Photo by: Thomas Northcutt
Notebook: Baseball Takes the Field
Jan 25 | Baseball
PISCATAWAY, N.J. – With three weeks until the season opener at Miami, Rutgers baseball began team practice on Friday. The Scarlet Knights previously went through fall practice, offseason workouts and individual sessions leading up to the first official team practice of the spring season.
RU began with fielding work out on Bainton Field before moving inside to the Fred Hill Training Complex for live action. The facility fits a full infield to allow pitchers and hitters to match up, baserunners to make reads and infielders to react to balls in play.
"We have prepared all year for the season," head coach Joe Litterio said. "At this time, we want to fine tune, getting the pitchers to get their pitch counts up and have our hitters see living pitching.
"You cannot put a price on what we can do inside nowadays. We have been more prepared going to Miami than ever the past few years. People talk about the cages, which is great, but you're not getting the comebackers, the stolen bases, all the infield play that you do see in a game. We are getting all that in the facility."
Looking at the 35-man roster, the Scarlet Knights have 17 players returning with game experience, 16 newcomers and two more with a year with the team. Nine of the newcomers are pitchers as the staff looks to build depth.
"The depth overall is very good," Litterio said. "We have a number of young new arms that are contributing right now in practice. We are going to be much deeper than we were last year and I'm excited to see what they can do."
***
Rutgers improved by six wins last season, reeling off 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.
The defense and pitching played a major role, with the pitching staff lowering its season ERA from 6.11 to 4.82 and the gloves leading the Big Ten after the regular season with 50 double plays.
"We are still focused on pitching and defense, that's how you win games," Litterio said. "That has to be a staple here. We want to continue to improve from the progress made last year."
Offensively, Litterio has stressed the importance of baserunning and putting pressure on the opponent. RU set a school record with 121 steals in 2016.
"The team speed is better than what it was last year," he said. "From top to bottom, we can run. We are showing it at practice, which is great. We want to get back to how we were aggressively running the bases a few years ago. The team speed and the mentality to how we play the game is better."
***
The Scarlet Knights will open the season with 23 non-conference games before beginning Big Ten play versus Ohio State on March 29. The campaign starts at Miami for the 10th time in 11 seasons with a three-game set beginning Feb. 15 against the Hurricanes. Next up, RU will take part in a tournament at New Orleans that will also feature games versus Butler and Chicago State. The conference schedule also features home series with Michigan State, Purdue and Northwestern and trips to Iowa, Michigan, Penn State and Indiana.
Rutgers aims to earn a berth in the Big Ten Tournament, which includes the top eight in the 13-team standings.
"One of the things I have always tried to do is play a tough early schedule," Litterio said. "Opening up with Miami, it doesn't get much tougher than that going to play a program that lives outside. We are preparing ourselves for the Big Ten, but in reality, we want to go down and win the series at Miami. We want to learn early the goal of taking at least 2-of-3 each weekend, you are not going to win every game in baseball. Those early non-conference weekends, we want to prepare ourselves to win series."
(1/25/2019) 2019 Baseball Practice
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) and Facebook (/BaseballRU). For additional updates, please download the Gameday App.
RU began with fielding work out on Bainton Field before moving inside to the Fred Hill Training Complex for live action. The facility fits a full infield to allow pitchers and hitters to match up, baserunners to make reads and infielders to react to balls in play.
"We have prepared all year for the season," head coach Joe Litterio said. "At this time, we want to fine tune, getting the pitchers to get their pitch counts up and have our hitters see living pitching.
"You cannot put a price on what we can do inside nowadays. We have been more prepared going to Miami than ever the past few years. People talk about the cages, which is great, but you're not getting the comebackers, the stolen bases, all the infield play that you do see in a game. We are getting all that in the facility."
Looking at the 35-man roster, the Scarlet Knights have 17 players returning with game experience, 16 newcomers and two more with a year with the team. Nine of the newcomers are pitchers as the staff looks to build depth.
"The depth overall is very good," Litterio said. "We have a number of young new arms that are contributing right now in practice. We are going to be much deeper than we were last year and I'm excited to see what they can do."
***
Rutgers improved by six wins last season, reeling off 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.
The defense and pitching played a major role, with the pitching staff lowering its season ERA from 6.11 to 4.82 and the gloves leading the Big Ten after the regular season with 50 double plays.
"We are still focused on pitching and defense, that's how you win games," Litterio said. "That has to be a staple here. We want to continue to improve from the progress made last year."
Offensively, Litterio has stressed the importance of baserunning and putting pressure on the opponent. RU set a school record with 121 steals in 2016.
"The team speed is better than what it was last year," he said. "From top to bottom, we can run. We are showing it at practice, which is great. We want to get back to how we were aggressively running the bases a few years ago. The team speed and the mentality to how we play the game is better."
***
The Scarlet Knights will open the season with 23 non-conference games before beginning Big Ten play versus Ohio State on March 29. The campaign starts at Miami for the 10th time in 11 seasons with a three-game set beginning Feb. 15 against the Hurricanes. Next up, RU will take part in a tournament at New Orleans that will also feature games versus Butler and Chicago State. The conference schedule also features home series with Michigan State, Purdue and Northwestern and trips to Iowa, Michigan, Penn State and Indiana.
Rutgers aims to earn a berth in the Big Ten Tournament, which includes the top eight in the 13-team standings.
"One of the things I have always tried to do is play a tough early schedule," Litterio said. "Opening up with Miami, it doesn't get much tougher than that going to play a program that lives outside. We are preparing ourselves for the Big Ten, but in reality, we want to go down and win the series at Miami. We want to learn early the goal of taking at least 2-of-3 each weekend, you are not going to win every game in baseball. Those early non-conference weekends, we want to prepare ourselves to win series."
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) and Facebook (/BaseballRU). For additional updates, please download the Gameday App.
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