April 13, 2015
PISCATAWAY, N.J. -- Rutgers baseball will step out of conference to play a Tuesday road game at Lafayette before hosting Columbia Wednesday at Bainton Field. First pitch for both contests is set for 3:30 p.m. It will start the fifth consecutive week for the Scarlet Knights with five scheduled games. Wednesday's home game versus the Lions will be broadcast on WRSU.
| Rutgers (11-23, 5-7) at Lafayette (7-18, 5-7), vs. Columbia (19-11, 10-2) |
| Game 35 at Lafayette | April 14 - 3:30 p.m. ET |
| Probable Pitching Matchup | Rutgers - RHP John O'Reilly (3-1, 3.09 ERA) vs.
Lafayette - RHP Trevor Houck (0-3, 11.37 ERA) |
| Coverage | Video | |
| Game 36 vs. Columbia | April 15 - 3:30 p.m. ET |
| Probable Pitching Matchup | Rutgers - RHP Kevin Baxter (1-1, 7.03 ERA) vs.
Columbia - TBA |
| Coverage | WRSU | |
SCOUTING RUTGERS
The Scarlet Knights (11-23, 5-7) will look to return to the win column after dropping three at Indiana over the weekend in Big Ten play. The first and last games of the series were decided by one run.
Senior Joe D'Annunzio (Scotch Plains, N.J.) led RU with four hits against the Hoosiers, including a game-tying triple in the eighth inning on Friday. He is now tied for seventh in school history with 12 three-baggers in his career. Senior Vinny Zarrillo (Forked River, N.J.) and junior Chris Suseck (Flemington, N.J.) have also been productive of late with 12 hits each over their last 10 games. Rutgers is up to 51 stolen bases this season, with 15 over the last six games.
On the mound, Rutgers will send freshman John O'Reilly (Northvale, N.J.) and sophomore Kevin Baxter (Waterford, N.J.) to the start this week. O'Reilly left in line to win last week with one run and three hits permitted over a season-long seven innings versus Wagner. He has worked to a 3.09 ERA over 32 innings in his rookie season. Also a right-hander, Baxter took a no-decision last time out at Fordham with four innings of work.
NOTABLE
Rutgers is 10-2 in games when leading after six innings and 7-1 when scoring at least six runs in a game this season ... RU has 51 steals in 34 games this year after posting 59 in 55 games in 2014 ... the defense has played errorless baseball 12 times ... the offense has collected double-digit hits 13 times ... thirty-two of the 35 players on the roster hail from the state of New Jersey.
SCOUTING LAFAYETTE
The Leopards (7-18, 5-7) of the Patriot League are coming off a losing three games in a four-game weekend set at Navy. Tyler Hudson leads the bats with a .325 average, while Steven Cohen has blasted four home runs. Right-hander Trevor Houch is slated to make his fourth start of the season on the mound and fifth overall. Head coach Joe Kinney is in his 16th season.
Rutgers leads the series over Lafayette, 66-27, including a pair of wins last season. The Scarlet Knights won 14-8 in their last trip to Kamine Stadium in 2013.
SCOUTING COLUMBIA
The Lions (19-11, 10-2) are the two-time defending Ivy League champions and went 3-1 at Princeton last weekend. Led by Joe Falcone (.342) and Jordan Serena (.339), the offense is hitting .289 this season. Nick Maguire joins Falcone with five homers on the year. Columbia could use an assortment of pitchers in the game Wednesday. Head coach Brett Boretti is in his 10th season.
Rutgers has split its last four meetings with Columbia.
UP NEXT
Rutgers will return to Big Ten play with a three-game series starting Friday versus Michigan State at Bainton Field. All three of the weekend set will be broadcast on BTN Plus and WRSU.
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