PISCATAWAY, N.J. – Coming off a 2-1 weekend in New Orleans, Rutgers baseball is set to make its annual trip to Norfolk, Virginia, to face Old Dominion. The Scarlet Knights and Monarchs have met on the diamond every season since 1997, with each series taking place at the Bud Metheny Complex, except for the 2015 set that was moved to Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, due to inclement weather.
 
Each game this weekend will have a video stream and a free audio broadcast through ScarletKnights.com with Glen Gardner providing color analysis. Live stats will also be available.
 
The Scarlet Knights picked up their first two victories of the season in the Allstate Sugar Bowl Baseball Classic. On Friday, sophomore Harry Rutkowski allowed only one earned run in 7.1 innings to allow RU to make a late comeback versus Butler. Redshirt freshman Tim Dezzi delivered a two-run, walk-off single in the bottom of the ninth to pull off a 3-2 win. After dropping a 7-2 game to host New Orleans on Saturday, Rutgers bounced back to beat Chicago State, 6-2, on Sunday. Freshman Brian Fitzpatrick earned his first collegiate win by tossing 4.1 scoreless innings of relief with seven strikeouts. All nine starters had a hit at the plate and six had an RBI in a balanced offensive attack.
 
Freshman Peter Serruto leads the team with a .781 OPS through two weekends, while Dezzi owns eight hits and both have three RBIs. Senior Carmen Sclafani and junior Kevin Welsh have drawn five walks apiece.
 
Rutkowski's 7.1 innings was the second-longest outing of his career, having gone 8.1 in 2018 versus La Salle. The left-hander made his first series-opening start last week. Junior Tevin Murray, also a lefty, will follow in the rotation and totaled seven strikeouts in each of his first two starts. The Sunday starter is to be determined. Senior Serafino Brito is back in the bullpen, where he held opponents to a .211 batting average against with a 2.21 ERA in 24 games last season. The veteran stranded 11-of-12 inherited runners.
 
NOTES
RU has stolen 281 bases since 2016 compared to 188 by opponents … the Scarlet Knights went 19-5 last season when scoring six or more runs in a game and are 55-14 since 2016 … freshmen have accounted for 24 combined starts through the first two weekends … Rutgers is in the third of six-straight away weekends to start the season.
 
THE OPPONENT
Old Dominion enters the series on a four-game winning streak, including posting shutouts versus Norfolk State and VMI in midweek action. The Monarchs previously won two over Binghamton and lost 2-of-3 against High Point. Kyle Battle and Matt Burch have both started 14-for-29 with four walks this season to lead the offense. Burch has a team-high eight stolen bases, as ODU is 21-of-22 overall. Projected Friday starter Nick Pantos has permitted just one earned run in 10.1 innings with a .152 average against. Chris Finwood is in his eighth season as head coach.
 
THE SERIES
Rutgers leads the all-time series, 37-26. Meeting the Monarchs on the diamond for the 22nd consecutive season last year, RU claimed the series win for the first time since 2013 with two comeback victories. On Friday, Chris Folinusz lifted a game-tying home run in the seventh to help the team overcome a 4-0 deficit in a 7-6 win. The Scarlet Knights fell behind again on Saturday, this time by three, as Milo Freeman delivered a pinch-hit single in the eighth to even the score. Mike Nyisztor would follow with a two-run single to give head coach Joe Litterio his 100th win as the scarlet skipper.
 
UP NEXT
Rutgers will attempt to play its home opener on Tuesday versus Iona. The game is set to start at 2 p.m. The next weekend series is at USC Upstate.
 
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