PISCATAWAY, N.J. – Winners of three of the last four weekend series, Rutgers baseball hosts Iowa for a four-game set at Bainton Field beginning Friday. The Scarlet Knights are up to 11 wins, the most for the program in a Big Ten season since joining the conference.
The first end of the Saturday doubleheader is a seven-inning game, followed by a 40-minute break and a nine-inning nightcap. RU last played a four-game series at home in 1992, an Atlantic 10 weekend versus Temple.
***All events at Rutgers Athletics venues operate in accordance with current statewide restrictions on gatherings. As a result, baseball games at this time are not open to the public.***
Big Ten Network+ is set to broadcast at least a one-camera stream for each game, with the WRSU call simulcasted Friday and Sunday. The radio play-by-play from WRSU for the first, second and fourth games will be available locally on 88.7-FM and
online worldwide.
Friday WRSU/Big Ten Network+: Mike Nichols & Ronnie Wielenta
Saturday Big Ten Network+ (Games 1-2): Matt Choquette &
Jimmy Gill
Saturday WRSU (Game 1): Connor Strohm & Raj Shah
Sunday WRSU/Big Ten Network+: Dylan Allen & Dylan McCoy
Live stats from Sidearm Sports are available as well to follow.
The Scarlet Knights are in sixth place in the Big Ten standings through six weeks, a half game behind Iowa and three games out of first place in the loss column. The 11 Big Ten victories in 20 games mark the most in conference since joining the league in 2015, with the previous high of nine done in 23 games in 2019 and in 24 in 2016.
In recent action, Rutgers came back after dropping the opener at Northwestern to win the next two and secure a road series victory.
Richie Schiekofer collected nine hits on the weekend, while
Ryan Lasko, who leads Big Ten freshmen with six dingers on the season, blasted three homers to win
Big Ten Freshman of the Week for the second time in three weeks.
Kevin Welsh hit a go-ahead homer in the ninth inning of the Friday game to put RU on top, but the Wildcats hit a tying homer in the bottom half and a walk-off shot in the 12
th to take the first win. The Scarlet Knights bounced back Saturday with five runs in the first four innings, with
Ben Wereski,
Ben Gorski,
Dale Stanavich and
Kyle Muller combining to post seven consecutive zeros to close out an evening 8-4 victory.
In the rubber game,
Justin Sinibaldi made his first collegiate start and posted five strikeouts in five shutout innings on the mound. Lasko clubbed long balls to left and right field to drive home three, with Schiekofer ripping an RBI single and
Evan Sleight lifting a sacrifice fly to build a 5-0 lead. Northwestern rallied with one in the eighth and four in the ninth to tie the game and force extra innings.
Jordan Sweeney led off the 10
th with a solo homer and
Nate McLain recorded the last three outs for the save. It was RU's first road win in extra innings since 2013, snapping a streak of eight losses with a tie mixed in.
Hitting: Rutgers has hit 31 homers, the most for the team in a season since crushing 37 in 53 games in 2017. The previous high for long balls in a Big Ten season was 12 in 2015 (24 games). Overall, the Scarlet Knights rank 10
th nationally with 1.55 homers per game.
Chris Brito owns a team-high nine homers and seeks to become the Scarlet Knight since Patrick Kivlehan (14) in 2012 to reach double figures in a season. The third baseman ranks second in the Big Ten with 27 RBIs, while Sweeney is third at 25. Sweeney has been on base in each of the last seven games and is tied with Lasko for the team lead with seven multiple-hit games.
Mike Nyisztor's .500 on-base percentage is tied for first in the league.
Pitching: Harry Rutkowski is set to make his 24
th career start to open a weekend and is 11 strikeouts shy of becoming the fifth pitcher in program history to reach 200 career punchouts. The left-hander leads the Big Ten with 40.1 innings pitched in 2021.
Ben Wereski holds the top spot on the conference leaderboard for WHIP (0.96) and walks allowed per nine innings (1.07). In the third spot of the rotation,
Brent Teller returns ranked 38
th among active Division I pitchers with 200 career strikeouts, 21
st with 244.2 inning pitched and 22
nd with 40 games started. Sinibaldi is slated for his second start with 11 strikeouts compared to one walk in his first 10.2 collegiate innings.
The bullpen has five different pitchers with saves, including two from
Brian Fitzpatrick and
Kyle Muller. Muller leads the staff with 10 appearances and a 0.69 WHIP.
Overall, the pitching staff ranks first in the league and eighth nationally with only 2.52 walks allowed per nine innings, while sitting second in the Big Ten with a 1.25 WHIP.
Rutgers has won five of the previous nine Big Ten games against Iowa. That includes a series win over the 13
th-ranked Hawkeyes at Bainton Field to close the 2015 season and taking 2-of-3 in Iowa City in 2017. Iowa leads the all-time series, 8-7, in games since 1999.
The Scarlet Knights are on the road the next two weekends, starting with a trip to Ann Arbor to face Michigan on April 23.
Follow Rutgers Athletics on
Facebook and Twitter
(@RUAthletics) for all of the latest news and updates. For specific updates regarding baseball, follow the program on Twitter (
@RutgersBaseball), Instagram
(@rutgersbaseball) and Facebook (
/BaseballRU). For additional updates, please download the Scarlet Knights App via the
app store or
play store.
