PISCATAWAY, N.J. – Rutgers baseball wraps its 2018 schedule with a three-game series against No. 11 and first-place Minnesota starting Thursday at Bainton Field. BTN Plus will provide a one-camera stream for the series opener and full broadcasts of the final two contests. WRSU 88.7-FM has the radio call each day. With inclement weather in the area, Thursday's game moved to a 2 p.m. start.
The Scarlet Knights will honor their seven seniors before Saturday's game. See below for notes on the class.
RU picked up its 25
th win of the season on Tuesday with a 4-3 decision over Monmouth, making it six more victories than last season. Fifth-year senior
Chris Folinusz hit a single, a double and homered to highlight the offensive production, while redshirt sophomore
Tommy Genuario earned a four-out save. It improved the Scarlet Knights to 12-7 at home this season and 18-9 in non-conference action.
Folinusz now has 19 multiple-hit games to lead the team and is hitting .312 with a .429 slugging percentage in Big Ten play. Junior
Luke Bowerbank paces the lineup with a .308 overall batting average, while senior
Kyle Walker has a .415 on-base percentage and junior
Carmen Sclafani owns a .433 slugging percentage.
Senior
John O'Reilly is set to make his final start in front of the home crowd, holding a 2.76 ERA in 29.1 innings at Bainton Field this season. The team has won each of his four home starts. Junior
Serafino Brito takes the game two role for the first time since the opening weekend at Miami. He set a new career high with six strikeouts over 4.1 innings of relief at Maryland on Sunday. The right-hander is tied for second among Big Ten pitchers with 25 appearances this year.
SENIOR NOTES
Karl Blum: Transferred to Rutgers for final season as a graduate student … has made 18 appearances with seven starts … pitched a career-best five innings at Purdue with no earned runs allowed … owns two saves.
Chris Folinusz: Has 141 games of experience … a two-time Academic All-Big Ten selection … has 19 multiple-hit games this year and a team-high 57 hits overall … owns 72 career RBIs and 126 hits … named Third Team All-Big Ten in 2017.
Milo Freeman: Leads the team with 171 games of experience … has a .826 OPS this season with homers against Illinois and FIU … owns 129 career hits and 59 RBIs … a two-time Academic All-Big Ten selection.
AJ Gallagher: Has played in seven games this season as a backup catcher … named Academic All-Big Ten in 2017 … had a two-run double in last season's victory at Lafayette.
John O'Reilly: Ranks second in program history with 48 career starts, fourth with 293.0 innings and seventh with 171 strikeouts … started every series opener as a senior … pitched a complete game with no earned runs allowed to beat Penn State … a two-time Academic All-Big Ten selection.
Kyle Walker: Has played in 137 career games with 86 starts … owns 44 career RBIs and 50 walks … hit .375 in non-conference games this season … leads team with a .415 on-base percentage overall as a senior … a two-time Big Ten Distinguished Scholar.
Ryan Wares: Has appeared in 56 career games … logged 70.1 innings … made first start against Monmouth on Tuesday and worked three innings to tie career-long outing … named Academic All-Big Ten in 2017.
TEAM NOTES
Rutgers has turned 48 double plays, ranked No. 19 nationally and first in the Big Ten, after spinning 38 last season … the Scarlet Knights are 19-5 this season when scoring six or more runs in a game and 54-14 since 2016 … the pitchers have held opponents to two or less runs in a game 10 times this year after doing that four times in all of 2017 … the offense is up to 111 RBIs with two outs … RU has 81 stolen bases as a team, seventh-most in a season in program history … Rutgers has played 13 previous games against a team appearing in a national poll … a total of 29 players on the roster are from New Jersey.
THE OPPONENT
Minnesota enters the final week of Big Ten play one game ahead of Michigan in the standings. The Golden Gophers are ranked No. 11 in the latest
Baseball America poll with an RPI of 18, beating St. John's in midweek action on Tuesday. The offense leads the Big Ten with a .301 average, while the pitchers are second at a 3.27 ERA. Terrin Vavra paces the lineup with a .401 batting average and Ben Mezzenga has a .483 on-base percentage. Reggie Meyer has 13 starts with a 3.35 ERA and 48 strikeouts.
Minnesota leads the series over Rutgers, 6-5, dating back to 1991. Rutgers took 2-of-3 in the first Big Ten meetings between the teams at Bainton Field in 2015. Last season, the Scarlet Knights had their flight canceled to postpone the matchups in Minneapolis to the last week of schedule, as the Golden Gophers won both ends of a rescheduled doubleheader.
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