PISCATAWAY, N.J. (April 21, 2022) – Entering the weekend as one of the hottest teams in the country, the Rutgers baseball team is set for a three-game series against the Iowa Hawkeyes at Bainton Field.
Rutgers currently ranks first among Big Ten teams in Walks (199) batting average (.322), doubles (93), doubles/game (2.45), ERA (3.09), fielding percentage (.979), hits (457), OBP (.422), runs (361), runs/game (9.5), shutouts (4), SLG% (.516), OPS (.938), and WHIP (1.22). RU's marks of batting average (5th), doubles (5th), doubles/game (8th), ERA (5th), hits (2nd), hits allowed/9 innings (7.08, 7th), runs (5th), runs/game (5th), WHIP (9th) and W/L percentage (.816, 4th) are all top 10 in the nation.
RU has returned to the national rankings for the first time in over a decade. Rutgers is currently ranked No. 8 by Collegiate Baseball, No. 21 by Perfect Game, No, 26 in the Coaches Poll and No. 28 in the NCBWA (Media) Poll.
LAST TIME OUT
• Rutgers split its two midweek games, beating Iona 19-1 on Tuesday and losing 9-7 to Princeton on Wednesday.
• Last weekend, the Scarlet Knights swept their third straight Big Ten series, this one at home over Indiana.
• Evan Sleight had the game-winning 2-run single in the eighth inning of game one, Jordan Sweeney had the game-winning, bases loaded triple in the eighth inning of game two. Down 9-8 in the bottom of the ninth on Sunday, Tony Santa Maria tied the game with a home run before Sweeney walked it off with a solo shot.
• Sam Bello (2-0), Sam Portnoy (2-0) and once again Bello (3-0) picked up the wins over the weekend, while Dale Stanavich locked up his 8th save of the season on Friday and Ben Gorski earned his first save on Saturday.
HITTING
• The Scarlet Knights continue to be an offensive machine under hitting coach Kyle Pettoruto.
• Rutgers' team batting average of .322 is 27 points higher than the next-best Big Ten team (Maryland .295).
• Nine different qualified (2 PA/G) Scarlet Knights are batting over .300. All eight of those players have at least 23 RBI on the season
• Nick Cimillo leads the Big Ten with a .512 OBP and 1.211 OPS. He was recently named Second Team Midseason All-America by Perfect Game
• Nick Cimillo (55) and Ryan Lasko (53) are first and second in the Big Ten in hits.
• Lasko (45, t-1st), Cimillo (45, t-1st), Danny DiGeorgio (43, t-3rd) and Tony Santa Maria (41, 5th) dominate the conference leaderboard in runs scored.
• Chris Brito leads the Big Ten with 49 RBI, while Santa Maria ranks third with 45.
• Cimillo (C, 16th), DiGeorgio (SS, 27th) and Santa Maria (3B, 29th) were all ranked in the top 30 at their respective positions by D1 Baseball in its midseason position rankings.
PITCHING
• Under pitching coach Brendan Monaghan, Rutgers has made its mark as one of the top pitching teams in the country.
• RU is first in the Big Ten with a 3.09 ERA, with the next-best team in Iowa at 3.49
• Friday starter Jared Kollar has emerged as one of the top pitchers in the league. He is tops in the Big Ten with a 4.92 K/BB ratio, 0.91 WHIP and 2.05 BB/9.
• The team has 14 games with at least 10 strikeouts this season with a high of 16 against Omaha on March
20.
• Dale Stanavich, a member of the NCBWA Stopper of the Year watch list, leads the Big Ten with eight saves and has 33 strikeouts to just four walks in 19.1 IP.
