PISCATAWAY, N.J. -- After playing the last two weekends at home, Rutgers baseball returns to the road to face Indiana in a three-game series starting Friday at Bart Kaufman Field. The Scarlet Knights previously spent 11 days and participated in eight games in the state of Indiana over spring break in March.

RU enters the weekend as one of five teams in the Big Ten with a winning league record through three conference weekends at 5-4. The Hoosiers sit at 2-6. The series will air on BTN Plus.

SCOUTING RUTGERS
The Scarlet Knights (11-20, 5-4) played their first road game since March 22 on Wednesday and won 10-4 at Fordham. All 10 offensive players reached base in a balanced attack, with freshman Kyle Walker (Piscataway, N.J.) collecting three hits and junior Chris Suseck (Flemington, N.J.) delivering a three-run double to break open the game. In addition, senior Vinny Zarrillo (Forked River, N.J.) produced his 200th collegiate hit. On the mound, sophomore Christian Campbell (Sayreville, N.J.) made his first appearance since Feb. 15 and recorded three hitless innings of relief to earn the win.

In its latest Big Ten action, RU took a series over Minnesota at Bainton Field. The teams split a Saturday doubleheader before Rutgers rallied from a 5-3 deficit in the rubber game to win 6-5. The Scarlet Knights also own two victories over Purdue and one against Ohio State.

For the season, sophomore Tom Marcinczyk (Middlesex, N.J.) paces the bats with a .336/.430/.531 slash line over 31 games. He has slugged four home runs and reached base safely in each of the past 25 games. Suseck leads the way in league games with a .371 average on 13 hits, while Zarrillo has 14 hits versus conference competition. The Scarlet Knights have stolen 15 bases in Big Ten games -- second-most -- and 15 over the last six games overall. Senior Joe D'Annunzio (Scotch Plains, N.J.) holds the team high with 12 in 14 tries, as junior R.J. Devish (Beachwood, N.J.) is perfect on nine attempts this season.

Rutgers will stay with the same pitching rotation of junior Mark McCoy (Barnegat, N.J.), junior Howie Brey (Middletown, N.J.) and sophomore Gaby Rosa (Perth Amboy, N.J.) for the fourth-straight conference series. McCoy earned his first college win last time out versus Minnesota with one earned run allowed over five innings. The left-hander struck out a season-high six batters. Following up, Brey will look to bounce back, but pitch seven effective innings in his last road start at Purdue. Rosa stays in the Sunday spot after taking a no-decision against the Golden Gophers. The right-hander continues to induce pop flies with an average of 13.88 outs picked up through the air per appearance. He is also eighth in the Big Ten with a .209 average against in three conference starts.

Out of the bullpen, senior Jon Young (Old Bridge, N.J.) picked up his 10th career save in the finale versus Minnesota. He has worked to a 2.70 ERA over 13 appearances this year. Freshman Ryan Wares (Howell, N.J.) leads the relievers with 22 strikeouts over 19.2 innings.

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 ... four of the past five games have lasted at least three hours ... Suseck went 5-for-7 in the two recent midweek games ... Zarrillo is the most experienced player on the team with 184 career games and 168 starts ... five of Walker's 12 hits this season have come with a runner in scoring position ... Marcinczyk and Zarrillo each have eight two-out RBIs ... RU has 46 steals in 31 games this year after posting 59 in 55 games in 2014 ... D'Annunzio is tied for eighth in program history with 11 career triples ... the defense has played errorless baseball 10 times ... the offense has collected double-digit hits 12 times ... the Scarlet Knights have hit 12 homers this season in 31 games, needing 49 games to reach that mark last year ... Rutgers has played seven games against a ranked opponent ... the team has is coming off a stretch of 15 games in 20 days ... thirty-two of the 35 players on the roster hail from the state of New Jersey.

SCOUTING INDIANA
The Hoosiers (18-11, 2-6) are coming off a 5-4 home midweek loss to Cincinnati after dropping the series to Michigan last weekend, 2-1. IU does own a series sweep earlier this year over then-No. 12 Cal State Fullerton and is the defending Big Ten regular season and tournament champions. Indiana was 21-3 in conference play a season ago and the No. 4 overall seed in the 2014 NCAA Tournament.

Craig Dedelow leads the offense with a .339 average and a .534 slugging percentage, while Isaiah Pasteur has connected for a team-leading four home runs. The Hoosiers are hitting .281 as a unit and have stolen 28 bases in 34 tries. On the mound, left-hander Caleb Barager will make the Friday start and has worked to a 2.22 ERA in seven games (five starts). Ryan Halstead has converted six saves, as the staff has worked to a 3.41 ERA overall.

Head coach Chris Lemonis is in his first season at the helm of the program after serving as an assistant at Louisville for eight seasons. Click here for more information on Indiana baseball.

THE SERIES
Rutgers and Indiana havenot met since the 1930s. The Hoosiers won in both 1934 and 1937.

UP NEXT
Rutgers will play Lafayette (away) and Columbia (home) in midweek action before hosting Michigan State at Bainton Field for another Big Ten weekend series. All three games versus the Spartans will air on BTN Plus and WRSU.

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