Friday, May 3
Piscataway, NJ
12:00 PM
Rutgers University
vs
Michigan State
Softball Hosts Michigan State in Regular Season Finale
May 02 | Softball
Scarlet Knights aiming to hold on to No. 6 seed in B1G Tourney as Spartans come to Piscataway for three Big Ten games.
*SCHEDULE NOTE (Thursday, May 2 at 4 p.m.): Please note, Friday's game has been moved up to a 12 noon start time, and there will now be a doubleheader on Saturday beginning at 1 p.m. The Senior Day ceremony will take place on the field immediately following the conclusion of Saturday's second game. There will be no game on Sunday.*
PISCATAWAY, N.J. (May 2, 2019) - Rutgers softball hosts the final regular season games of 2019 in a three-game Big Ten series against Michigan State from Friday through Saturday, May 3-4 at the RU Softball Complex.
Following Saturday's second game, Rutgers will hold a postgame Senior Day ceremony to celebrate the careers of the five members of the Class of 2019 - Nicolette Anico, Adriana Burcar, Jess Hughes, Whitney Jones and Allie Yoffee.
The Scarlet Knights (26-22, 9-11) have clinched its first winning regular season since 2015 and its first berth into the Big Ten Championships since 2016. Currently in sixth place in the Big Ten, Rutgers is seeking its highest seed in the conference postseason tournament since claiming the No. 7 spot in 2015, its debut season in the Big Ten. Rutgers can finish no lower than the No. 10 seed.
The Spartans (15-32, 3-16) are in last place in the Big Ten, but are mathematically alive for one of the 12 playoff positions with at least one win and a little help from elsewhere. MSU is currently on a 10-game slide, but have matched up well against the Scarlet Knights in the recent past. The Spartans swept a three-game set in East Lansing last spring in a trio of games that saw MSU outscore RU, 15-4 (4-2, 9-2, 2-0).
ADMISSION & PARKING ARE FREE (*Requires registration)
While parking will be free of charge, all fans who do not possess a student or faculty/staff parking pass, and who plan on attending a Rutgers Athletics event (not including football, men's and women's basketball and wrestling) must register each vehicle to be parked, per new University policy. The free parking registration can be completed once for an entire season at each parking facility.
Register for free parking here.
FOLLOW LIVE
Live Stats | Live Video | Twitter
HEAD-TO-HEAD
KNIGHT NOTES
RECENT SUCCESS: BY THE NUMBERS
• Winning seven of eight Big Ten games from April 12-23, the Scarlet Knights produced their best eight-game conference stretch since winning 11 straight games in the Atlantic 10 in 1990 (29 years).
• Rutgers won five straight Big Ten games for the first time since April 20-24, 2016.
• With three wins at Penn State, the Scarlet Knights swept a three-game Big Ten series for the first time since taking three against Indiana at home April 22-24, 2016.
• At No. 78, RU is in the Top 100 of the RPI rankings for the first time since April 12, 2015 (No. 70).
• Rutgers owns a pair of wins over RPI Top 50 teams this year (No. 38 Ohio State and No. 46 Indiana).
• Rutgers has qualified for the Big Ten Championships for the first time since 2016, and third time overall since joining the conference in 2015. Currently in sixth place, Rutgers is seeking its highest seed in the postseason tournament since earning the No. 7 seed in its debut in 2015. The Scarlet Knights can finish anywhere from sixth to 10th place with three conference games remaining. The single-elimination tournament will be held May 9-12 at Indiana's Andy Mohr Field in Bloomington.
• Before last Tuesday, Rutgers didn't have a walk-off home run since 2015. Freshman catcher Katie Wingert now has two over the past two home games in Piscataway. Rutgers erased a 6-0 deficit with seven unanswered runs to top Maryland, 7-6, in eight innings on April 23 to sweep the midweek doubleheader, capped by Wingert's walk-off dinger. She did it again on May 1 against LIU Brooklyn in another come-from-behind victory, smacking the two-run walk-off homer in the bottom of the ninth for a 7-5 win.
• Wingert was named the Big Ten Freshman of the Week on April 15 - the Scarlet Knights' first such award since 2015 and Rutgers' first overall Big Ten weekly honoree since 2016. Five out of her last six home runs are of the go-ahead variety in wins over Ohio State, Penn State, Maryland and LIU Brooklyn. The rookie leads the Big Ten - and ranks in the Top 25 nationally - with her 16 home runs.
