March 10, 2016
PISCATAWAY, N.J. - Beginning a seven-game spring break trip, Rutgers baseball will play a three-game series at No. 16 Florida Atlantic starting Friday at FAU Baseball Stadium. The Scarlet Knights will also head to Florida Gulf Coast and Navy as part of their trek.
| Rutgers (5-6) at No. 16 Florida Atlantic (11-1) - Boca Raton, Fla. |
| Game 12 | March 11 - 6:30 p.m. ET |
| Probable Pitching Matchup | Rutgers - LHP Howie Brey (1-2, 2.84 ERA)
Florida Atlantic - RHP David McKay (2-1, 4.40 ERA) |
| Coverage | | Video ($) |
| Game 13 | March 12 - 4 p.m. |
| Probable Pitching Matchup | Rutgers - RHP Kyle Driscoll (0-2, 5.02 ERA)
Florida Atlantic - LHP Brandon Rhodes (3-0, 0.90 ERA) |
| Coverage | | Video ($) |
| Game 14 | March 13 - Noon ET |
| Probable Pitching Matchup | Rutgers - RHP John O'Reilly (0-1, 5.27 ERA)
Florida Atlantic - RHP Marc Stewart (2-0, 0.50 ERA) |
| Coverage | | Video ($) |
SCOUTING RUTGERS
The Scarlet Knights will travel to Florida for the second time this season to face a ranked opponent, as the team began the year at No. 4 Miami. RU has played a game in the Sunshine State in each of the last 34 seasons.
Last time out on Wednesday, Rutgers picked up a 13-8 win over Iona at Bainton Field. Nine different players picked up a hit, with fifth-year senior Chris Suseck (Flemington, N.J.), junior Gaby Rosa (Perth Amboy, N.J.) and freshman Jawuan Harris (Pembroke Pines, Fla.) each having two. Harris hit his first career home run to highlight six extra-base knocks for the hosts. On the mound, freshman Dante Scafidi (Washington Township, N.J.) made his first career start and turned in three scoreless innings. Redshirt juniors Kevin Baxter (Waterford, N.J.) and Max Herrmann (Rutherford, N.J.) collected the win and save, respectively.
Senior R.J. Devish (Beachwood, N.J.), currently on a 10-game on-base and six-game hitting streak, continues to pace the Big Ten and ranks 16th nationally with a .587 on-base percentage. He also is second in the league with 10 walks, tied for third with 12 runs and fifth with a .406 batting average. Suseck has also gotten off to a strong start at a .372 average, leading the team with five multiple-hit games. Junior Tom Marcinczyk (Middlesex, N.J.) is up to 10 RBIs, which is the most in the lineup and tied for seventh in the conference.
On the base paths, Rutgers is 23-for-25 on stolen base attempts, tops in the Big Ten and No. 24 in the country. Harris is the league leader (16th nationally) at eight, while Devish has five. Both Marcinczyk and freshman Luke Bowerbank (Bernardsville, N.J.) took two bases versus Iona to push the team total to six in the game.
Head coach Joe Litterio will stick with the same pitching rotation for the fourth-straight weekend: senior Howie Brey (Middletown, N.J.), redshirt junior Kyle Driscoll (Toms River, N.J.) and sophomore John O'Reilly (Northvale, N.J.). Brey went seven innings last time out at Old Dominion and allowed two earned runs to bring his ERA down to 2.84 for the season. The left-hander has pitched 19.0 innings this season, tied for fourth-most in the Big Ten, and 210.0 in his career. Driscoll will make his 18th career start on Saturday, having worked 14.1 innings so far this season. Wrapping up the weekend, O'Reilly will take his spot after tossing six innings with two runs permitted at ODU. He has picked up 1.58 groundouts per fly out so far this season, inducing three double plays.
NOTABLE
The series at FAU marks the fourth of six road weekends to start the year … the Scarlet Knights last won a series versus a ranked opponent in May 2015 at home versus then-No. 13 Iowa … the last road series win over a ranked team was in March 2013 at then-No. 4 Louisville … the pitching staff has worked to a 4.11 ERA through 11 games, 4.49 runs better than at the same point last season … along the same lines, the team batting average is up .037 and the on-base percentage up .035 … Brey has pitched 106.0 consecutive innings without allowing a stolen base dating back to 2014, the longest streak of its kind in the nation … Devish is the only Rutgers catcher this century to bat leadoff in a game, having done it eight times this season … the offense has reached double-digit runs three times … the seventh inning has been the most productive with 18 runs across … six different Scarlet Knights have hit one home run … the team is 3-1 when scoring first.
SCOUTING FLORIDA ATLANTIC
A member of Conference USA, the Owls have won 11 of their first 12 games to start the season to earn a No. 16 ranking by Collegiate Baseball. That includes two wins this week over Saint Joseph's this week by the scores of 1-0 and 4-1. The only setback this year was a 13-11 loss to Georgetown. Offensively, FAU is outscoring opponents, 91-35, with a team batting average of .321. The pitchers have worked to a 2.08 ERA, 13th-best in the nation.
Head coach John McCormack is in his eighth season at the helm, guiding the team to a 42-19 mark last season. Click here for the FAU weekend preview.
THE SERIES
Rutgers trails the all-time series to FAU, 20-7, with the first contest being played in 1985. The Owls took all three games last year, but the Scarlet Knights did take two-of-three in the prior series in 2012.
UP NEXT
The Scarlet Knights will head over to Fort Myers, Fla., to face Florida Gulf Coast in a two-game midweek series starting Tuesday. Both games will start at 6:30 p.m.
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