April 28, 2015
PISCATAWAY, N.J. -- After winning a series versus Seton Hall over the weekend, Rutgers baseball will take on another past Big East rival with a road game at Villanova Wednesday. The contest at will start at 3:15 p.m. at the Villanova Ballpark at Plymouth, as the Scarlet Knights have gone 5-1-1 in their last seven non-conference games.
| Rutgers (15-27-1) at Villanova (17-22) |
| Game 45 | April 29 - 3:15 p.m. ET |
| Probable Pitching Matchup | Rutgers - RHP John O'Reilly (4-1, 3.33 ERA) vs.
Villanova - LHP Mike Sgaramella (4-2, 3.86 ERA) |
| Coverage | Audio ($) | |
SCOUTING RUTGERS
The Scarlet Knights won both of the on-campus games versus the Pirates before dropping the finale at TD Bank Ballpark. Juniors Mark McCoy (Barnegat, N.J.) and Howie Brey (Middletown, N.J.) both turned in victorious starts, while the bullpen tossed five scoreless innings to nail down the first two games. RU has now won four of the last five weekend series against SHU.
Junior Chris Suseck (Flemington, N.J.) led the Scarlet Knights with seven hits over four games last week, collecting two hits in each of the games versus Seton Hall. For the season, sophomore Tom Marcinczyk (Middlesex, N.J.) paces the bats at .312/.405/.484 with five home runs and has reached base safely in 34 of the last 35 games played. Freshman Milo Freeman (Millburn, N.J.) has also been productive in 2015 with a .306 average, as he hit his first career long ball Sunday and reached in all four trips to the plate to extend his hitting streak to six.
Rutgers is second in the Big Ten with 62 stolen bases on the season, with senior Joe D'Annunzio (Scotch Plains, N.J.) (12), junior R.J. Devish (Beachwood, N.J.) (12) and Suseck (11) all with double-digit totals. The team total is the most for the program since swiping 86 in 2010.
On the mound, freshman John O'Reilly (Northvale, N.J.) is slated to make his seventh start of the season. The right-hander is second among all freshmen qualifying pitchers in the Big Ten with a 3.33 ERA in his rookie year. He threw seven shutout innings to beat Wagner in his last start. Out of the bullpen, senior Jon Young (Old Bridge, N.J.) leads the relievers with 18 appearances and has pitched to a 2.08 ERA. He is tied for sixth in school history with 11 career saves. Click here and here for recent feature stories on the right-hander.
NOTABLE
Rutgers is 14-2 in games when leading after six innings and 9-2 when scoring at least six runs in a game this season ... the offense has collected double-digit hits 15 times ... the defense has played errorless baseball 15 times ... the Scarlet Knights have matched last season's home run total of 14 ... the team is 15-3 in the last four seasons when hitting multiple homers in a game ... freshman Kyle Walker (Piscataway, N.J.) leads qualifying batters on the team with a .409 average with runners in scoring position and has scored a runner from third with less than two outs in all eight opportunities ... Devish has thrown out 13 runners attempting to steal ... RU has scored more in the fifth inning (33) than any other frame ... junior John Jennings (Berkeley Heights, N.J.) currently owns the team lead by reaching base in the last 12 games played ... senior Vinny Zarrillo (Forked River, N.J.) is seventh in school history with 699 at bats and needs four hits to move into the top 10 in hits, now holding 213 ... D'Annunzio is tied for second in the school record books with seven triples this season and third overall with 14 for his career ... the season total leads the Big Ten and is second nationally, one off the leader ... Rutgers has played 10 games against teams that have appeared in the national rankings this season ... thirty-two of the 35 players on the roster hail from the state of New Jersey.
SCOUTING VILLANOVA
The Wildcats took its weekend finale at St. John's after dropping the first two contests. The team earned a 3-1 home win over La Salle Tuesday. Todd Czinege leads the offense with a .323 average, while Max Beerman has blasted five home runs. The pitching staff has worked to a 4.21 for the year.
Head coach Joe Godri is in his 14th season at the helm of the Wildcats, as the program is in its 150th season. Click here for more on Villanova baseball.
THE SERIES
Rutgers has won its last six games over Villanova, including three in 2013 at Villanova Ballpark at Plymouth, to take a narrow advantage in the series, 37-36. RU pitched shutouts in the first two games of the most recent set, finishing the sweep with 16 hits in the finale. The last meeting at Bainton Field in 2012 saw Rutgers score 10 runs in the seventh inning to win 10-8 to complete a home sweep.
UP NEXT
Rutgers will resume Big Ten play with a weekend series starting Friday (6:30 p.m.) at Penn State. The Saturday game (1:30 p.m.) will be broadcast live on Big Ten Network.
Follow Rutgers Athletics on Facebook and Twitter (@RUAthletics) for all of the latest news and updates. For specific updates regarding baseball, follow the program on Twitter (@BaseballRU), Instagram (@rutgersbaseball) and Tumblr.
