PISCATAWAY, N.J. – Rutgers baseball renews its oldest matchup with a Wednesday contest against in-state foe Princeton at Bainton Field. First pitch is scheduled to 3 p.m. and will broadcast on BTN Plus and WRSU 88.7-FM. The Scarlet Knights and Tigers initially met on May 5, 1866 in the first intercollegiate event in Rutgers University history, but have not squared off on the diamond since 2012.
RU enters the game having won eight of its last 10 outings, including taking a Big Ten series over Penn State last weekend. Senior
John O'Reilly pitched the Scarlet Knights to a victory in the first game by tossing his first career complete game with no earned runs allowed. The right-hander retired the final 13 batters faced. Following up, freshman
Harry Rutkowski worked 6.2 scoreless with seven strikeouts and freshman
Collin Kiernan and junior
Serafino Brito closed it out for the first 1-0 triumph for the Scarlet Knights since 2006. Rutkowski was announced Monday as the
Big Ten Freshman of the Week, joining classmate
Eric Heatter as Rutgers rookies to earn the award this season.
Senior
Kyle Walker leads the lineup with a .426 batting average, which ranks second in the Big Ten and No. 17 nationally. He is on a 16-game hitting streak that currently sits as the longest by a Scarlet Knight since Jeff Melillo had a 19-game streak in 2012. Freshman
Mike Nyisztor paces the offense with 19 RBIs, while redshirt freshman
Dan DiGeorgio has 18 runs scored and junior
Nick Matera has popped two home runs to help the team average 6.8 runs per game. Junior
Jawuan Harris owns seven stolen bases in as many attempt and ranks third in program history with 67 career swipes.
The pitching staff has lowered its ERA from 7.16 through 21 games last season to 4.88 now. That includes 49 more strikeouts. Sophomore
Eric Reardon is expected to make his third career start on Wednesday. The left-hander pitched a perfect frame on Sunday with a pair of strikeouts. Brito leads the bullpen with 12 appearances, three saves and 20 strikeouts, as Kiernan holds a 1.54 ERA.
THE OPPONENT
Princeton has not played since March 19 at Richmond. The previous weekend series versus Harvard was postponed due to unfavorable field conditions. The Tigers have two wins over Georgetown this season. Joseph Flynn leads the offense with three homers and 12 RBIs in 12 games played. Jack Anderson is projected to make his first start on the mound with no runs permitted in his first 2.1 innings this year.
The Scarlet Knights lead the all-time series, 77-73-3, dating back to the inaugural meeting in 1866. RU only sent out eight fielders in the game. Click
here for the NJ.com story with photos. The most recent encounter took place in 2012 at Bainton in a 12-11 Rutgers victory. The Tigers raced out to a 5-0 lead in the second inning and held an 8-4 advantage after three. However, Rutgers rallied to tie the game and eventually won on a Nick Favatella walk-off solo homer in the bottom of the ninth. RU is 16-4-1 in the last 21 games with Princeton dating back to 1992.
UP NEXT
Rutgers travels to Michigan State for a three-game Big Ten series starting Friday at 3 p.m.
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