Photo by: Rob Foldy
2018 Baseball Season Review
Jun 11 | Baseball
Scarlet Knights improve by six wins
PISCATAWAY, N.J. – Rutgers baseball made strides in 2018 with an improvement of six wins from the year before. The Scarlet Knights had a streak of six-straight series wins, winning seven-of-eight weekends during a stretch into mid-April. That included a 6-1 spring break trip in Florida that propelled the team to 12 victories in March, the most since 2001, and later to as high as seven games over .500 for the first time since 2012.
Pitching and defense were pinpointed in the preseason as areas to improve upon and that turned out to be the case. The staff lowered its season ERA from 6.11 to 4.82 and the gloves led the Big Ten with 50 double plays. The average of one twin killing per game ranked No. 11 in the country following the regular season. In addition, the defense committed 37 less errors to surrender 16 fewer unearned runs. At the plate, the Scarlet Knights picked up 111 RBIs with two outs for over two per game.
The theme of the season going back to fall practice was buying into a culture change. Head coach Joe Litterio hired Phil Cundari, who was the 2011 National Pitching Coach of the Year, to revitalize the pitching staff and former Manhattan head coach Jim Duffy to set the tone with an aggressive and energetic offensive approach. In the classroom, nine student-athletes earned Academic All-Big Ten honors.
Some of the notable victories included beating ranked foes in Miami, Florida Gulf Coast and Michigan. The series triumph over the Eagles helped Rutgers to six-straight wins over spring break, which started by sweeping the eventual Patriot League champion in Army. In conference play, the Scarlet Knights took the first two weekends, clinching the set against Penn State with a 1-0 thriller at Bainton Field. Then heading on the road, RU claimed both ends of a doubleheader at Michigan State. It was the first time since 2005 that the team swept an away league twinbill. Also worth stating, Rutgers came from behind to win a rubber game and top Nebraska in a series for the first time.
Litterio, who moved into third in the RU record books with 120 wins, offered thoughts on the campaign.
Takeaways from the season: "I think, first and foremost, the culture change we were able to do with the new coaching staff was important. That for me was a big goal. We set the tone for who we wanted to be and how we wanted it done; in all areas of the program. It went very well and you can see the changes throughout the season."
On areas of improvement: "Defense. I think that was a major push this year after last year and the number of errors we had. So pitching and defense was the main focus going into it. Obviously with coach Cundari on board you know that it is going to pay dividends right away and it did. He did a great job with the staff and piecing it together. Defensively, we turned a bunch of double plays. The big switch was moving Dan DiGeorgio over to shortstop and Kevin Welsh to second. That worked really well."
On two-out RBIs: "I think that was a big thing from coach Duffy. It is great to have him on staff and he is a high energy guy. The major thing that he was preaching was two-out energy and it seemed to snowball early. Guys were believing. We would have nobody on base with two outs and all of a sudden a base hit or a double and we are scoring runs. It caught fire, for most of the year, and we were able to produce those two-out RBIs. That obviously changes momentum for both sides."
On the success of spring break: "I think the spring break trip defined us this year, the team played together. We went to Florida and wound up sweeping a good Army team at the time, they were hot. They ended up just winning the Patriot League, so they are a very good ball club. That Friday night win sparked us to where we can play this way, win, have high energy and have some fun. I think that week showed us who we could be."
On pitchers stepping up: "That's just how this team is built and I think that is one of the things we set as a culture. We want a next-man-up mentality. We talked about grinding and this team knew how to grind and figure out how to win ball games. That is what the pitching staff did. We lost a few guys towards the middle of the year and coach Cundari did an outstanding job lining up guys to put them in position to be successful. That was a big part of our season."
On seniors leading the culture change: "That was of major importance. You have a bunch of seniors with a brand new staff and brand new culture and they took to it. If they had gone the other way, we would have had a tough year, but they embraced it and they ran with it."
Going forward: "We spoke with every one of the guys going into the summer and reinstated what we started in the fall. That's effort in the classroom, effort on the field and effort in the community. We want them going into summer leagues with that type of intensity. This is not time off, this is time to get better and I know that every guy understands what they are coming back to, the culture is set."
