March 13, 2015
PISCATAWAY, N.J. - After earning a win in its home opener, Rutgers baseball returns to the road this weekend to play four games against three teams at Indiana State. The tournament begins an eight-game spring break trip for the Scarlet Knights in the state of Indiana.
RU will play a Saturday day-night doubleheader versus Central Michigan before a Sunday game versus Indiana State and a Monday contest against Canisius. Click here for Indiana State tournament central.
| Rutgers (2-9), Central Michigan (11-6), Indiana State (5-7), Canisius (6-9) - Terre Haute, Ind. |
| Game 12 vs. Central Michigan | March 14 - Noon ET |
| Probable Pitching Matchup | Rutgers - LHP Howie Brey (0-2, 5.74 ERA) vs.
Central Michigan - LHP Nick Deeg (2-1, 2.74 ERA) |
| Coverage | StatBroadcast | Live Stream |
| Game 13 vs. Central Michigan | March 14 - 6 p.m. ET |
| Probable Pitching Matchup | Rutgers - LHP Mark McCoy (0-1, 6.28 ERA) vs.
Central Michigan - RHP Jason Gamble (1-1, 3.06 ERA) |
| Coverage | StatBroadcast | Live Stream |
| Game 14 at Indiana State | March 15 - 2 p.m. ET |
| Probable Pitching Matchup | Rutgers - RHP Kyle Driscoll (0-2, 9.90 ERA) vs.
Indiana State - RHP Jeremy McKinney (1-2, 5.52 ERA) |
| Coverage | StatBroadcast | Live Stream |
| Game 15 vs. Canisius | March 16 - Noon ET |
| Probable Pitching Matchup | Rutgers - TBA vs.
Canisius - TBA |
| Coverage | | Live Stream |
SCOUTING RUTGERS
The Scarlet Knights (2-9) enter the weekend after earning a 12-3 win over Iona at Bainton Field on Wednesday. The offense collected a season-high 13 hits with eight of the nine starters registering at least a single. Senior Vinny Zarrillo (Forked River, N.J.) and sophomore Mike Carter (Bloomfield, N.J.) each drove in three runs, while RU stole a season-best four bases. Freshman John O'Reilly (Northvale, N.J.) recorded his first collegiate victory with three runs permitted over 5.2 innings on the mound.
Zarrillo leads the bats with a .317 average for the season and needs 25 more hits to reach 200 for his career. Junior R.J. Devish (Beachwood, N.J.) paces the lineup with a .400 on-base percentage, while sophomore Tom Marcinczyk (Middlesex, N.J.) has crushed two homers to accumulate a team-leading .462 slugging percentage.
Junior Howie Brey (Middletown, N.J.) will make his 15th career start to open the weekend, as the left-hander has held the opposition to a .233 average so far in 2015. Junior Mark McCoy (Barnegat, N.J.) and sophomore Kyle Driscoll (Toms River, N.J.) are set to follow in the rotation, with no starter announced yet for the Monday game versus Canisius. Senior Jon Young (Old Bridge, N.J.) leads the staff with five appearances out of the bullpen.
NOTABLE
RU does not have a home series until the seventh weekend of the season ... the Scarlet Knights have won their last 14 games at Bainton Field, holding the second-longest active home winning streak in the nation ... RU played errorless baseball in the field for the fourth time this season against Iona ... the offense has scored more times in the third inning than any other so far this season (9) and has won each time scoring double-digit runs ... Carter has reached base safely in 10 of the 11 games in 2015 and 35 of the last 37 dating back to last season ... RU has used 14 different pitchers on the mound this season ... thirty-two of the 35 players on the roster hail from the state of New Jersey.
SCOUTING THE OPPOSITION
Central Michigan (11-6) dropped a Thursday game to Indiana State in its last time out, being held to five hits. The Chippewas do own series wins over Florida Gulf Coast, Stetson, Texas State and Wichita State this season and have pitched to a 3.74 team ERA. Click here for more information on Central Michigan.
Host Indiana State improved to 5-7 with its win over Central Michigan. The Sycamores did earn an 8-1 victory over No. 1 Vanderbilt in week two of the season and are playing their first home games this weekend. Derek Hannahs leads the offense with a .404 average and a .532 slugging percentage. Click here for more information on Indiana State.
Canisius (6-9) won its home opener, 13-6, over Buffalo on Wednesday and earlier earned a series win over Appalachian State. The Golden Griffiths have six hitters batting over .300 for the season. Click here for more information on Canisius.
Rutgers has never previously faced any of the three teams.
UP NEXT
Rutgers continues its spring break trip with a Wednesday game at Ball State. Big Ten play then opens the following Friday at Purdue.
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