PISCATAWAY, N.J. - Coming off a series win at George Mason, Rutgers baseball is set to play its home opener Wednesday against Lafayette at 2:30 p.m. It would be the earliest home game on the calendar in program history, which dates back to 1870, besting March 5, 2008. The Scarlet Knights have won their last seven home openers and 13 of the prior 14.

Wednesday's game will be broadcast live at 88.7-FM and online via WRSU. Vinny Caggiano and Sean Griffin are scheduled to make the call.

NJ Advance Media: "Devish is catching on for the Rutgers baseball team"

SCOUTING RUTGERS
The Scarlet Knights rebounded with two victories in the team's first visit to George Mason over the weekend. In the series opener, RU broke open a 2-1 game with nine runs in the seventh inning to go on to win, 11-5. The offense collected 18 hits with fifth-year senior Chris Suseck (Flemington, N.J.) recording four, while senior R.J. Devish (Beachwood, N.J.) blasted his first career home run on three hits. Senior Howie Brey (Middletown, N.J.) earned his first win of the season on the mound with one run permitted over six innings.

Rutgers fell short in the middle game, 6-5, but bounced back to win the rubber contest, 8-6, after sitting in an early four-run hole, 6-2. The rally ignited in the sixth off the bat of freshman Nick Matera (Roxbury, N.J.), who came through with a clutch two-out, three-run double to pull RU within one. Freshman Mike Martinez (West New York, N.J.) ended up tying it up by drawing a walk with the bases loaded. Matera then added an RBI fielder's choice one inning later to give the Scarlet Knights the lead. The comeback was made possible by the work of four relievers combining to toss 6.2 scoreless innings: redshirt junior Kevin Baxter (Waterford, N.J.), freshman Dante Scafidi (Washington Township, N.J.), redshirt junior Max Herrmann (Rutherford, N.J.) and senior Reed Shuttle (Lansdale, Pa.).

For his play in the series, Devish garnered Big Ten Player of the Week on Monday, becoming the first Scarlet Knight to earn the honor. The catcher sparked RU offensively at George Mason, reaching base 11-of-14 times, plus a sacrifice bunt, for a .786 on-base percentage and a 1.125 slugging mark. The leadoff hitter went 5-for-8 with five runs, five RBIs, five walks, one double, one home run and one stolen base in the three-game series. For the young season, Devish leads the Big Ten and ranks seventh nationally with a .682 on-base percentage. He is also fourth in the conference in batting average (.462) and slugging percentage (.769).

In addition, Suseck and fifth-year senior John Jennings (Berkeley Heights, N.J.) both had six hits in the series, while junior Tom Marcinczyk (Middlesex, N.J.) belted a grand slam to record six RBIs. The bats combined to hit .315 as a group with 16 walks compared to 11 strikeouts.

On the mound, freshman Serafino Brito (Oakland, N.J.) is slated to make his first collegiate start on Wednesday. The right-hander has three appearances out of the bullpen so far, totaling six strikeouts over 4.1 innings.

NOTABLE
Rutgers is 121-67-1 at Bainton Field since it opened in 2007, winning at least half of the contests the last six seasons … Devish has batted leadoff four times as the starting catcher, the only RU catcher this century to hit first in the lineup … the outfield had an assist in five of the first six games this year … the finale at George Mason lasted three hours and 53 minutes, the longest nine-inning game for the Scarlet Knights since a four-hour contest at Miami on Feb. 19, 2012.

SCOUTING LAFAYETTE
A member of the Patriot League, the Leopards will be going for their second win of the week after beating Rider, 6-3, on Tuesday. Prior to that, Lafayette opened its season taking three losses at VMI last weekend. Steven Cohen led the offense with five hits and five RBIs against the Keydets, as the team hit .275 overall. On the mound, right-hander Trevor Houck is listed as the probable starter after working two innings with one run surrendered on Saturday.

Joe Kinney is in his 17th season as head coach, as the team went 14-27-1 (9-11) and advanced to the Patriot League semifinals last year. Click here for more information on Lafayette baseball.

THE SERIES
On record, Rutgers has played 98 games against Lafayette in its history, only having played Seton Hall (109) and Princeton (99) more. The Scarlet Knights own a 68-29-1 advantage, with the one tie being last season at Kamine Stadium. RU tied the score at three in the eighth inning and game stayed that way until darkness hit at the end of the 12th frame. John O'Reilly (Northvale, N.J.) pitched five innings in the start, while Marcinczyk, Milo Freeman (Millburn, N.J.) and Kyle Walker (Piscataway, N.J.) each drove in a run. Lafayette collected 13 hits and used eight different pitchers on the mound. Rutgers won the last meeting between the squads at Bainton Field, 7-1, in 2014 with Ryan Fleming (Churchville, Pa.) earning the victory.

UP NEXT
Rutgers will head back to Virginia to start a three-game series at Old Dominion on Friday. It will be the 20th consecutive season the programs will meet on the diamond.

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