Follow Rutgers Athletics on Facebook and Twitter (@RUAthletics) for all of the latest news and updates. For specific updates regarding baseball, follow the program on Twitter (@RutgersBaseball), Instagram (@rutgersbaseball), Facebook (/BaseballRU) and Snapchat (rutgersbaseball). For additional updates, please download the Gameday App.
Pitching and defense were pinpointed in the preseason as areas to improve upon and that turned out to be the case. The staff lowered its season ERA from 6.11 to 4.82 and the gloves led the Big Ten with 50 double plays. The average of one twin killing per game ranked No. 11 in the country following the regular season. In addition, the defense committed 37 less errors to surrender 16 fewer unearned runs. At the plate, the Scarlet Knights picked up 111 RBIs with two outs for over two per game.
The theme of the season going back to fall practice was buying into a culture change. Head coach Joe Litterio hired Phil Cundari, who was the 2011 National Pitching Coach of the Year, to revitalize the pitching staff and former Manhattan head coach Jim Duffy to set the tone with an aggressive and energetic offensive approach. In the classroom, nine student-athletes earned Academic All-Big Ten honors.
Some of the notable victories included beating ranked foes in Miami, Florida Gulf Coast and Michigan. The series triumph over the Eagles helped Rutgers to six-straight wins over spring break, which started by sweeping the eventual Patriot League champion in Army. In conference play, the Scarlet Knights took the first two weekends, clinching the set against Penn State with a 1-0 thriller at Bainton Field. Then heading on the road, RU claimed both ends of a doubleheader at Michigan State. It was the first time since 2005 that the team swept an away league twinbill. Also worth stating, Rutgers came from behind to win a rubber game and top Nebraska in a series for the first time.
Litterio, who moved into third in the RU record books with 120 wins, offered thoughts on the campaign.
Takeaways from the season: "I think, first and foremost, the culture change we were able to do with the new coaching staff was important. That for me was a big goal. We set the tone for who we wanted to be and how we wanted it done; in all areas of the program. It went very well and you can see the changes throughout the season."
On areas of improvement: "Defense. I think that was a major push this year after last year and the number of errors we had. So pitching and defense was the main focus going into it. Obviously with coach Cundari on board you know that it is going to pay dividends right away and it did. He did a great job with the staff and piecing it together. Defensively, we turned a bunch of double plays. The big switch was moving Dan DiGeorgio over to shortstop and Kevin Welsh to second. That worked really well."
On two-out RBIs: "I think that was a big thing from coach Duffy. It is great to have him on staff and he is a high energy guy. The major thing that he was preaching was two-out energy and it seemed to snowball early. Guys were believing. We would have nobody on base with two outs and all of a sudden a base hit or a double and we are scoring runs. It caught fire, for most of the year, and we were able to produce those two-out RBIs. That obviously changes momentum for both sides."
On the success of spring break: "I think the spring break trip defined us this year, the team played together. We went to Florida and wound up sweeping a good Army team at the time, they were hot. They ended up just winning the Patriot League, so they are a very good ball club. That Friday night win sparked us to where we can play this way, win, have high energy and have some fun. I think that week showed us who we could be."
On pitchers stepping up: "That's just how this team is built and I think that is one of the things we set as a culture. We want a next-man-up mentality. We talked about grinding and this team knew how to grind and figure out how to win ball games. That is what the pitching staff did. We lost a few guys towards the middle of the year and coach Cundari did an outstanding job lining up guys to put them in position to be successful. That was a big part of our season."
On seniors leading the culture change: "That was of major importance. You have a bunch of seniors with a brand new staff and brand new culture and they took to it. If they had gone the other way, we would have had a tough year, but they embraced it and they ran with it."
Going forward: "We spoke with every one of the guys going into the summer and reinstated what we started in the fall. That's effort in the classroom, effort on the field and effort in the community. We want them going into summer leagues with that type of intensity. This is not time off, this is time to get better and I know that every guy understands what they are coming back to, the culture is set."
Follow Rutgers Athletics on Facebook and Twitter (@RUAthletics) for all of the latest news and updates. For specific updates regarding baseball, follow the program on Twitter (@RutgersBaseball), Instagram (@rutgersbaseball), Facebook (/BaseballRU) and Snapchat (rutgersbaseball). For additional updates, please download the Gameday App.
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