PISCATAWAY, N.J. – Rutgers baseball continues Big Ten play this weekend with a three-game set at home against Minnesota.

The Scarlet Knights (17-20, 6-9) dropped two-of-three last weekend at Purdue and fell on the road to Monmouth by a score of 13-2 in midweek action. 

The Golden Gophers (18-17, 5-10) are winners of seven straight and are just one game behind RU in the conference standings. UM swept Ohio State in Columbus last weekend and won a pair of midweek games at home over North Dakota State and South Dakota State.

All three games this weekend will be streamed on Big Ten Plus. Fans can also follow along on X (@RutgersBaseball) for live updates. Live stats will be available here.

Series History
Rutgers is 10-11 all-time against Minnesota including a 7-8 record in Big Ten games. In the last meeting between the teams, the Golden Gophers won two-of-three in Minneapolis to wrap up the 2023 regular season. UM's last trip to Piscataway was in 2022, a three-game sweep for RU.

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.

Mack's Emergence

• True freshman Landon Mack has emerged as one of the top freshmen arms in the country.
• He was recently named Second Team Freshman All-America by Perfect Game and was earlier names Big Ten Pitcher and Freshman of the Week by the conference.
• Mack's 3.77 ERA leads all Big Ten freshmen.
• From the Iowa series through the Washington series, Mack posted 17 consecutive scoreless innings. 

• 56.1 percent of the team's innings on the mound have come from freshmen. This includes the top two arms in Landon Mack (45.1 IP) and Justin Shadek (35.2 IP).
• Additionally, 88.0 percent of the team's innings have come from players who had not pitched for Rutgers prior to this season.

Defensive Excellence

• The Rutgers defense leads the Big Ten and is seventh in the country with a .982 fielding percentage. 
• The Scarlet Knights recently had a streak of 19 consecutive games without an error before the series finale at Nebraska.
• Over the past four seasons, Rutgers is one of just eight programs to have a fielding percentage of .976 or better all four seasons. The other seven are Alabama, Arkansas, Auburn, East Carolina, Oregon, Vanderbilt and Virginia Tech.

Rutgers/Collegiate Debuts 

• In total, 27 players have made their Rutgers debuts in 2025
  • INF Jan Avila, RHP/OF Charles Batista, RHP Quinn Berglin, OF Peyton Bonds, LHP Ryan Bradley, INF Yomar Carreras, C Matt Chatelle, RHP Matthew Cruz, RHP Luke Fithian, C Mark Gialluisi, RHP Zach Gleason, RHP/INF Connor Grotyohann, LHP Hunter Hoxie, OF Brennan Hyde, LHP Cameron Johnson, RHP Tyler Kane, 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, 14 freshmen have made their collegiate debuts this season 
  • RHP/OF Charles Batista, INF Yomar Carreras, RHP Matthew Cruz, RHP Luke Fithian, C Mark Gialluisi, LHP Hunter Hoxie, LHP Cameron Johnson, RHP Jack Kirchner, RHP Landon Mack, RHP Nolan Peel, RHP Andrew Rondini, RHP Justin Shadek, OF Jack Sweeney and INF Nick Tomasetto