Baseball Opens Big Ten Tournament Against Purdue

Thursday, May 26

Omaha, Neb. (Charles Schwab Field)

2:00 PM

Rutgers University

Purdue

Photo by: Dustin Satloff

Baseball Opens Big Ten Tournament Against Purdue

May 25 | Baseball

Big Ten Tournament Central Game Day vs. Purdue Watch (BTN)Game Notes

Scarlet Knights and Boilermakers will meet for the first time this season

OMAHA, Neb. (May 24, 2022) – After a record-setting regular season, the Rutgers baseball team has earned the No. 2 seed in this week's Big Ten Tournament. The Scarlet Knights will face No. 7 Purdue in the first round. The game was originally scheduled for 2 p.m. EST and then 10 p.m. EST on Wednesday. Due to inclement weather, it has been postponed to Thursday at a time to be determined. All tournament games will take place at Charles Schwab Field and be broadcast live on the Big Ten Network.

Rutgers finished the regular season 41-14 overall and set a new program record for regular season wins. RU posted a 17-7 mark in Big Ten play to finish in second place and make the 8-team tournament for the first time since Rutgers joined the conference for the 2015 season. The Big Ten Tournament takes place over five days and is a double-elimination format.

If Rutgers beats Purdue, it will play the winner of No. 3 Iowa vs. No. 6 Penn State at 10 a.m. EST on Friday. If RU loses, it will play the loser of that game at 6 a.m. EST on Thursday, with the loser being eliminated. If the Scarlet Knights win both of their first two games, they will have Friday off and then advance to the quarterfinal round at 10 p.m. EST on Saturday.

SHATTERING EXPECTATIONS
In the Big Ten preseason poll, Rutgers was not picked to finish in the top six. The Scarlet Knights went on to finish in second place, its highest finish since joining the conference. RU's previous best was an 8th place finish last season when there was no Big Ten Tournament.

ALL-BIG TEN HONOREES
SS Danny DiGeorgio, OF Ryan Lasko and RP Dale Stanavich were named to the All-Big Ten First Team on Tuesday, the first time any Rutgers baseball player has been named to the All-Big Ten First Team. C Nick Cimillo and SP Jared Kollar were named to the Second Team, 1B Chris Brito, 2B Josh Kuroda-Grauer and SP Nate Florence were named to the Third Team, while Kuroda-Grauer was also named to the All-Freshman team. Bradley Norton received the Big Ten Sportsmanship Award for Rutgers.

LASKO GOLDEN SPIKES
Ryan Lasko was named a semifinalist for the Golden Spikes Award on Tuesday, becoming the first Rutgers player since Todd Frazier in 2007 to be named a semifinalist for the most prestigious honor in amateur baseball

RECORD SETTING RUTGERS
The 2022 Scarlet Knights have shattered a number of program records, including regular season wins (41), runs (532), home runs (94), RBI (488), total bases (1109) and pitching strikeouts (489).

ROAD WARRIORS
Rutgers leads all power five programs with 22 road wins this season, while challenging itself with 13 games played outside the eastern time zone.

OFFENSIVE MACHINE
The Scarlet Knights lead the entire country scoring 9.7 runs/game to go along with 532 total runs scored. They lead the Big Ten with a .320 AVG, 139 doubles, 2.53 doubles/game, 656 hits, 532 runs and 9.7 runs/game.

BIG TEN'S BEST DEFENSE
Rutgers has showcased the best defense in the Big Ten from start to finish this season. RU tops the conference with both a .979 fielding percentage and committing just 0.73 errors/game.