PISCATAWAY, N.J. - Rutgers baseball will open its 2016 season in a familiar setting, heading to Coral Gables, Fla., to face No. 4 Miami in a three-game series starting Friday at Alex Rodriguez Park. It will be the seventh time in eight years the Scarlet Knights begin the season against the Hurricanes and eighth consecutive campaign breaking the seal in South Florida (2014 began at FIU). All three games in weekend set will be broadcast online via ESPN3.

SCOUTING RUTGERS
The Scarlet Knights look to bounce back in 2016 after going 19-35-1 a year ago, including a 7-17 mark in their first trip around the Big Ten. This season's roster includes 20 returning letterwinners with 12 newcomers with head coach Joe Litterio entering his third season as the leader of the Scarlet Knights.



Offensively, RU is led by junior Tom Marcinczyk (Middlesex, N.J.), a Third Team All-Big Ten selection last season. The right fielder ranked seventh in the league in slugging percentage (.507), 15th in on-base percentage (.409) and tied for 10th in home runs (7). He also led Rutgers with a .325 average, 66 hits and 36 RBIs. In last year's first series, Marcinczyk blasted a home run at Miami. Classmate Mike Carter (Bloomfield, N.J.), a Big Ten Player to Watch as well, went a team-best 6-for-16 with two doubles in that series versus UM.

Senior Howie Brey (Middletown, N.J.) was the third Scarlet Knight to be named a Big Ten Player to Watch and will make the Opening Day start on the mound for the third-straight season. He becomes the first Rutgers pitcher to earn the honor three times in a row since current pitching coach Casey Gaynor did so from 2008-10. Brey recorded a career-high nine strikeouts last year versus Hurricanes over six innings, allowing just four hits and one earned run in the 107-pitch outing (no-decision). In his last start in 2015, the left-hander knocked off then-No. 13 Iowa with a complete-game effort that included 17 outs through the air. Following up in the rotation will be redshirt junior Kyle Driscoll (Toms River, N.J.) and sophomore John O'Reilly (Northvale, N.J.). Driscoll has averaged 8.5 strikeouts per nine innings over his 27 collegiate games, while O'Reilly led the staff with four wins last season.

Click here to read the full Rutgers baseball season preview.

NOTABLE
It will be the 34th consecutive season Rutgers opens the season on the road (last opened at home in 1982 versus Columbia) ... also the 34th straight year the team will play a game in the state of Florida ... this series marks the first of six weekends away to start the campaign ... dating back to last year, it will be the third-straight series for the Scarlet Knights against a ranked opponent (at No. 3 Illinois, vs. No. 13 Iowa) ... RU took two-of-three from the Hawkeyes at Bainton for a ranked series win, with the last series win on the road at a ranked opponent being at No. 4 Louisville in 2013 ... Brey pitched the most innings in the nation (80.2) last season without allowing a stolen base (0-for-4) ... before Jon Young made the start in the 2015 season finale for Senior Day, RU went a span of 109 games without a senior taking a start on the mound ... the Scarlet Knights were 17-2 last year when leading after six innings ... the team was third in the Big Ten with 73 stolen bases, tied for 10th-most in a season in program history ... the staff had 11 pickoffs, tied for second-most in the league.

SCOUTING MIAMI
The Hurricanes, who went 50-17 last season, are coming off a trip to the College World Series and enter 2016 as the favorite in the ACC Coastal Division. Ranked as high as No. 4 by Collegiate Baseball, UM returns 18 letterwinners to its roster, including Zack Collins. Collins hit .302 with 15 home runs and 70 RBIs last year and was recently named to the watch list for the Golden Spikes Award. On the mound, left-hander Thomas Woodrey will make the Opening Day start after going 7-2 with a 2.88 ERA over 103.0 innings in 2015.

Head coach Jim Morris is in 23rd season at the helm of the program and 35th overall. Click here for more on Miami baseball.

THE SERIES
Miami leads the all-time series 56-12 dating back to back to 1967, having won the last 11 meetings. The teams played a four-game set to start last year, with the Hurricanes taking all four. The last Rutgers victory came on Feb. 19, 2011 and the last series win occurred in 2002. The Scarlet Knights will be working to earn their first win on Opening Day since 2008 at Old Dominion.

UP NEXT
Rutgers will travel to Fairfax, Va., to take on George Mason in a three-game series starting Feb. 26. The teams have not met on the diamond since 1996.

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