QUEENS, N.Y. – Rutgers baseball continues its road trip on Tuesday afternoon when it visits former BIG EAST foe St. John's for a midweek contest at Jack Kaiser Stadium in Queens.
The Scarlet Knights (24-16, 7-5 Big Ten) are coming off a road sweep of Northwestern and have won five straight games. The Red Storm (19-18, 2-7 BIG EAST) were most recently swept on the road by Creighton in conference play..
Game Info
Series History
St. John's leads the all-time series against Rutgers, holding a 49-34 advantage. The teams last played in 2012, with the Red Storm taking two-of-three in BIG EAST action at Bainton Field.
In the Box
The Scarlet Knights boast a balanced offensive attack, batting .300 as a team, with five regular starters batting over .300. Additionally, five different players on the roster have at least 30 RBIs on the season.
Junior outfielder
Evan Sleight leads the team with a .338 average, 1.112 OPS and 11 home runs on the season. Sleight has homered in eight straight weekends and his 24 extra-base hits are tied for the team lead.
Ryan Lasko is second on the team to Sleight with a .333 average and 10 home runs, while leading RU with 38 RBIs, 56 hits, 13 doubles and 45 runs scored.
True freshman
Trevor Cohen is third on the team with his .323 average and has the fewest strikeouts (16) of any regular starter for Rutgers. Sleight, Lasko and Cohen have been the starting outfield for all 40 games this season for the Scarlet Knights.
The middle infield for Rutgers features a pair of .300 hitters in shortstop
Josh Kuroda-Grauer and second baseman
Cameron Love.
After an All-Big Ten season as a true freshman, Kuroda-Grauer has significantly upped his power numbers, with his 18 extra-base hits (9 doubles, 3 triples, 6 home runs) already eclipsing his total from a year ago. He was recently named to the watch list for the Brooks Wallace Award, which honors the top shortstop in the country.
On the Mound
Rutgers has enjoyed strong outings from its pitching staff in midweek games, where RU is 10-0 this season.
Justin Sinibaldi has started six of those contests and has a record of 4-0 with a 1.17 ERA, having allowed just four earned runs in 30.2 innings with 24 strikeouts and 10 walks.
Sam Portnoy (9.0 IP) and
Joe Mazza (7.0 IP) have combined for 16.0 scoreless innings out of the bullpen in midweek games, posting 13 combined strikeouts and allowing just six hits.
As a whole, the pitching staff has posted a 2.60 ERA with 84 strikeouts in 90 innings in midweeks, yielding a .209 batting average against.
