PISCATAWAY, N.J. - After hitting the road the first six weekends of the season and playing 20 true road games overall, Rutgers baseball will stay home to host Indiana in a three-game Big Ten series starting Friday at Bainton Field. Click here for parking information at Bainton Field.

SCOUTING RUTGERS
The Scarlet Knights are coming off a midweek home-and-home split against Monmouth, taking the Tuesday game 20-4 at Bainton Field behind 22 hits. It was the most runs and hits for the team since 2010. Prior to that, RU opened Big Ten play on the road at Michigan State and led in all three games, but took three losses.

Indiana will be the fifth different Big Ten opponent to visit since Rutgers joined the conference last season. The Scarlet Knights have won all three home games this year and nine of the last 10 dating back to 2015. That included a home series win over then-No. 13 Iowa to close out conference play last season.

In midweek action, junior Mike Carter (Bloomfield, N.J.) went 6-for-8 against Monmouth with three doubles and four RBIs. Since reentering the lineup five games ago, the outfielder is hitting 12-for-21 (.571). Classmate Christian Campbell (Sayreville, N.J.) also made an impact in his first hitting action of the season with four hits in two starts at second base. Freshman Mike Martinez (West New York, N.J.) and junior Tom Marcinczyk (Middlesex, N.J.) additionally added four hits each this week, as Martinez blasted two home runs Tuesday. Fifth-year senior Chris Suseck (Flemington, N.J.) popped a homer as well.

For the season, senior R.J. Devish (Beachwood, N.J.) leads the Scarlet Knights, the Big Ten and ranks No. 16 with a .529 on-base percentage. The catcher is also tied for first in the conference with seven times being hit by pitch, tied for second with 25 runs, tied for fourth with nine stolen bases, sixth with 17 walks and seventh with a .392 batting average. Marcinczyk paces the team in RBIs (22) and home runs (4), sitting seventh and tied for 12th among Big Ten players, respectively.

Rutgers ranks 14th in the country with 49 stolen bases as a team so far this season, outpacing all other league teams by 12. Freshman Jawuan Harris (Pembroke Pines, Fla.) leads the attack with 19 swipes in 20 attempts to lead the conference and be No. 7 nationally. After Devish's nine, Marcinczyk has eight steals in as many tries and Martinez has four.

NJ.com: "Harris is stealing the show for baseball team"



Head coach Joe Litterio will stick with the usual starting pitching rotation: senior Howie Brey (Middletown, N.J.), redshirt junior Kyle Driscoll (Toms River, N.J.) and sophomore John O'Reilly (Northvale, N.J.). In all road starts this season, the trio has combined for a 4.01 ERA over 94.1 innings. Brey went 6.1 innings with four runs allowed at Michigan State last week, having worked 39.1 innings this season to rank third in the Big Ten. The left-hander has not permitted a stolen base in 126.1 innings, the longest streak of its kind in the nation. Driscoll has struck out 17 over his last three starts, while O'Reilly left with the lead last time out. He fanned a season-high six batters versus the Spartans.

NOTABLE
Rutgers holds a .427 team batting average with 14.7 runs per home game this season ... the team is 124-67-1 at Bainton Field since it opened in 2007 ... the five opponents Rutgers has played in a three-game weekend series (Miami, George Mason, Old Dominion, Florida Atlantic, Michigan State) have combined for a 83-33 record so far this season ... the catchers have combined for just two passed balls ... the seventh inning has been the most productive with 25 runs across, while 24 have scored in the fourth ... eight different Scarlet Knights have hit at least one home run ... six of the wins this season have come by five runs or more ... Rutgers is 7-0 when out-hitting opponents ... Devish is hitting .391 with runners in scoring position and has reached 18-of-36 times leading off an inning ... Rutgers has played 11 games decided by two runs or less ... the Scarlet Knights are averaging 2.04 steal per game (10th nationally), including 13 games with multiple swipes ... the offense has reached double-digit hits eight times and at least 10 runs in five games.

SCOUTING INDIANA
The Hoosiers enter the weekend having won five of last seven games, but have yet to play a Big Ten game this season and are 3-5 in road contests. Last time out, IU took a 5-0 loss at home against Cincinnati. Ryan Fineman leads the team with a .324 batting average, while Brian Wilhite is the reigning Big Ten Player of the Week with five homers and 24 RBIs on the season. Friday starter Kyle Hart has five wins in six starts and has pitched to a 1.86 ERA. Indiana has a team batting average of .267 and a 2.40 staff ERA.

Head coach Chris Lemonis is in his second season leading the Hoosiers after spending the eight previous seasons as an assistant at Louisville. Click here for more information on Indiana baseball.

THE SERIES
Indiana will be making its first visit to Rutgers, but does lead the all-time series, 5-0, with games in 1934, 1937 and 2015. In the three-game series last April at Bart Kaufman Field, IU won 4-3, 6-0 and 5-4.

UP NEXT
The Scarlet Knights will continue a six-game homestand with a 3:30 p.m. Wednesday game versus Fordham.

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