• Senior shortstop Jess Hughes hit a one-out, two-run single to tie the game in the bottom of the seventh against LIU Brooklyn to force extra innings. She ranks eighth among the NCAA Division I softball active leaders in runs scored with 199. She also ranks ninth with 137 career walks drawn.
• Freshman Penelope Russ made her collegiate debut on April 13 at Penn State, and has since gone 5-for-14 at the plate with an RBI and three sacrifice hits. She started the last four games at designated player, and is 5-for-11 over her last six games.
• In the 3-0 win at Penn State, freshman pitcher Corah Price recorded Rutgers' first seven-inning one-hitter since Alyssa Landrith beat UTSA on Feb. 15, 2014. Price faced the minimum 21 batters in the masterpiece. The rookie leads the staff in innings (158.1), ERA (2.79), WHIP (1.10) and strikeouts (100). Price's 9 strikeouts against Robert Morris were the program's most in a game since 3/18/16.
• With 25 victories in her debut season, head coach Kristen Butler becomes the winningest first-year head coach in Rutgers softball history. Pat Willis had 22 wins in 1980 and Jay Nelson had 20 wins in 2007.
• First-year head coach Kristen Butler won her first game at the helm of the Scarlet Knights on Saturday, Feb. 9 against Jacksonville State. A former SEC Player of the Year and record-setting professional softball player in the United States and Japan, Butler has spent the last four seasons turning around the program as head coach at Toledo while earning the 2018 Mid-American Conference Coach of the Year honor.
TRENDING
• Rutgers is 4-0 in extra-inning games.
• RU has won three games this season when trailing after six full innings.
• The Scarlet Knights are 10-3 when Katie Wingert hits a home run.
• Twelve of Rutgers' games have been decided by one run (RU is 6-6).
• Rutgers is 18-1 when scoring 5+ runs, and 2-13 when an opponent scores 6+ runs.
• Rutgers is 19-8 when scoring first.
• Rutgers has scored in the first inning 20 times, and in 15 of the last 26.
• Rutgers is 10-1 when hitting 2+ home runs and 3-0 when hitting 3+ home runs.
• Rutgers is 16-2 when leading after 5.
• Jess Hughes leads the team with 16 multi-hit games, while Katie Wingert has a team-best 12 games with multiple RBIs. Both carry six-game streaks of reaching base safely into the MSU series.
UP NEXT
The Scarlet Knights enter the Big Ten Championships on Thursday, May 9. Opponent and time will be announced at the conclusion of the final game on Saturday.
PISCATAWAY, N.J. (May 2, 2019) - Rutgers softball hosts the final regular season games of 2019 in a three-game Big Ten series against Michigan State from Friday through Saturday, May 3-4 at the RU Softball Complex.
Following Saturday's second game, Rutgers will hold a postgame Senior Day ceremony to celebrate the careers of the five members of the Class of 2019 - Nicolette Anico, Adriana Burcar, Jess Hughes, Whitney Jones and Allie Yoffee.
The Scarlet Knights (26-22, 9-11) have clinched its first winning regular season since 2015 and its first berth into the Big Ten Championships since 2016. Currently in sixth place in the Big Ten, Rutgers is seeking its highest seed in the conference postseason tournament since claiming the No. 7 spot in 2015, its debut season in the Big Ten. Rutgers can finish no lower than the No. 10 seed.
The Spartans (15-32, 3-16) are in last place in the Big Ten, but are mathematically alive for one of the 12 playoff positions with at least one win and a little help from elsewhere. MSU is currently on a 10-game slide, but have matched up well against the Scarlet Knights in the recent past. The Spartans swept a three-game set in East Lansing last spring in a trio of games that saw MSU outscore RU, 15-4 (4-2, 9-2, 2-0).
| THE SLATE | All Times Eastern | ||
| Fri. 5/3 | Game 1 | 12 p.m. |
| Sat. 5/4 | Game 2 | 1 p.m. |
| Sat. 5/4 | Game 3 | 3 p.m. |
ADMISSION & PARKING ARE FREE (*Requires registration)
While parking will be free of charge, all fans who do not possess a student or faculty/staff parking pass, and who plan on attending a Rutgers Athletics event (not including football, men's and women's basketball and wrestling) must register each vehicle to be parked, per new University policy. The free parking registration can be completed once for an entire season at each parking facility.
Register for free parking here.
FOLLOW LIVE
Live Stats | Live Video | Twitter
HEAD-TO-HEAD
KNIGHT NOTES
RECENT SUCCESS: BY THE NUMBERS
• Winning seven of eight Big Ten games from April 12-23, the Scarlet Knights produced their best eight-game conference stretch since winning 11 straight games in the Atlantic 10 in 1990 (29 years).
