PISCATAWAY, N.J (March 11, 2010) – Coming off a 10-1 victory over NJIT in its home opener Wednesday, the Rutgers baseball team heads back to the state of Florida to play FIU and FAU before traveling to Virginia to face ODU in RU’s annual Spring Break trip. The Scarlet Knights will begin play on the 10-day trip in Miami with a three-game series at Florida International with a 7 p.m. game Friday, 6 p.m. contest Saturday and 1 p.m. game Sunday. RU will travel to Boca Raton, Fla. for a pair of 6:30 p.m. games next Tuesday and Wednesday against Florida Atlantic. Rutgers will wrap up its trip in Norfolk, Va. with a three-game series against Old Dominion slated for next weekend with a 7 p.m. Friday contest, a 4 p.m. Saturday game and a 1 p.m. Sunday series finale to complete the eight-game trip.
Rutgers enters the trip 2-8 overall after Wednesday’s victory. Junior outfielder Brandon Boykin (Teaneck, N.J.) leads the Scarlet Knights offensively with a .368 batting average. He has two doubles and collected his first home run of the season in RU’s last game. Junior outfielder/designated hitter Pat Biserta (Pt. Pleasant, N.J.) has a team-high 12 hits on the year, while senior catcher Jayson Hernandez (Belmar, N.J.) and freshman second baseman Steve Nyisztor (Toms River, N.J.) have 10 hits apiece.
Junior lefty Dennis Hill (Hillsdale, N.J.) will be Friday’s starter after spending the last three weekends as RU’s Saturday pitcher. He has posted nine strikeouts in 11.1 innings this season. Senior righty Casey Gaynor (Toms River, N.J.) will be on the mound for RU in Saturday night’s contest against the Golden Panthers after working the series opener the last three weeks. The senior has worked a team-high 16.2 innings with 12 strikeouts. He pitched six innings against Georgia Tech last time out. After five appearances in relief, true freshman righty Dan O’Neill (Garfield, N.J.) will make his first career start on the mound in Sunday’s series finale against FIU. He has logged 10.2 innings this season with a 4.22 earned run average. The freshman picked up the Scarlet Knights’ first win of the season with three innings of one-run relief against Purdue in the Big Ten/BIG EAST Baseball Challenge.
FIU is 9-3 on the season after splitting two games with Boston College this week. The Golden Panthers topped the Eagles, 18-14, in the series finale on Wednesday. FIU is hitting .333 as a team through 12 games. Sophomore third baseman Garrett Wittels leads the Golden Panthers with a .481 batting average and 25 hits on the season.
Senior righty Scott Rembisz (2-1, 3.60 ERA) will open the series on the mound for FIU, while senior lefty Corey Polizzano (2-0, 4.11 ERA) will toe the rubber in Saturday’s contest and sophomore righty Aaron Arboleya (1-1, 2.40 ERA) will close the series for the Golden Panthers. Junior righty closer Bryam Garcia has three saves in four appearances with a 1.80 ERA for FIU.
FIU holds a 32-12 advantage in the all-time series. The Scarlet Knights and Golden Panthers last played during the 2007 season with FIU taking two of three games from RU.
FAU enters the weekend 6-4 overall after a 10-7 victory over Pittsburgh on Wednesday. The Owls open Sun Belt Conference play this weekend with a three-game series at Troy before returning home to host the Scarlet Knights next Tuesday and Wednesday. Junior first baseman Dan Scheffler leads the offense with a .455 batting average, including four doubles, a triple and three home runs on the season.
Rutgers and FAU have played each of the last 13 years with the Owls taking the last 11 games against the Scarlet Knights. FAU holds a 14-5 advantage in the all-time series.
Old Dominion is 9-6 overall and is coming off a 10-9 loss at Elon on Wednesday. Like the Scarlet Knights, the Monarchs will also be in Florida this weekend. They will play a three-game series at Stetson before traveling to College Park, Md. for a contest with Maryland next Tuesday and hosting Richmond next Wednesday prior to the series with Rutgers next weekend. Senior third baseman Jake McAloose is hitting a team-best .400 among the regular starters for the Monarchs.
RU swept a three-game series from Old Dominion last season. Rutgers owns a 22-15 advantage in the all-time series against ODU.
