Baseball Gameday: at Rutgers

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – After its come-from-behind midweek win, the Indiana baseball program will head east to take on Rutgers in a three-game series at Bainton Field. The series kicks off at 2 p.m. on Friday, April 15.

It will be the fourth three-game series between the two programs as Big Ten opponents, however, the two teams met four times last season in separate pod play events in Minneapolis and Piscataway, N.J. Indiana (13-18, 2-4 B1G) is looking for its first conference series win, while Rutgers (27-6, 8-1 B1G) has swept two of its three Big Ten opponents.

Gameday Info
Friday, April 15 (2 p.m.)
Probable Starters
IU: John-Biagio Modugno, RHP, Jr.
RU: Jared Kollar, RHP, Gr.

Live Video: bit.ly/3JDw32t
Live Audio: bit.ly/IUAudio
Live Stats: bit.ly/3jCwbos

Saturday, April 16 (1 p.m.)
Probable Starters
IU: Jack Perkins, RHP, R-Jr.
RU: Nathan Florence, RHP, Gr.

Live Video: bit.ly/3JCw8ne
Live Audio: bit.ly/IUAudio
Live Stats: bit.ly/3jCwbos

Sunday, April 17 (Noon)
Probable Starters
IU: Bradley Brehmer, RHP, Sr.
RU: Justin Sinibaldi, LHP, So.

Live Video: bit.ly/3EchbHr
Live Audio: bit.ly/IUAudio
Live Stats: bit.ly/3jCwbos

Quick Hitters

Indiana and Rutgers will meet for the 17th time on Friday afternoon in Piscataway, New Jersey. IU leads the all-time series with Rutgers, 13-3.
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Redshirt-junior Matt Ellis has been seeing the ball well and leads the Big Ten lead in home runs. The left-handed hitter has also hit some mammoth home runs so far in 2022.
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Rookie Josh Pyne had a 15-game hitting streak come to an end versus Northwestern, the longest stretch at IU since 2014. He is currently riding a 21-game reached base streak.
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Freshman Brock Tibbitts took a pair of pitches out of the park in the IU's season opener versus Miami (Ohio), but you don't have to look far in the record books for the last rookie to hit multiple home runs in a game.
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Graduate student Tyler Doanes has been a table setter for IU and ranks among the national leaders in walks through eight weeks of the season.
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Indiana has three alums on MLB rosters to start 2022 and saw a school-standard four student-athletes selected in the first 10 rounds of the Major League Baseball Draft in 2021.
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Head coach Jeff Mercer owns 85 victories as the Indiana frontman and is poised to become the eighth IU skipper to reach 100 victories in the cream and crimson.
FULL BIO ON PAGE 4

Scouting the Opponent

Rutgers is one of the hottest teams in the country with a 12-game winning streak entering the weekend, which is the second-longest active streak in the country.
The Scarlet Knights own a 27-6 overall record and are 8-1 in the Big Ten, coming off a series sweep at Nebraska last weekend.
As a team, Rutgers leads the Big Ten and ranks top 10 in the NCAA in average (.325), hits (391), doubles (83) and runs per game (9.6). The pitching staff leads the B1G in ERA (3.11), while its defense paces the conference in fielding percentage (.981).
Nick Cimillo leads the Big Ten and ranks No. 17 nationally with a .416 batting average. He also leads the conference in hits (50), runs (41) and total bases (86).
Friday night starter Jared Kollar ranks No. 18 nationally with a 0.86 WHIP with 42 base runners allowed over 46 2/3 innings of work.

Series Notes

In 16 previous meetings, Indiana is 13-3 against Rutgers, with 13 of those meetings coming in conference play.
Since the Scarlet Knights joined the Big Ten in 2014, Indiana owns a 10-3 record in conference games. The five meetings in Piscataway have come as conference foes, with IU leading 3-2.
The two teams also met on a neutral site during the 2018 season, a 7-6 win in Port Charlotte, Florida.
The first meetings between the two teams came in 1934 in Bloomington. IU won that contest, 6-4.
Of the 16 meetings, nine of them have been decided by two-or-fewer runs.
The highest scoring games in the series have come via the Hoosier offense, with back-to-back double-digit scoring games in 2019.

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Players Mentioned

Bradley Brehmer

Tyler Doanes

John-Biagio Modugno

Jack Perkins

Josh Pyne

Brock Tibbitts

Indiana University Athletics