PISCATAWAY, N.J. -- After taking the field for six consecutive non-conference games, Rutgers baseball will resume Big Ten play with a three-game series at Penn State starting Friday. The Scarlet Knights and Nittany Lions will reunite in conference play for the first time since 1991, as the programs were formally both members of the Atlantic 10.

RU will make its Big Ten Network debut in the Saturday contest scheduled for 1:30 p.m. with Andy Masur and Jerry Kindall on the call. The Friday game (6:30 p.m.) will be available via BTN Plus.

SCOUTING RUTGERS
In midweek action, the Scarlet Knights took on past Big East rival Villanova on the road Wednesday, but lost, 7-2, after leaving 12 runners on base. Freshman John O'Reilly (Northvale, N.J.) pitched five innings against the Wildcats without permitting an earned run to lower this ERA to 3.00, the lowest amongst all qualifying Big Ten freshmen pitchers. Rutgers had previously faced another old rival last weekend, winning two-of-three over Seton Hall. Juniors Mark McCoy (Barnegat, N.J.) and Howie Brey (Middletown, N.J.) both turned in victorious starts versus the Pirates, while the bullpen tossed five scoreless innings to nail down the first two games. RU has now won four of the last five weekend series against SHU.

For the season, sophomore Tom Marcinczyk (Middlesex, N.J.) leads Rutgers at .315/.405/.481 to go with five home runs and 25 RBIs. The outfielder has reached base in 36 of the past 37 games played. In league games, freshman Milo Freeman (Millburn, N.J.) paces the Scarlet Knights with a .375 average, while senior Joe D'Annunzio (Scotch Plains, N.J.) has slugged at a .542 clip. D'Annunzio leads the Big Ten and is tied for third nationally with seven triples, which is second-most in school history for a season. Senior Vinny Zarrillo (Forked River, N.J.) is the only Scarlet Knight to start all 44 games and has 214 career hits, needing three to break into the top-10 on the program record book.

Rutgers is second in the Big Ten with 63 stolen bases on the season, with D'Annunzio (12), junior R.J. Devish (Beachwood, N.J.) (12) and junior Chris Suseck (Flemington, N.J.) (12) all with double-digit totals. The team total is the most for the program since swiping 86 in 2010.

Rutgers will stay with the same pitching rotation McCoy, Brey and sophomore Gaby Rosa (Perth Amboy, N.J.) for the seventh-straight weekend. McCoy picked up a road win last time out versus Seton Hall with two runs allowed over six innings. Eighteen of his 38 strikeouts this season have been called, as he has also picked off three. Brey leads the staff with 61.1 innings and has worked at least seven frames in five of his last six starts. He owns 11 career victories. Set to make the start in the series finale, Rosa will look to bounce back, but did beat Purdue with one run allowed over six innings March 22.

In relief, senior Jon Young (Old Bridge, N.J.) leads the staff with 18 appearances, finishing the game 16 times. He is tied for sixth in school history with 11 saves and sports a 2.08 ERA for the year. Click here and here for recent feature stories on the right-hander.

NOTABLE
Rutgers begins May after going 10-1 in regular season games in the month last season ... RU is 14-2 in games when leading after six innings this season and 9-2 when scoring at least six runs in a game ... the offense has collected double-digit hits 16 times, including the last three games ... the defense has played errorless baseball 15 times ... the Scarlet Knights have matched last season's home run total of 14 ... the team is 15-3 in the last four seasons when hitting multiple homers in a game ... junior John Jennings (Berkeley Heights, N.J.) holds the current team lead with a 13-game active on-base streak ... Freeman holds a seven-game hitting streak and has reached base 52 percent of the time when leading off an inning ... Marcinczyk leads with 15 multiple-hit games ... freshman Kyle Walker (Piscataway, N.J.) leads qualifying batters on the team with a .375 average with runners in scoring position and has scored a runner from third with less than two outs in eight-of-nine opportunities ... Devish has thrown out 13 runners attempting to steal ... RU has scored more in the fifth inning (33) than any other frame ... D'Annunzio has 14 career triples, ranked tied for second in the school record books and tied eighth amongst all active players in Division I baseball ... Rutgers has played 10 games against teams that have appeared in the national rankings this season ... thirty-two of the 35 players on the roster hail from the state of New Jersey.

SCOUTING PENN STATE
The Nittany Lions are coming off an 8-7 midweek win over Pittsburgh, but dropped all three to Illinois in a home series last weekend. The team owns Big Ten wins over Minnesota and Michigan. Offensively, Aaron Novak leads the bats with a .331 average, while Greg Guers has blasted six home runs. The pitching staff has worked to a 5.07 ERA for the season.

Head coach Rob Cooper is in his second season at the helm of the program. Click here for more on Penn State baseball.

THE SERIES
Rutgers trails the series against Penn State, 29-32, but has won 14 of the last 18 meetings. The programs used to both be part of the Atlantic 10, as RU won 12-6 in last conference meeting in the 1991 A10 Tournament. The teams last met in 2009 and split a four-game set played at Florida Atlantic, with Charlie Law hitting a home run over the batter's eye in centerfield to highlight the series for RU. In 2000, PSU traveled to New Jersey to be part of the NCAA Regional that the Scarlet Knights hosted in Upper Montclair. Also worth noting, current director of operations Glen Gardner hit a home run against Penn State to help sweep a 1987 series.

UP NEXT
Rutgers will resume its halted game versus Saint Peter's Tuesday at 1 p.m. before playing another regularly scheduled contest versus the Peacocks at Bainton Field. The next Big Ten series is at No. 6 Illinois.

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