| Rutgers (18-6, 2-1) vs. Minnesota (8-15, 0-0) |
| Game 1 |
April 1 - 2:00 p.m. |
| Probable Pitching Matchup |
Rutgers - RHP Jared Kollar (4-0, 2.60 ERA)
Minnesota - RHP Sam Ireland (3-0, 2.41 ERA) |
| Coverage |
B1G+ | Live Stats |
| Game 2 |
April 2 - 1:00 p.m. |
| Probable Pitching Matchup |
Rutgers - RHP Nathan Florence (3-1, 3.60 ERA)
Minnesota - RHP J.P. Massey (2-2, 5.53 ERA) |
| Coverage |
B1G+ | Live Stats |
| Game 3 |
April 3 - 11:00 a.m. |
| Probable Pitching Matchup |
Rutgers - LHP Justin Sinibaldi (1-0, 4.02 ERA)
Minnesota - RHP Aidan Maldonado (1-2, 4.18 ERA) |
| Coverage |
B1G+ | Live Stats |
| Rutgers Links |
Notes | Schedule | Fact Book | Statistics | App |
PISCATAWAY, N.J. – The Rutgers baseball team welcomes Minnesota to town this weekend for its Big Ten home opening series. The Scarlet Knights are coming off two midweek wins over NJIT and Saint Peter's, while the Golden Gophers will be playing their first Big Ten series of the season after sweeping Western Illinois last weekend.
Rutgers currently ranks first among Big Ten teams in walks (125), batting average (.328), doubles (65), doubles/game (2,71), fielding percentage (.979), hits (300), OBP (.423), runs (219), runs/game (9.1), shutouts (4), SLG% (.509), OPS (.932) and WHIP (1.25). RU's marks of batting average (6th), doubles (7th), doubles/game (6th), hits (3rd) and shutouts (5th) are all top-10 in the nation.
All three games will be streamed via Big Ten Plus, with Dom Savino and Joe Godri on the call.
- Rutgers cruised to a 17-1 victory over Saint Peter's on Wednesday, with Ryan Lasko, Nick Cimillo, Tony Santa Maria and Chris Brito all hitting home runs. Freshmen pitchers Wyatt Parliament (W, 5.0 IP), Matt Rowe and Jared Mazza combined to hold the Peacocks to 1 run on six hits.
- On Tuesday, the Scarlet Knights defeated NJIT 11-1 behind home runs from Santa Maria and Brito, with strong efforts from Justin Sinibaldi (2.0 IP, 5 K), Kyle Muller (W, 3.0 IP, 4 K) and Nate McLain (2.1 IP, 3 K) on the mound.
- Last weekend, Rutgers won two-of-three at Penn State in its first Big Ten series of the season, splitting a doubleheader on Friday before blowing out the Nittany Lions 20-6 in the finale on Saturday.
- The Scarlet Knights continue to be an offensive machine under hitting coach Kyle Pettoruto.
- Rutgers' team batting average of .328 is 34 points higher than the next-best Big Ten team (Maryland .294).
- Rutgers is one of just two Big Ten teams with an OBP over .400 and SLG% over .500
- Seven different qualified (2 PA/G) Scarlet Knights are batting over .300. All 10 qualified RU hitters have at least 10 RBI on the season.
- At .443, Nick Cimillo's batting average leads the conference and is 6th in the nation. He also leads the conference with a .545 OBP and 1.318 OPS.
- Nick Cimillo and Ryan Lasko are first and second in the Big Ten in hits (Cimillo 39, Lasko 36)
- Cimillo (1.318, 1st), Tony Santa Maria (1.158, 6th) and Danny DiGeorgio (1.098, 10th) are all in the top-10 in the Big Ten in OPS.
- Cimillo (C, 16th), DiGeorgio (SS, 27th) and Santa Maria (3B, 29th) were all ranked in the top 30 at their respective positions by D1 Baseball this past week.
- Under pitching coach Brendan Monaghan, Rutgers has made its mark as one of the top control teams in the country.
- RU is first in the Big Ten with a 1.25 WHIP and second with 3.82 Walks Allowed Per Nine Innings.
- Friday starter Jared Kollar has emerged as one of the top pitchers in the country. He is tops in the Big Ten with a 13.00 K/BB ration, 0.81 WHIP and 0.78 BB/9. His K/BB and BB/9 are each 6th-best in the country.
- The team has 10 games with at least 10 strikeouts this season with a high of 16 against Omaha on March
20.
- Dale Stanavich, a member of the NCBWA Stopper of the Year watch list, leads the Big Ten with five saves and has 25 strikeouts to just one walk in 14.0 IP.
- The three-headed bullpen monster of Stanavich (0.64/14.0 IP), Ben Gorski (1.84/14.2 IP) and Sam Bello (2.04/17.2 IP) has a combined ERA of 1.56 in 46.1 innings pitched.
- Sam Bello has not allowed an earned run in his last 11.0 innings pitched.
- Rutgers is 6-9 all-time against Minnesota and 3-6 since joining the Big Ten for the 2014-15 season.
