Softball Back on the Road at Ohio State

Friday, April 5

Columbus, OH

6:00 PM

Rutgers University

Ohio State

Apr 04 | Softball

Game Notes BTN Plus Live Stats

Scarlet Knights ready for three-game set against the Buckeyes, who are receiving votes in the national polls.

COLUMBUS, Ohio. (April 4, 2019) - Rutgers softball heads back on the road for the three-game Big Ten series at Ohio State April 5-7 at Buckeye Field.

The Scarlet Knights (16-17, 0-6) are looking for their first Big Ten victory of the season at Ohio State (21-10, 5-1), who leads the all-time series 14-1 overall and 12-1 as Big Ten opponents. The Buckeyes are receiving votes in both the coaches and media national Top 25 polls, and are coming off their first ever sweep of Indiana in a three-game series, and a 2-out-of-3 series win at Maryland last weekend.

THE SLATE \| All Times Eastern
Fri. 4/5	Game 1	6 p.m.
Sat. 4/6	Game 2	2 p.m.
Sun. 4/7	Game 3	1 p.m.

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HEAD-TO-HEAD

KNIGHT NOTES
• Rutgers produced its first seven-game winning streak since April 2015 from Feb. 28 - March 15. During the streak, Rutgers won back-to-back games by shutout (4-0 over Virginia and 8-0 over Robert Morris) for the first time since blanking Villanova twice in 2014. Over the seven-game run, Rutgers boosted its batting average by 32 points to .266 and lowered its ERA by 0.96 to 3.20.

• RU currently ranks sixth in the Big Ten with almost a home run per game after leading the nation with 13 homers at the end of opening weekend. Nine different Scarlet Knights have a hit a home run this season. The five home runs against Army is a school record for a single game and tied for third all-time in Big Ten history for a single game.

• Senior shortstop Jess Hughes is ranked fifth among the NCAA Division I softball active leaders in runs scored with 188. She also ranks sixth with 133 career walks drawn. The New Jersey native is ranked 17th in the nation currently with her 12 doubles, and is second in the Big Ten in runs scored with 33. She comes in at 5th in the Big Ten in batting average (.406) and 4th in steals (15).

• Junior outfielder Anyssa Iliopoulos ranks 9th in the Big Ten with a .697 slugging percentage and 8th with 29 RBIs. Iliopoulos slashed .526/.654/.895 during Rutgers' seven-game win streak with 10 runs scored and six RBIs. Eighteen of her 31 hits have gone for extra bases.

• Freshman pitcher Corah Price leads the staff in innings (99.0), ERA (3.25), WHIP (1.19) and strikeouts (69). The rookie has a pair of saves and a sparkling 3.14 strikeout-to-walk ratio. Price's nine strikeouts against Robert Morris was the program's most in a game since nine on March 18, 2016 against UMass Lowell.

• RU has succeeded in 45-of-57 stolen base attempts for an 79% average. With 17 games left in the regular season, Rutgers already has the most stolen bases in a season since 45 in 2016 (78%). RU stole 64 in 2013 at 80%. Comparatively, opposition has managed just 19-of-27 stolen base attempts (70%) against Rutgers pitching and freshman catcher Katie Wingert (eight caught stealing).

• First-year head coach Kristen Butler won her first game at the helm of the Scarlet Knights on Saturday, Feb. 9 against Jacksonville State. A former SEC Player of the Year and record-setting professional softball player in the United States and Japan, Butler has spent the last four seasons turning around the program as head coach at Toledo while earning the 2018 Mid-American Conference Coach of the Year honor.

TRENDING
• Nine of Rutgers' games have been decided by one run (RU is 4-5).
• Rutgers is 12-1 when scoring 6+ runs, and winless at 0-11 when an opponent scores 6+
• Rutgers is 12-7 when scoring first and has scored first in 12 of its 16 victories.
• Rutgers has scored in the first inning 15 times, and in 10 of the last 17.
• Rutgers is 7-1 when hitting 2+ home runs.
• Rutgers is 11-2 when leading after 5.
• Rutgers' win over Fordham last Wednesday was its sixth run-rule victory of the year, and its fifth in the last eight wins.
• Jess Hughes had at least one hit in each game of the Michigan series, and carries a five-game hitting streak and six-game reached base safely streak into Ohio State.

UP NEXT
The Scarlet Knights continue its road stint at Penn State for a three-game series April 12-14, with Sunday's game being broadcast on national television on Big Ten Network at noon.