PISCATAWAY, N.J. – Rutgers baseball opens the month of May with a home matchup against Rider Wednesday at 3 p.m. The Scarlet Knights are 10-4 at Bainton Field this season.
 
BTN Plus will provide an online stream with Lou Brogno and Dom Savino on the call. Matt Howe and Stephen Nelson have the radio broadcast for WRSU 88.7-FM.
 
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 will look to bounce back after dropping all three at No. 30 Michigan over the weekend. The Sunday game took 10 innings to decide before a walk-off homer. It was the fifth RU game to reach extra innings this season after having a combined four such contests over the previous four campaigns. Junior Tevin Murray pitched six innings with one earned run allowed to move his Big Ten ERA to 0.93.
 
Rutgers is tied for eighth place in the conference standings with three weekend series remaining. The team finished April with 10 wins for its most in the month since totaling 13 in 2016.
 
Offensively, sophomore Mike Nyisztor had his on-base streak peak at 20 games, but leads the team with 52 hits (11 for extra bases) and 11 stolen bases for the season. Freshman Victor Valderrama currently holds the best on-base streak at 18 games, with senior Tyler McNamara closely behind at 17. Redshirt freshman Tim Dezzi paces the lineup with a .399 on-base percentage, while senior Carmen Sclafani has a .384 slugging percentage on five home runs with 26 RBIs.
 
The pitching staff worked to a 3.97 ERA in April with 119 strikeouts. Freshman Jared Bellissimo is coming off his longest start of the season with six innings and two earned runs permitted in a win last Tuesday at Columbia. Out of the bullpen, senior Serafino Brito owns eight saves and now ranks tied for fourth in program history with 80 career appearances. Junior Steven Acosta paces the Big Ten with 24 outings in 2019.
 
THE OPPONENT
Rider will be in action for the third time in as many days Wednesday after playing a makeup conference game Monday at Quinnipiac, a 15-4 loss, and hosting Lafayette, a 15-0 loss, Tuesday afternoon. Riley Mihalik is slashing .313/.402/.563 with nine homers and 33 RBIs on the season. The pitchers have combined for a 6.65 ERA this season.
 
Head coach Barry Davis is in his 15th season.
 
THE SERIES
Rutgers leads the series, 41-27, dating back to 1961, with Rider having won the last two matchups. The teams did not meet last season after a winter storm forced a cancellation.
 
UP NEXT
Rutgers travels to Penn State for a Big Ten series that starts Friday at 6:30 p.m. The Scarlet Knights won 2-of-3 last season over the Nittany Lions at Bainton Field.
 
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