CONWAY, S.C. – Rutgers baseball is set to hit the road for the third straight week, heading south to take on Coastal Carolina for a three-game set.
The Scarlet Knights (4-4) are coming off a 12-6 win over St. Joe's in their home opener and last weekend dropped three-of-four at Grand Canyon in Arizona.
The Chanticleers (7-2) beat UNCW 6-1 on Tuesday night and won two-of-three last weekend at the JAX College Baseball Classic, beating Ohio State and NC State while dropping a contest to Alabama.
All three games will be streamed on ESPN+. Fans can also follow along on X (@RutgersBaseball) for live updates. Live stats will be available here.
Series History
Rutgers and Coastal Carolina have played just once before, a 15-10 victory for the Chanticleers at Spring Brooks Stadium in 2022. Nick Cimillo homered for RU in the contest, while LHP Joe Mazza is the only Scarlet Knight still on the team from that game.
The 2025 Scarlet Knights
- The 2025 roster features a total of 38 players, with 11 returners and 27 newcomers.
- Of the 27 newcomers, 13 are true freshmen, 12 are four-year transfers and 2 are junior college transfers.
- Head Coach Steve Owens enters his sixth season at the helm of the program and has accumulated three consecutive winnings season with RU.
- Mike McRae joins the program as pitching coach after three years as the head coach at William & Mary, where he posted three straight winning seasons and three straight CAA Tournament berths.
Double Trouble
- The Rutgers offense leads the Big Ten and is second in the country with 26 doubles this season.
- The Rutgers defense leads the Big Ten and is 18th in the country with eight double plays turned this season.
Nicky Nukes
- Nick Tomasetto had a breakout game against St. Joe's on Tuesday, going 3-for-4 with two home runs and seven RBIs. He became the first Scarlet Knight to have seven RBIs in a game since Carmen Sclafani against Wagner in 2019.
- Tomasetto leads the team and ranks third in the Big Ten with 14 RBIs. All 14 have come in the last week and he is third in the country with 2.33 RBIs per game.
Cohen's Consistency
- Trevor Cohen has started 114/117 games since his freshman year in 2023. He leads RU with a .441 average and has raised his career average to .320.
- His six doubles lead the Big Ten and are fourth in the country
- Cohen has three games with at least three hits, including a five-hit game at Kennesaw State and a 4-for-5 game at Grand Canyon.
Going Streaking
Young Guns
- 30 of the team's 66 innings pitched (45.5%) have come from freshmen. This includes the top two arms in Landon Mack (8.0 IP) and Justin Shadek (7.0 IP).
- 51.1 of 66 (84%) innings have come from players who did not pitch for Rutgers last season.
- Additionally, RU's leader in home runs (2) and RBIs (14) is freshman Nick Tomasetto.
Defensive Mindset
- Rutgers has established itself as one of the premier defensive teams in the country over the past four years.
- The Scarlet Knights own a .978 fielding percentage, fourth in the Big Ten.
- Trevor Cohen (2) and RJ Johnson Jr. (1) have already thrown out a trio of runners at home plate and catchers JD Jones (2) and Matt Chatelle (1) have thrown out 3-of-8 would-be base stealers
Rutgers/Collegiate Debuts
- In total, 22 players have made their Rutgers debuts in the first two weeks of 2025
- INF Jan Avila, RHP Quinn Berglin, OF Peyton Bonds, INF Yomar Carreras, C Matt Chatelle, RHP Luke Fithian, RHP Zach Gleason, RHP/INF Connor Grotyohann, LHP Hunter Hoxie, OF Brennan Hyde, LHP Cameron Johnson, RHP Jack Kirchner, RHP Landon Mack, RHP Nolan Peel, LHP Preston Prince, RHP Andrew Rondini, RHP Dillon Ryan, RHP Justin Shadek, OF Jack Sweeney, INF JT Thompson, RHP Mike Timberlake and INF Nick Tomasetto
- Additionally, 11 freshmen have made their collegiate debuts this season
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