PISCATAWAY, N.J. – Rutgers baseball heads back to Florida, this time 350 miles further north, to meet North Florida in a three-game series starting Friday at Harmon Stadium in Jacksonville. The Scarlet Knights opened the season last weekend against now-No. 1 Miami in Coral Gables.
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Live Stats: Sidearm Sports
Most Recently: The Scarlet Knights began the season at Miami for the sixth-straight year and for the 11
th time in 12 years. The Hurricanes, who were ranked No. 3 preseason by
D1Baseball.com and moved up to No. 1 on Monday, won by scores of 2-1, 8-2 and 13-6. Sophomore
Chris Brito hit a solo homer to centerfield in the series opener to make it a 2-1 game in the eighth, and RU put the tying run in scoring position, but UM closer Daniel Federman recorded a four-out save. The Saturday game was played in the rain and entered the seventh inning 3-2 in favor of the home team before Miami hit a grand slam. The contest was halted that inning and finished the next day. The Hurricanes ran out to a 7-0 lead after three innings and held on in the weekend finale.
Hitting: Brito added another long ball to the opposite field on Sunday to take the early Big Ten lead with two homers during the first weekend of action. Sophomore
Peter Serruto posted a 3-for-4 performance Sunday, which included his first collegiate homer, to set a new career high for hits in a game. The catcher also threw out two runners attempting to steal in the series. Junior
Mike Nyisztor added a team-high four RBIs on the weekend.
Pitching: RU will stick with the same rotation as week one: junior
Harry Rutkowski, fifth-year senior
Tommy Genuario and senior
Tevin Murray. Rutkowski went five innings on Opening Day with five strikeouts and two runs allowed. The left-hander walked only one. Genuario pitched four innings with five strikeouts, while Murray will look to bounce back his second time out.
Out of the bullpen, redshirt junior
Kyle Muller was first up in relief Friday night and worked 2.1 scoreless frames. Senior
Eric Reardon followed up with a pair of strikeouts to strand an inherited runner and fanned his first two faced in another appearance on Sunday. Sophomore
Jared Bellissimo contributed two scoreless innings Saturday, with sophomore
Parker Scott dealing a career-high 3.2 innings Sunday.
The Ospreys beat VMI 5-4 and 6-2 to clinch the series, but lost the series finale, 5-1. Abraham Sequera went 4-for-8 at the plate, while Blake Marabell knocked in three runs. Friday starter Logan Clayton surrendered three earned runs in 5.1 innings on Opening Day.
UNF went 32-25 last season with a 12-11 mark in the Atlantic Sun. The team returns 16 letterwinners and welcomes 15 newcomers to the roster. Head coach Tim Parenton is in his third season.
All-Time: Tied, 2-2
At North Florida: Tied, 2-2
Last Game: Rutgers 12, North Florida 4 (March 12, 2017 at Harmon Stadium)
The only series between the programs ended as a split in 2017. UNF won the first two games by scores of 15-1 and 13-2 before RU responded to win 2-1 and 12-4.
Rutgers had 18 hits in the finale, with
Mike Carter driving in a career-high five runs. Both Carter and
Chris Folinusz collected seven hits over the weekend.
Tom Marcinczyk added a four-hit game, while
Jawuan Harris stole four bases during the series.
Gaby Rosa pitched seven innings with one run allowed and
Max Herrmann logged two scoreless innings for the save in a one-run win in the second game of a Saturday doubleheader.
Christian Campbell also picked up a victory after tossing five innings Sunday.
Current Scarlet Knights to appear in that series include Genuario, Muller, Murray, Reardon and
Kevin Welsh.
The home opener at Bainton Field is scheduled for Tuesday at 2 p.m. versus Wagner on BTN Plus and WRSU. It would be the earliest home game on the calendar in program history. The next weekend series is against Washington State in Peoria, Ariz.
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