April 20, 2015
PISCATAWAY, N.J. -- Rutgers baseball will wrap up a stretch of six consecutive home games with a pair of 3:30 p.m. contests this week at Bainton Field. The Scarlet Knights will host Wagner Tuesday before welcoming Saint Peter's Wednesday. The Tuesday game will be broadcast on WRSU 88.7 FM. It starts the sixth consecutive week with five games on the schedule.
| Rutgers (12-26-1) vs. Wagner (16-14) & Saint Peter's (6-24-1) |
| Game 40 vs. Wagner | April 21 - 3:30 p.m. ET |
| Probable Pitching Matchup | Rutgers - RHP John O'Reilly (3-1, 3.16 ERA) vs.
Wagner - RHP Austin Goeke (1-1, 4.56 ERA) |
| Coverage | WRSU | |
| Game 41 vs. Saint Peter's | April 22 - 3:30 p.m. ET |
| Probable Pitching Matchup | Rutgers - RHP Kevin Baxter (2-1, 6.46 ERA) vs.
Saint Peter's - TBA |
| Coverage | |
SCOUTING RUTGERS
The Scarlet Knights (12-26-1, 5-10) will look to return to the win column after dropping three over the weekend to Michigan State in Big Ten play. Freshman Milo Freeman (Millburn, N.J.) led RU with five hits on the weekend, while junior R.J. Devish (Beachwood, N.J.) and sophomore Tom Marcinczyk (Middlesex, N.J.) had four. Junior Chris Suseck (Flemington, N.J.) drove in four runs in the series.
For the season, Marcinczyk leads Rutgers at .317/.407/.507 and has connected for five home runs. He has reached base safely in 31 of the past 32 games. Suseck joins Marcinczyk for the team lead with 24 RBIs, while senior Joe D'Annunzio (Scotch Plains, N.J.) has scored 28 runs and stole 12 bases.
On the mound, freshman John O'Reilly (Northvale, N.J.) and sophomore Kevin Baxter (Waterford, N.J.) are slated to make the midweek starts once again. O'Reilly has worked to a 3.16 ERA in his rookie season over 37 innings, as Tuesday will be his sixth start. The right-hander previously faced Wagner this season and permitted one run and three hits over seven innings. Baxter is coming off a win over Columbia, the two-time defending Ivy League champions. He went 6.1 innings and struck out a career-high five batters.
Out of the bullpen, senior Jon Young (Old Bridge, N.J.) leads the staff with 17 appearances and a 2.18 ERA. He went a season-long three innings Sunday versus Michigan State.
NOTABLE
Rutgers is 11-2 in games when leading after six innings and 8-2 when scoring at least six runs in a game this season ... RU has 54 steals in 39 games this year after posting 59 in 55 games in 2014 ... the Scarlet Knights have hit 13 homers this season in 39 games, having hit 14 all of last season ... Rutgers is 37th nationally and second in the Big Ten with 20 sacrifice flies ... thirty-two of the 35 players on the roster hail from the state of New Jersey.
SCOUTING WAGNER
The Seahawks (16-14, 5-3) of the Northeast Conference are coming off a four-game non-conference split against NJIT. Nick Dini leads the offense with a .366 average, while Ben Ruta has blasted three home runs to go with 26 RBIs. The pitching staff has worked to a 4.54 ERA over 30 games so far.
Jim Carone is in his fourth season at the helm of Wagner, who won 11-4 against Rutgers on April 7.
SCOUTING SAINT PETER'S
The Peacocks (6-24-1, 5-7) of the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference took their most recent series over Iona on the road and will host Fairleigh Dickinson Tuesday before meeting the Scarlet Knights. Jon Kristoffersen leads the team with four triples, while the pitchers hold a 7.61 ERA.
T.J. Baxter is in his first full season as head coach after serving as acting head coach last year. RU beat Saint Peter's, 7-5, in the last meeting at Bainton Field May 6, 2014.
UP NEXT
Rutgers will take a conference bye and play Seton Hall over the weekend, starting on the road Friday. The Saturday game will be at Bainton Field and the Sunday contest will be at the home of the Somerset Patriots (TD Bank Ballpark). Click here for ticket information for the finale.
Follow Rutgers Athletics on Facebook and Twitter (@RUAthletics) for all of the latest news and updates. For specific updates regarding baseball, follow the program on Twitter (@BaseballRU), Instagram (@rutgersbaseball) and Tumblr.
