Friday, which will tie teammate and fellow senior Matt Giannini (Millington, N.J.) for the most starts in school history. He worked 6.1 innings and posted five strikeouts the last time out against Iowa. He ranks third on the Rutgers career strikeout list with 176 for his career. His 230.2 career innings rank seventh all-time.  

 

Hill worked into the sixth inning last time out against Northwestern and has logged 9.2 innings in his first two starts. Beard has pitched five innings in each of his two starts with a pair of strikeouts in each contest this season.

 

The Rutgers bullpen is headlined by senior setup man Kevin Lillis (Fair Haven, N.J.), who is tied with Matt Pustay (2003-06) for the third-most appearances in school history with 77 during his career. He has worked 3.1 innings during three appearances out of the pen this season. The freshman duo of Tyler Gebler (Toms River, N.J.) and Dan O’Neill (Garfield, N.J.) have been welcome additions to the back end of the bullpen. O’Neill has logged 5.2 innings in three appearances, including three scoreless frames against Purdue the last time out. Gebler came in with men on second and third and no outs against the Boilermakers and protected a one-run lead without allowing a run to earn his first save. He has not surrendered a score in 2.1 innings, spanning three appearances.

 

Georgia Tech is ranked No. 4 by Baseball America, No. 5 by Collegiate Baseball Newspaper and No. 7 by the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association and in the USA Today/ESPN Coaches poll. The Yellow Jackets enter the weekend 7-1 overall after dropping their first contest of the season, 7-6, to Xavier last Sunday. GT swept a three-game series from Missouri State and a two-game set from Georgia Southern, while taking two of three from Xavier. Its game against Western Carolina, slated for Tuesday, was snowed out.

 

The Yellow Jackets are hitting .349 as a team through the first eight games, led by junior right fielder Chase Burnette, who is hitting .531 with four doubles and a pair of home runs. Senior power-hitting first baseman Tony Plagman has recorded five runs already this season.    

 

Georgia Tech will also employ the same rotation it has the last two weekends with junior righty Deck McGuire (1-0, 1.29 ERA) opening the series on the mound for the Yellow Jackets, junior righty Brandon Cumpton (2-0, 1.50 ERA) working game two and sophomore lefty Jed Bradley (1-1, 3.27 ERA) taking the mound in Sunday’s series finale.

 

RU and GT have met each of the last eight seasons in Atlanta and 45 times overall. The Yellow Jackets own a 34-11 advantage in the all-time series. A rare snow storm in the Atlanta area cut the series short last February with GT taking a Saturday doubleheader from the Scarlet Knights.