Rutgers Hosts Seton Hall On The Diamond This Weekend
May 08 | Baseball
PISCATAWAY, N.J. – The Rutgers baseball team will host Seton Hall in the first of two home weekend series at Bainton Field to round out the regular season. The Scarlet Knights and Pirates will open the three-game series with a doubleheader beginning at noon Saturday, followed by a 1:00 p.m. game Sunday.
Rutgers enters the weekend 19-28 overall with a 5-16 mark in the BIG EAST. RU sits in 11th place in the BIG EAST standings, while Seton Hall is 21-21 overall and is tied with Cincinnati for eighth place in the league with a 10-11 mark in conference action. Rutgers has taken the series from Seton Hall each of the last two years, earning wins in two of three games at home in 2007 and in South Orange last year.
Rutgers sophomore leadoff hitter Michael Lang (Dumont, N.J.) leads the Scarlet Knights offensively with a .351 batting average, including 15 doubles, two triples and eight home runs. Seven home runs have come in BIG EAST play where he is hitting .330.
Fellow sophomore and 2008 All-BIG EAST member Jaren Matthews (Teaneck, N.J.) has been on a tear recently with a .500 batting average (21-for-42) in his last 11 games. The Scarlet Knights’ cleanup hitter has recorded at least one hit in all but one game and has multiple hits in seven contests during that stretch. Four of his six home runs on the season have also come in the last 11 games. He has raised his season batting average from .273 to .326.
Redshirt freshman righty Willie Beard (Spotswood, N.J.) will start game one for the Scarlet Knights on the mound. Beard was inserted into RU’s weekend rotation against Cincinnati at the end of March and has worked into at least the fifth inning in all six starts with a pair of victories on the season. Junior righty Casey Gaynor (Toms River, N.J.) will toe the rubber in Saturday’s second game. He is coming off a six-inning, five-strikeout performance where he allowed just two earned runs to pick up the victory at West Virginia last Saturday. In his last meeting with Seton Hall, last season in South Orange, Gaynor didn’t allow an earned run and surrendered just two hits to record the victory over the Pirates. Gaynor leads the team with 51 strikeouts this season and ranks fifth in school history with 159 strikeouts.
Senior closer Ryan Beard (Point Pleasant, N.J.) owns six saves on the season and nine in his two-year career with “On the Banks.” He is tied for sixth in school history in single-season saves and seventh in career saves.
Seton Hall comes to town after dropping two of three at home to St. John’s last weekend. The series in Piscataway will be the first road games for the Pirates in eight games. SHU has not played outside of the state of New Jersey since April 19 and will not until next weekend’s three-game series at Cincinnati.
Senior outfielder Matt Smedberg owns a team-best .396 batting average with eight doubles and six triples. Senior catcher Chris Affinito, who is hitting .301, has driven in 40 runs thanks to 13 doubles on the year.
The Seton Hall pitching staff owns a 4.33 team earned run average – the third-lowest in the BIG EAST. The Pirates have used the same starting rotation all season with junior righty Sean Black (4-5. 3.75 ERA) starting game one, senior righty Keith Cantwell (5-3, 3.61 ERA) working game two and sophomore righty Joe DiRocco (4-3, 3.57 ERA) taking the mound in Sunday’s series finale.