• Rutgers won five straight Big Ten games for the first time since April 20-24, 2016.
• With three wins at Penn State, the Scarlet Knights swept a three-game Big Ten series for the first time since taking three against Indiana at home April 22-24, 2016.
• At No. 78, RU is in the Top 100 of the RPI rankings for the first time since April 12, 2015 (No. 70).
• Rutgers owns a pair of wins over RPI Top 50 teams this year (No. 38 Ohio State and No. 46 Indiana).
• Rutgers has qualified for the Big Ten Championships for the first time since 2016, and third time overall since joining the conference in 2015. Currently in sixth place, Rutgers is seeking its highest seed in the postseason tournament since earning the No. 7 seed in its debut in 2015. The Scarlet Knights can finish anywhere from sixth to 10th place with three conference games remaining. The single-elimination tournament will be held May 9-12 at Indiana's Andy Mohr Field in Bloomington.
• Before last Tuesday, Rutgers didn't have a walk-off home run since 2015. Freshman catcher Katie Wingert now has two over the past two home games in Piscataway. Rutgers erased a 6-0 deficit with seven unanswered runs to top Maryland, 7-6, in eight innings on April 23 to sweep the midweek doubleheader, capped by Wingert's walk-off dinger. She did it again on May 1 against LIU Brooklyn in another come-from-behind victory, smacking the two-run walk-off homer in the bottom of the ninth for a 7-5 win.
• Wingert was named the Big Ten Freshman of the Week on April 15 - the Scarlet Knights' first such award since 2015 and Rutgers' first overall Big Ten weekly honoree since 2016. Five out of her last six home runs are of the go-ahead variety in wins over Ohio State, Penn State, Maryland and LIU Brooklyn. The rookie leads the Big Ten - and ranks in the Top 25 nationally - with her 16 home runs.
• Senior shortstop Jess Hughes hit a one-out, two-run single to tie the game in the bottom of the seventh against LIU Brooklyn to force extra innings. She ranks eighth among the NCAA Division I softball active leaders in runs scored with 199. She also ranks ninth with 137 career walks drawn.
• Freshman Penelope Russ made her collegiate debut on April 13 at Penn State, and has since gone 5-for-14 at the plate with an RBI and three sacrifice hits. She started the last four games at designated player, and is 5-for-11 over her last six games.
• In the 3-0 win at Penn State, freshman pitcher Corah Price recorded Rutgers' first seven-inning one-hitter since Alyssa Landrith beat UTSA on Feb. 15, 2014. Price faced the minimum 21 batters in the masterpiece. The rookie leads the staff in innings (158.1), ERA (2.79), WHIP (1.10) and strikeouts (100). Price's 9 strikeouts against Robert Morris were the program's most in a game since 3/18/16.
• With 25 victories in her debut season, head coach Kristen Butler becomes the winningest first-year head coach in Rutgers softball history. Pat Willis had 22 wins in 1980 and Jay Nelson had 20 wins in 2007.
• First-year head coach Kristen Butler won her first game at the helm of the Scarlet Knights on Saturday, Feb. 9 against Jacksonville State. A former SEC Player of the Year and record-setting professional softball player in the United States and Japan, Butler has spent the last four seasons turning around the program as head coach at Toledo while earning the 2018 Mid-American Conference Coach of the Year honor.
TRENDING
• Rutgers is 4-0 in extra-inning games.
• RU has won three games this season when trailing after six full innings.
• The Scarlet Knights are 10-3 when Katie Wingert hits a home run.
• Twelve of Rutgers' games have been decided by one run (RU is 6-6).
• Rutgers is 18-1 when scoring 5+ runs, and 2-13 when an opponent scores 6+ runs.
• Rutgers is 19-8 when scoring first.
• Rutgers has scored in the first inning 20 times, and in 15 of the last 26.
• Rutgers is 10-1 when hitting 2+ home runs and 3-0 when hitting 3+ home runs.
• Rutgers is 16-2 when leading after 5.
• Jess Hughes leads the team with 16 multi-hit games, while Katie Wingert has a team-best 12 games with multiple RBIs. Both carry six-game streaks of reaching base safely into the MSU series.
UP NEXT
The Scarlet Knights enter the Big Ten Championships on Thursday, May 9. Opponent and time will be announced at the conclusion of the final game on Saturday.
Players Mentioned
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/ Softball
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/ Softball
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