PISCATAWAY, N.J. – Rutgers baseball starts a season-long seven-game homestand with a Big Ten series against Michigan State at Bainton Field. The set will begin Friday at 1 p.m. The Scarlet Knights are home for the next two weekends after playing seven of the first eight on the road.
 
BTN Plus will stream each contest with Lou Brogno providing the play-by-play and Dominick Savino (Friday) and Glen Gardner (Saturday, Sunday) on the color commentary. WRSU 88.7-FM is on the radio call Friday (Justin Sontupe & Sam Marsdale), Saturday (Jake Ostrove & Brad LoPrinzi) and Sunday (Corey Jason & Matt Siriani). Live stats can be followed at ScarletKnights.com.
 
Admission and parking are free at Bainton Field, but all vehicles are required to be registered to comply with a new Rutgers University policy. Only one registration per vehicle is needed for the season.
 
SCOUTING RUTGERS
The Scarlet Knights are coming off a 9-3 win at Lafayette on Wednesday, improving to 4-1 in midweek games this season. Junior Kevin Welsh hit a tying double and redshirt freshman Tim Dezzi followed with a go-ahead single to spark a six-run rally in the top of the seventh inning that saw 10 hitters come to the plate. Senior Tyler McNamara lifted his first career homer in the second to start the scoring. On the mound, freshman Jared Bellissimo worked 4.2 innings and four relievers followed with 4.1 innings of scoreless pitching. RU is now 23-0-1 against Lafayette since 1994.
 
Rutgers won one game at Iowa most recently in Big Ten play. The weekend in Iowa City started with a 6-1 Friday loss before the Hawkeyes won, 9-5, in the first end of a Saturday doubleheader. However, the Scarlet Knights bounced back and thumped Iowa, 15-3, in the nightcap. The 12-run margin of victory was the most for RU in a Big Ten game since joining the conference in 2015. Rutgers previously topped Ohio State in its first league series, as McNamara hit a walk-off single in the bottom of the 15^th of the series finale in the longest game by innings for the team since 2003.
 
The Scarlet Knights enter the weekend winners of four of their last six games with a season strength of schedule at No. 51 according to D1Baseball.com. RU is 4-2 in games at Bainton Field this season and 6-4 in contests decided by one run.
 
Senior Carmen Sclafani is the reigning Big Ten Player of the Week and was listed among Collegiate Baseball's National Players of the Week. He became the second Scarlet Knight to collect the former (R.J. Devish in 2016) and first to garner a national weekly honor since Pat Biserta in 2010. He went 8-for-14 with a walk in the four games, hitting 5-for-7 with runners in scoring position. The Toms River native crushed a pair of three-run homers and ended with 12 RBIs for the week, including seven knocked in versus Wagner. It was only the fourth time since 2000 that a Rutgers hitter achieved the feat.
 
Sclafani paces the team with four homers and 17 RBIs on the season, while Dezzi is first in the lineup with a .425 on-base percentage, eighth in the Big Ten, and freshman Chris Brito owns a .388 slugging percentage. Welsh brings in a 24-game on-base streak, the longest in season for a Scarlet Knight since Tom Marcinczyk reached 25 in 2015, with a team-high 20 walks that ranks tied for sixth in the league. Brito, sophomore Mike Nyisztor, Sclafani and Welsh have all totaled seven extra-base hits this year. In addition, Nyisztor is 7-for-8 on stolen bases.
 
After not homering in the first 15 games, RU has lifted 10 in the last 14 contests.
 
The Scarlet Knights will stick with the same pitching rotation on the mound as the last two weekends: sophomore Harry Rutkowski, junior Tommy Genuario and junior Tevin Murray. Both Rutkowski and Genuario are tied for 15^th in the Big Ten with an identical 3.26 ERA, while Murray is second in the conference and 44^th nationally with 11.88 strikeouts per nine innings. Rutkowski pitched seven innings with one earned run allowed and no walks in a victory over Michigan State last year. Murray has permitted just two earned runs over 11 innings with 12 strikeouts in his last two starts, with Genuario leading the RU staff with a 1.23 WHIP.
 
Both senior Serafino Brito and junior Steven Acosta are tied for first among Big Ten pitchers with 17 appearances in 2019. Brito sits locked with Jeff Miller (1995-98) for sixth in program history with 74 career games. Kevin Lillis (2007-10) holds the school record at 89 appearances. The bullpen has worked to a 2.70 ERA in conference games so far and has stranded 65-of-100 inherited runners for the season.
 
THE OPPONENT
Michigan State also comes into the weekend after winning four of its last six games. That included a series win against Indiana State and a 3-2 victory at Notre Dame on Tuesday. The Spartans started Big Ten play being swept at Nebraska and lost both games versus Michigan. The team is at No. 15 in strength of schedule.
 
Adam Proctor leads the bats with five homers and Marty Bechina has driven in 19 runs. Bryce Kelley owns 13 stolen bases to tie for the Big Ten lead. On the mound, Mason Erla is set to start Friday after working nine innings with two hits allowed on 124 pitches last week versus Indiana State. The right-hander holds a 5.40 ERA for the season, as the staff is at 5.59 overall.
 
Head coach Jake Boss Jr. is in his 11^th season leading the Spartans.
 
THE SERIES
Michigan State swept the first two Big Ten series (2015 in Piscataway, 2016 in East Lansing) before Rutgers took 2-of-3 last season in East Lansing. That series started with a Friday doubleheader the Scarlet Knights swept by the scores of 8-4 and 6-4. John O'Reilly went eight innings to win the opener and was supported by a three-run triple by Jawuan Harris to highlight the offensive production. Then in the nightcap, Rutkowski worked seven innings, as Welsh and Chris Folinsz knocked in two runs apiece. It was the first conference doubleheader sweep for RU on the road since 2005 at Pittsburgh. The Spartans did salvage the series finale, 6-0, and lead the all-time series, 8-3, since 1985.
 
UP NEXT
Rutgers hosts Hofstra Wednesday at 3 p.m. at Bainton Field. The next Big Ten series is against Purdue. The last time the Scarlet Knights played home on consecutive weekends was against Penn State and Nebraska in April 2016.
 
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