FORT MYERS, Fla. – Following a sweep over Army, Rutgers baseball will continue its seven-game trip over spring break with a Wednesday matchup versus FIU at 3 p.m. The game will be contested at a neutral field at North Regional Park in Port Charlotte, a site previously visited in February, and the Scarlet Knights will be the home team.
RU picked up its first sweep since last March by scoring 31 runs to defeat Army, who owns victories this season against Michigan and Maryland, three times. Senior
John O'Reilly came out on top of a Friday's pitcher duel with a 7.2-inning outing on the way to a 5-1 victory before the bats exploded for 15 runs on 19 hits to clinch the series on Saturday. Finishing up, the Scarlet Knights ran out to an early lead and expanded late to take the finale, 11-6. The offense hit .355/.450/.455 overall in the set.
Senior
Kyle Walker reached base in 7-of-9 plate appearances last week and is hitting .517, which ranks second in the nation through four weeks. The country's leader from UNC Greensboro is at .518. Walker, who also has an on-base percentage of .595 that sits fourth in the NCAA, brings a nine-game hitting streak into Wednesday, while junior
Nick Matera has reached base safely in each of the 14 games this season. Freshman
Mike Nyisztor paces the lineup with 13 RBIs and redshirt freshman
Dan DiGeorgio has scored 14 runs. In addition, junior
Luke Bowerbank went 6-for-12 with five RBIs in the Army series.
As a team, Rutgers has scored 32 more runs through 14 games compared to at the same point last season. The 7.3 runs per game mark ranks No. 36 nationally and second among Big Ten programs. Worth noting, the Scarlet Knights have 40 RBIs with two outs. That has helped to the 8-6 start, which was last achieved in 2009.
Sophomore
Eric Reardon is scheduled to make his second career start on the mound on Wednesday. The left-hander has pitched in 24 career games and his longest outing this season was dealing three shutout innings with one hit permitted versus then-No. 9 Miami. Junior
Serafino Brito leads the staff with seven appearances in 2018, including 3.1 scoreless innings over two games against Army.
THE OPPONENT
FIU is set to play its seventh game in the last eight days, going 4-2 over the prior six. The Panthers picked up a win over Miami before visiting Port Charlotte for a loss versus St. Joseph's and a win over Western Michigan. Most recently, the team won 2-of-3 against George Mason at home. Offensively, FIU ranks fifth in the country with 27 home runs, with Jose Garcia leading the way with seven. Either Jan Figueroa or Everett Hurst will make their first start of the season on the mound on Wednesday. The staff holds a 4.00 ERA.
The Panthers took all four games in a weekend series in Miami to start the 2014 season in the most recent meetings between the programs. The Scarlet Knights had previously swept all three in 2010. The all-time series dates back to 1984 and FIU leads, 35-15.
UP NEXT
Starting Friday, Rutgers will wrap up spring break with a three-game set at No. 27 Florida Gulf Coast. The Scarlet Knights are scheduled to play 13 of their first 18 games in the state of Florida.
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