WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. – Rutgers baseball is set for its second straight road series in Big Ten play, heading to West Lafayette for three games at Purdue.

The Scarlet Knights (16-17, 5-7) most recently lost two-of-three last weekend at Nebraska before taking an 11-4 victory at home over Seton Hall on Tuesday. 

The Boilermakers (20-12, 3-9) are losers of eight straight and have been swept in back-to-back weeks by a pair of Big Ten newcomers in Washington and UCLA.

All three games this weekend will be streamed on Big Ten Plus. Fans can also follow along on X (@RutgersBaseball) for live updates. Live stats will be available here.

Series History
Rutgers is 11-13 all-time against Purdue, including a 9-12 record in Big Ten play. The Scarlet Knights have struggled against the Boilermakers the last two seasons, being swept at home in 2024 and dropping two-of-three in West Lafayette in 2023.

The 2025 Scarlet Knights  

• The 2025 roster features a total of 38 players, with 11 returners and 27 newcomers.
• Of the 27 newcomers, 13 are true freshmen, 12 are four-year transfers and 2 are junior college transfers.
• Head Coach Steve Owens enters his sixth season at the helm of the program and has accumulated three consecutive winnings season with RU. 
• Mike McRae joins the program as pitching coach after three years as the head coach at William & Mary, where he posted three straight winning seasons and three straight CAA Tournament berths.

Mack's Emergence

• True freshman Landon Mack has emerged as one of the top freshmen arms in the country.
• He was recently named Second Team Freshman All-America by Perfect Game and was earlier names Big Ten Pitcher and Freshman of the Week by the conference.
• Mack's 4.23 ERA leads all Big Ten freshmen.
• From the Iowa series through the Washington series, Mack posted 17 consecutive scoreless innings. 

• 53.7 percent of the team's innings on the mound have come from freshmen. This includes the top two arms in Landon Mack (38.1 IP) and Justin Shadek (30.2 IP).
• Additionally, 86.8 percent of the team's innings have come from players who had not pitched for Rutgers prior to this season.

Defensive Excellence

• The Rutgers defense leads the Big Ten and is fourth in the country with a .985 fielding percentage. 
• The Scarlet Knights recently had a streak of 19 consecutive games without an error before the series finale at Nebraska.
• Over the past four seasons, Rutgers is one of just eight programs to have a fielding percentage of .976 or better all four seasons. The other seven are Alabama, Arkansas, Auburn, East Carolina, Oregon, Vanderbilt and Virginia Tech.

Tough Outs

• Rutgers has the fewest strikeouts in the Big Ten with just 183 this season, 30 fewer than the next-closes Big Ten team.
• The 183 strikeouts are also the fewest among Power Four programs. 
• Trevor Cohen (3.9% - first), Pablo Santos (6.0% - second) and JT Thompson (6.7% - sixth) are all top-six in the Big Ten in strikeout percentage.
• Cohen is the fourth-toughest player to strike out in the country and his 3.9 K% is the lowest in the Power Four by 1.3%.

Active Streaks

• Ty Doucette has an active streak of seven straight games with multiple hits and an RBI
• Peyton Bonds has an active streak of six straight games with a hit and run scored 
• Doucette and Pablo Santos are on active seven-game hitting streaks
• Trevor Cohen is on a 16-game on-base streak.  

Rutgers/Collegiate Debuts 

• In total, 26 players have made their Rutgers debuts in 2025
  • INF Jan Avila, RHP/OF Charles Batista, RHP Quinn Berglin, OF Peyton Bonds, INF Yomar Carreras, C Matt Chatelle, RHP Matthew Cruz, RHP Luke Fithian, C Mark Gialluisi, RHP Zach Gleason, RHP/INF Connor Grotyohann, LHP Hunter Hoxie, OF Brennan Hyde, LHP Cameron Johnson, RHP Tyler Kane, RHP Jack Kirchner, RHP Landon Mack, RHP Nolan Peel, LHP Preston Prince, RHP Andrew Rondini, RHP Dillon Ryan, RHP Justin Shadek, OF Jack Sweeney, INF JT Thompson, RHP Mike Timberlake and INF Nick Tomasetto
• Additionally, 14 freshmen have made their collegiate debuts this season 
  • RHP/OF Charles Batista, INF Yomar Carreras, RHP Matthew Cruz, RHP Luke Fithian, C Mark Gialluisi, LHP Hunter Hoxie, LHP Cameron Johnson, RHP Jack Kirchner, RHP Landon Mack, RHP Nolan Peel, RHP Andrew Rondini, RHP Justin Shadek, OF Jack Sweeney and INF Nick Tomasetto