PISCATAWAY, N.J. – Rutgers baseball begins a new decade under a new head coach Friday at No. 3 Miami. The three-game series against the Hurricanes marks the 11
th time in 12 seasons, and sixth consecutive, the Scarlet Knights travel to Alex Rodriguez Park in Coral Gables, Florida, to start.
Steve Owens was announced as the 13
th leader of the program on June 26, 2019 after spending nine successful seasons at Bryant. A native of Sauquoit, New York, Owens' résumé features 28-straight winning years with 20 30-win seasons, five 40-win seasons and 13 NCAA Tournament appearances. He enters 2020 ranked 13
th among active Division I coaches with 914 career wins and 14
th with a .654 winning percentage.
Watch: ACC Network Extra (WatchESPN)
Friday: Alex Schwartz and Wicho Hernandez
Saturday: Joe Zagacki and Kyle Sielaff
Sunday: Alex Schwartz and Kyle Sielaff
Listen: A free radio call will be available at ScarletKnights.com or through the Scarlet Knights App.
The Scarlet Knights return 21 letterwinners and welcome seven newcomers in 2020. The roster consists of 22 student-athletes from New Jersey, four from New York and one each from Florida, Illinois, Pennsylvania and Rhode Island.
Rutgers is set to challenge an opponent ranked in the top-three nationally for the third time since 2006. The previous two were road series facing No. 1 Georgia Tech in March 2006 and No. 3 Illinois in May 2015. The last ranked win came over No. 13 Michigan on May 5, 2018, with the highest-ranked victories on record being a three-game series triumph, 2-1, at No. 4 Louisville in March 2013.
Also to note, this will mark the 38
th consecutive season the Scarlet Knights start on the road. The last victory on Opening Day came on Feb. 24, 2008 at Old Dominion.
All three weekend starting pitchers are back after combining to start each of the 23 Big Ten games in 2019. Junior
Harry Rutkowski is set take the mound on Opening Day after working the series opener the last 13 weekends. The left-hander was named a Cape Cod League All-Star over the summer after leading RU in the spring with 81.2 innings and 83 strikeouts, which ranks fourth-most in a season in the program record book. Fifth-year senior
Tommy Genuario, a right-hander, gave up two earned runs or less in 6-of-8 appearances against Big Ten opponents. Overall, he worked to a 3.14 ERA over 63 innings last year. Senior
Tevin Murray will make the Sunday start after earning Second Team All-Big Ten status as a junior. The left-hander posted a 3.01 ERA, 1.26 WHIP and .200 batting average against with 81 strikeouts. He logged five Big Ten outings without permitting an earned run and 7-of-8 saw two earned runs or less cross, ending with a 1.75 league ERA.
In the bullpen, fifth-year senior
Steven Acosta appeared in 30 games a year ago, second-most in a season in program history. Senior
Eric Reardon is the most experienced member of the pitching staff with 59 career games worked.
The pitching staff brings back 95 percent of starting pitching innings and 85 percent of overall innings from last season. The 2019 group racked up 381 strikeouts, third-most in a campaign in Rutgers history.
Senior
Kevin Welsh has started all 154 games the past three seasons, leading the active roster with 130 collegiate hits, 74 runs, seven triples, 83 walks and 67 RBIs. The second baseman brings a 10-game on-base streak into 2020, having homered in each contest of the three game-game series at Indiana that concluded 2019. Redshirt junior
Danny DiGeorgio, who missed last year due to injury, is back at shortstop. He, along with Murray and Rutkowski, was named the Big Ten Preseason Honors List. Sophomore first baseman
Chris Brito led the Scarlet Knights with a .372 on-base percentage as a rookie.
In the outfield, junior
Mike Nyisztor paced RU with 59 hits, 18 multiple-hit games and 15 steals last year. Sophomore
Victor Valderrama, a Miami native, put together a 23-game on-base streak offensively and appeared on
SportsCenter after robbing a home run against Villanova.
The Hurricanes, who played in the 2019 Starkville Regional as a No. 2 seed, finished 2019 with a 41-20 record. The team enters the year ranked as high as No. 3 by
D1Baseball.com. Eight position players and three starting pitchers return, including All-ACC performers Adrian Del Castillo, Brian Van Belle and Raymond Gil. Van Belle was named the Friday starter after pitching to a 3.30 ERA over 95.1 innings with 84 strikeouts last year.
Head coach Gino DiMare is in his second season as head coach and 21
st overall with the program.
RU and UM are set to open the season against each other for the 11
th time in 12 seasons. Miami leads the all-time series, 66-14, dating back to 1967, having swept last year's series. Rutgers' previous victory came in the 2018 series finale, which featured overcoming a five-run deficit by scoring seven runs in the top of the fourth to win, 7-5.
Rutgers returns to Florida to face North Florida in Jacksonville next weekend. The only other series between the teams was a four-game split in 2017.
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