Rutgers softball looks toward series against Ohio State
On Friday, the Rutgers softball team will head to Columbus to take on Ohio State for a weekend series. This will be the Scarlet Knights (6-22, 6-22) first series against the Buckeyes (14-13, 14-13) and the third campus away series of the season.
Rutgers looks to bounce back from its weekend series against Wisconsin in which it was swept. It will face off against an Ohio State team that is 1-4 in its last five games. When these two teams met last, in 2019, the Buckeyes took 2 out of 3 games from the Knights.
The first game will be a doubleheader starting Friday at 3:30 p.m. followed by a doubleheader on Saturday, with the series concluding with a Sunday game.
At the plate, Rutgers is led by graduate student utility player Gabrielle Callaway and sophomore infielder Payton Lincavage. Callaway leads the Knights offensively, hitting .333 with 30 hits, 15 RBIs and four home runs. Callaway is currently on a seven-game hitting streak. Lincavage leads Rutgers with 18 runs and is only behind Callaway in hits with 25. Lincavage is batting .287 with two home runs seven RBIs and a .374 on-base percentage.
Other key contributors for the Knights are graduate student outfielder Hailey Hoklotubbe and freshman outfielder Leilani Chavez. Hoklotubbe is batting .243 with five runs, a .300 on-base percentage and is tied for most steals on the team with 3 on 4 attempts. Chavez had a great series against the Badgers (12-16, 12-16) hitting 3-for-7 with two doubles, a triple and an RBI. On the season, Chavez is hitting .233 with three RBIs.
On the mound, Ohio State has to worry about sophomore pitcher Ashley Hitchcock who has pitched 84.1 innings and has a 5.73 ERA with 53 strikeouts. Hitchcock has also pitched four complete games this season.
The Buckeyes are led by Mariah Rodriguez who is batting .351 this season and Tegan Cortelletti who is batting .337. Ohio State also has Sam Hackenbracht, who has hit seven home runs this season.
At the circle, the Buckeyes are led by Payton Buresch who has a 2.09 ERA and a 7-3 record in 83.2 innings pitched.
If Rutgers is to win the series against Ohio State it is going to have to make improvements to the batting average gap between it and its opponents. Currently, the Knights are hitting .222 as a team while their opponents are hitting .320 against them.
Rutgers will look to generate some momentum in Ohio and defeat the Buckeyes this weekend.
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