March 13, 2017
BOCA RATON, Fla. - Rutgers baseball will continue its eight-game spring break trip with a Tuesday contest at Florida Atlantic set to begin at 6:30 p.m. It will be the third-straight year that the Scarlet Knights and Owls meet on the diamond. The temperature at first pitch is forecast to be 77 degrees.
SCOUTING RUTGERS
The Scarlet Knights started off their road trip by splitting a four-game series at North Florida, dropping the first two before coming back to win 2-1 and 12-4. RU had a season-high 18 hits in the finale, with senior Mike Carter driving in a career-high five runs. Both Carter and junior Chris Folinusz collected seven hits over the weekend. Senior Tom Marcinczyk added a four-hit game, while sophomore Jawuan Harris stole four bases.
Senior Gaby Rosa made his return to the mound and produced two wins last week. The right-hander worked four scoreless innings at Iona, following that up by pitching seven innings with one run allowed to beat UNF in a 2-1 ballgame. It was his first start since May 10, 2015. Classmate Christian Campbell also picked up a victory after tossing five innings Sunday. The bullpen combined for six shutout innings to close out the series.
For the season, Carter leads the team in both batting average (.397) and on-base percentage (.478), having made it safely on in each of the last 17 games dating back to last season. Harris paces the lineup with a .556 slugging percentage and with nine stolen bases, ranked 11th nationally. He and Marcinczyk have blasted three home runs.
In addition, it will be a homecoming for Harris, who attended nearby St. Thomas Aquinas High School.
Freshman Eric Reardon is scheduled to make the start Wednesday to become the first freshman to begin a game on the hill this season. The left-hander most recently worked a scoreless inning at North Florida in his sixth appearance, which ties the team lead. He won his debut in a relief outing at No. 17 Miami on Feb. 19.
Out of the bullpen, fifth-year senior Max Herrmann has 11 career saves in 69 appearances to lead the staff. Senior Ryan Fleming is also tied for the team high at six games worked so far.
NOTABLE
Rutgers has played 14-of-15 true road games to start the season … RU is 34-8 in games scoring at least six runs since 2015 … the Scarlet Knights have the same record (6-9) and number of runs scored (82) through 15 games as last year … nine different players have made their RU debut so far this season … Rutgers has 28 two-out RBIs … the team has scored most in the third inning with 14 runs plated … the Scarlet Knights have 17 stolen bases over the last 10 games and rank No. 40 nationally with 22 on the season … Rutgers has played at least one game in the state of Florida in each of the last 35 seasons.
SCOUTING FLORIDA ATLANTIC
The defending Conference USA regular season champions, the Owls have played 14-of-16 games at home so far. That includes series against Big Ten opponents Indiana (1-1-1) and Illinois (2-1). Most recently, FAU had a streak of five-straight games of double-digit runs that ended with a 6-4 Sunday loss to Toledo. Tyler Frank (.405), Gary Mattis (.400) and Kevin Abraham (.400) all are hitting at least .400, but Stephen Kerr has a team-best .525 on-base percentage. The team has hit 24 home runs with an average of 8.5 runs per game. Left-hander Sean Labsan is projected to start on the mound, having allowed five earned runs in 5.2 innings in 2017.
John McCormack, who led the team to NCAA Regionals last season, is in his ninth season as head coach. Click here for the full Florida Atlantic midweek preview.
THE SERIES
The Scarlet Knights and Owls met for three-game series in each of the last two seasons at FAU Baseball Stadium. FAU swept in 2015, but last year saw three one-run games with the home team taking two. RU won with a three-run rally in the seventh inning in the Saturday game. Overall, FAU holds a 22-8 all-time advantage dating back to 1985.
UP NEXT
Rutgers will wrap up its spring break trip by traveling west to Fort Myers, Florida, to take on No. 21 Florida Gulf Coast in a three-game series starting Friday. It will be the third ranked weekend opponent for the Scarlet Knights in five weekends.
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