Friday, April 2
Piscataway, N.J.
3:00 PM (ET)
Rutgers University
vs
Nebraska
Photo by: Dustin Satloff
Softball Hosts Nebraska For First Contests on New Turf Field
Apr 01 | Softball
| ABOUT THE WEEKEND |
Rutgers vs. Nebraska
Friday, Apr. 2 | 3 p.m.
Watch | Live Stats
Saturday, Apr. 3 (DH) | 1:00 p.m. & 3:00 p.m.
Watch - Game 1 | Watch - Game 2 | Live Stats
Sunday, Apr. 4 | 11:00 a.m.
Watch | Live Stats
| FAN INFORMATION |
- Due to COVID-19 safety protocols, fan attendance at the Rutgers Softball Complex is limited to two tickets allotted to student-athletes for family members only.
- Parking Link
| NEW TURF AT THE RUTGERS SOFTBALL COMPLEX |
- It has been 699 days since Rutgers softball has played at the Rutgers Softball Complex and this weekend will mark the first official game on the turf field installed in the fall of 2019.
| ABOUT THE SCARLET KNIGHTS |
- The Rutgers softball team has opened with a tough schedule that has included a Northwestern squad, currently ranked in all four polls with only one loss, a Minnesota team that reached the 2019 College World Series and an Illinois squad who last week was leading the Big Ten in both hitting and pitching numbers.
- Campus competition started up last weekend with the Scarlet Knights went 1-3 on the road at Michigan State. Rutgers opened the series with a 3-2 victory on Friday before the Spartans took the next three.
- Offensively, the Scarlet Knights are led by sophomore Payton Lincavage. On the season, Lincavage is 13th in the Big Ten hitting .333 with 18 hits, 10 runs and four RBIs.
- Lincavage along with graduate student Gabrielle Callaway and freshman Megan Herka have both collected home runs this season and also joins freshmen Leilani Chavez and Kayla Bock with triples.
- Sophomore right-hander Ashley Hitchcock leads the pitching corps with 51.0 innings and three complete games under her belt with 33 strikeouts. She is seventh in the league having fanned 14 opponents looking.
| ABOUT NEBRASKA |
- This weekend marks only the second-ever Big Ten series between the two schools and first since 2017.
- The Cornhuskers arrive in New Jersey at 9-7 overall having won six of their last eight games and taken series from Purdue and Penn State.
- Sydney Gray tops the stat sheet hitting .366 with 15 hits, eight runs, five doubles and 8 RBIs. She is followed by Tristen Edwards batting .349 with 15 hits as well in addition to four doubles, three home runs and nine RBIs. The *** Cornhusker is nearing the school record for doubles and enters the weekend seventh in slugging percentage at .651 and among the league leaders in on-base percentage.
- Olivia Ferrell is 5-5 in her 10 appearances leading the staff with 50.0 innings inside the circle with a 1.96 ERA and 51strikekouts. Courtney Wallace is meanwhile is holding down a 2.63 ERA with a 4-2 mark in 45.1 innings of work allowing 41 hits while fanning 17.
| MICHIGAN STATE SERIES RECAP |
- Gabrielle Callaway finished the MSU series hitting .429 with six hits, a pair of doubles and three runs, while Anyssa Illipoulos batted .455 in the four games with a double and a run.
- Ashley Hitchcock threw 15.0 innings total leading the Scarlet Knight hurlers with eight strikeouts.
- The Scarlet Knights opened competition with a 3-2 victory on Friday scoring all three runs at their first at bat. Sophomore cleanup hitter Kiersten Withstandley, who put Rutgers onto the scoreboard with her first career triple, ended the afternoon 2-for-3 with two RBIs and a run scored. Ashley Hitchcock tossed all seven innings for her second-straight complete game, striking out five along the way.
- Rutgers dropped a heartbreaker in the opening game of Saturday's doubleheader when the Spartans used a walk-off home run for the 4-3 win. Lincavage, whose nine-game hitting streak was snapped on Friday, led-off taking a full count deep to left field. A Callaway double and Withstandley base hit with two outs pushed RU ahead 3-0 before MSU got onto the scoreboard.
- The night cap saw the Scarlet Knights fall 10-3. Behind 2-0, Rutgers managed to go ahead with two outs in the fifth. Megan Herka walked in a run with the bases loaded leading Kiana Workman to single to center for two RBIs. The Spartans came back with six runs on six hits to close the inning.
- In game four 4-1 loss, the Rutgers overcame the 1-0 first inning deficit with Callaway rounding the bases on a single, passed ball and wild pitch to tie the game up in the fourth. MSU went back in front with a run in the bottom of the inning and tacked on two more in the fifth.
| UP NEXT |
- Following the Scarlet Knights' first home series weekend, the Rutgers softball team is back out on the road traveling to Penn State for a four-game series beginning April 9.
Follow Rutgers softball on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
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/ SoftballRutgers Softball vs. Wagner Highlights
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