Rutgers Baseball Travels To Villanova This Weekend
May 12 | Baseball
PISCATAWAY, N.J. (May 12, 2011) – The Rutgers baseball team heads to Plymouth Meeting, Pa. for a three-game series with Villanova this weekend in the first of two road series to close the regular season. The Scarlet Knights and Wildcats will open the series with a 3:45 p.m. game Friday, followed by a 1:15 p.m. game Saturday and a 12:15 contest Sunday at Villanova Ballpark.
Rutgers enters the weekend 17-27 overall and 8-13 in the BIG EAST, in 10th place in the league standings. Villanova is 17-29 overall with a 4-17 mark in conference play and in 12th place in the league standings. The Scarlet Knights are locked in a battle with sixth-place Louisville (11-10), sixth-place Cincinnati (11-10), eighth-place Seton Hall (10-11) and ninth-place Notre Dame (9-11) to earn a berth in the eight-team BIG EAST Baseball Championship at the end of the month. RU will conclude its regular season at third-place West Virginia (13-8) next Thursday through Saturday.
Senior outfielders Michael Lang (Dumont, N.J.) and Brandon Boykin (Teaneck, N.J.) own a .421 and .343 batting average, respectively, in their last 11 games. Lang has collected five extra-base hits, including two doubles, two triples and a home run, during that span. He is hitting a team-best .331 overall. Boykin and Lang are also RU’s biggest threat on the base paths with six and five stolen bases, respectively, on the year.
Sophomore righty Tyler Gebler (Toms River, N.J.) will get the ball in Friday’s series opener with sophomore lefty Rob Smorol (Clark, N.J.) toeing the rubber in Saturday’s contest and junior righty Ryan Fasano (Stony Point, N.Y.) working Sunday’s series finale. Gebler owns a team-high 89 innings and has pitched at least seven innings in six of his seven conference starts. He leads the BIG EAST with 55.1 innings logged in conference action. Smorol, who leads the Scarlet Knights and ranks 10th in the BIG EAST with 57 strikeouts on the year, is coming off a complete-game performance against Notre Dame last Saturday. Fasano pitched a combined 16.2 innings last week, posting a complete-game victory over Temple and working 7.2 innings in a no decision against Notre Dame. The junior was solid in his first conference start against the Irish last Sunday with three strikeouts and just two runs allowed on six hits working into the eighth.
Sophomore lefty reliever Rob Corsi (Oceanport, N.J.) has been one of the strongest arms out of the bullpen in the BIG EAST Conference this season. The Scarlet Knight owns a league-low 0.84 earned run average and 17 strikeouts in nine appearances, spanning 21.1 innings in league games. He owns a 1.36 earned run average overall in 20 appearances out of the bullpen.
Villanova is on a five-game losing streak with loss in the series finale at West Virginia on May 1, a three-game sweep at the hands of Georgetown last weekend and a 6-1 loss to Temple on Tuesday. The Wildcats are led offensively by junior right fielder Matt Fleishman, who is hitting .328 overall with 18 doubles, three triples and five home runs. He has driven in 35 runs on the year.
Junior lefty Kyle Helisek (1-7, 5.43 ERA) will be Villanova’s game one starter, followed by junior righty Kyle McMyne (4-7, 5.13 ERA) in game two and freshman righty Max Almonte (2-0, 5.16 ERA) in game three. Senior lefty Mike Francisco serves as the Wildcats’ closer with nine saves and a 3.25 ERA on the year.
Villanova holds a 36-31 edge over Rutgers in the all-time series on the diamond. The Wildcats took two of three in Piscataway last season.
