Wrestling Readies for West Coast Trip to Fresno State, CSU Bakersfield

Friday, November 15

Fresno, CA

10 PM

Rutgers University

Fresno State

Photo by: (Ben Solomon/Rutgers Athletics)

Wrestling Readies for West Coast Trip to Fresno State, CSU Bakersfield

Nov 14 | Wrestling

Weekend Notes Fresno State Video (FloWrestling)CSU Bakersfield Video (ESPN+)

Scarlet Knights begin action Friday night in Fresno, Calif.

PISCATAWAY, N.J. – Rutgers wrestling heads to the west coast to face Fresno State on Friday (10 p.m. ET) in Fresno, California and Cal State Bakersfield on Saturday (6:30 p.m.) in Bakersfield, California. Both matches will stream live, with the Fresno State match on FloWrestling and the CSU Bakersfield match on ESPN+.

The weekend road swing marks the first trip to California for the Scarlet Knights since the 2016-17 season, when RU opened up its season at San Francisco State (W, 45-0), CSU Bakersfield (W, 26-15) and Cal Poly (W, 38-4). Current Scarlet Knights Matthew Correnti, Jordan Pagano and Willie Scott all picked up victories during the three-match sweep.

Ranked Scarlet Knights (Intermat/FloWrestling/Open Mat)
133: 20/11/11 Sammy Alvarez (4-2)
141: NR/24/NR JoJo Aragona (5-1)
174: 18/15/15 Joseph Grello (2-0)
197: 15/14/13 Jordan Pagano (4-1)
HWT: 19/21/NR Christian Colucci (3-0)

Projected Lineup
125: Nicolas Aguilar (4-1) -OR- Malcolm Robinson (2-1)
133: 20/11/11 Sammy Alvarez (4-2) -OR- Zach Firestone (3-1)
141: NR/24/NR JoJo Aragona (5-1)
149: Gerard Angelo (3-1) -OR- Jake Benner (4-4*)
157: Michael Van Brill (4-2)
165: Brett Donner (5-1) -OR- Jackson Turley (4-0)
174: 18/15/15 Joseph Grello (2-0) -OR- Willie Scott (0-0)
184: Billy Janzer (4-2)
197: Matthew Correnti (4-0) -OR- 15/14/13 Jordan Pagano (4-1)
285: 19/21/NR Christian Colucci (3-0)

What to Know
• Rutgers is fresh off its impressive showing at the Journeymen Classic on Nov. 10 in Troy, New York. Sammy Alvarez (133) and Jordan Pagano (197) both picked up wins over two ranked foes wrestling unattached, while Gerard Angelo (149) pinned the reigning Division II NCAA champion to highlight action at the individual, round-robin tournament.
• In dual action, RU opened the season with dual victories over LIU (43-3), Centenary (38-6) and Pitt-Johnstown (22-9) on Nov. 2 at the RAC. The Scarlet Knights won 25 of 30 possible bouts, including 13 by bonus.
• Alvarez vaulted into the national rankings after his wins over No. 7 D.J. Fehlman (Lock Haven) and No. 17 Anthony Madrigal (Oklahoma), appearing as high as No. 11 in the country according to FloWrestling, The Open Mat and TrackWrestling.
• Rookie JoJo Aragona (141) also made his debut in the national polls with at No. 24 by FloWrestling.
• Rookie Nicolas Aguilar (125), Gerard Angelo (149) and Billy Janzer (184) all made appearances in the TrackWrestling rankings at No. 27, No. 30 and No. 32, respectively.
• It will be a homecoming Aguilar, who grew up just over two hours away from Fresno State in Gilroy, Calif. Aguilar was a three-time CIF State placewinner and secured an individual state titles at 120 pounds competing at Gilroy High School during his senior year in 2018.

Scouting Fresno State & Series History
• The Bulldogs opened their season on Friday, Nov. 1, when they competed in the Battle on the Midway dual series against No. 4 Wisconsin (L, 31-8), Navy (L, 25-9) and Army (L, 29-9). The matches took place on the Broadway Pier and USS Midway aircraft carrier in San Diego.
• Fresno State features as many as four ranked wrestlers, including No. 15 Jackson Hemauer (174). Jacob Wright (157) is also schedule to compete for the Bulldogs after earning Co-Big 12 Wrestler of the Week honors.
• Fresno State is led by second year head coach Troy Steiner. The Bulldogs are in their second year as a varsity program after the program was reinstated in 2017.
• Rutgers is 1-0 all-time against Fresno State, as it defeated the Bulldogs, 30-6, last season on Nov. 2, 2018 during the season opener at the RAC. Current Scarlet Knights Correnti, Pagano, Michael Van Brill (157), Stephan Glasgow (165) and Joseph Grello (174) all had wins in the dual victory.

Scouting Cal State Bakersfield & Series History
• The Roadrunners enter Saturday's dual with a 0-2 record after dropping matches at No. 6 Minnesota (28-9) on Nov. 1 and at North Dakota State (24-9) on Nov. 3.
• CSU Bakersfield had three qualify for the 2019 NCAA Championships last season – Sean Nickell (133), Russell Rohlfing (149) and Dominic Ducharme (184). Ducharme and Rohlfing return for the Roadrunners this season.
• Manny Rivera enters his fourth season as the head coach at CSU Bakersfield.
• Rutgers is 2-0 all-time against the Roadrunners, which includes a 26-15 road victory on Nov. 11, 2016 in Bakersfield.

Rutgers (3-0) vs. Fresno State (0-3)
Friday, Nov. 15, 2019 | 10 p.m. ET
Save Mart Center | Fresno, Calif.
Video: FloWrestling | Live Scoring: TrackWrestling
Series History: Rutgers leads, 1-0
Last Meeting: Nov. 3, 2018 (Rutgers 30, Fresno State 6)

Rutgers (3-0) vs. Cal State Bakersfield (0-2)
Saturday, Nov. 16, 2019 | 6:30 p.m. ET
Icardo Center | Bakersfield, Calif.
Video: ESPN3 | Live Scoring: N/A
Series History: Rutgers leads, 2-0
Last Meeting: Nov. 11, 2016 (Rutgers 26, CSU Bakersfield 15)

Rutgers Wrestling is presented by Eat Clean Bro, an Official Partner of Rutgers Athletics.

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