Rutgers baseball looks for all hands on deck against Charleston Southern
The Rutgers baseball team is coming off a 15-9 victory over St. Joe's and will now head to Charleston, South Carolina, to take on Charleston Southern this weekend.
The Hawks (2-3, 0-0) got the upper hand by scoring five runs in the second inning, but the Knights (6-1, 0-0) would answer in large fashion. Rutgers would go on a two-out, 11-run rally in the top of the third inning, highlighted by a two-run homer off the bat of redshirt sophomore infielder Tony Santa Maria.
Santa Maria added another two-run blast in the fifth inning as the Knights rolled past St. Joe's. Junior outfielder RJ Johnson Jr., sophomore outfielder Trevor Cohen and senior infielder Cameron Love each contributed to the victory with two runs scored, three hits and two runs batted in (RBI) each.
Next up for Rutgers will be the Buccaneers (4-4, 0-0), who, after starting the season 2-0, have gone 2-4 in their last six games.
Over the weekend, Charleston Southern took a 2-1 series win over Lehigh. Most notably, the Buccaneers secured a 17-6, 16-hit victory in last Saturday's game against the Mountain Hawks (4-3, 0-0). In that game, Cade Conway exploded for four hits, four RBI and three runs scored.
Conway has served as Charleston Southern's best hitter to begin the season, leading the team with a .515 batting average and 17 hits.
Dakota Miller is another Buccaneer to watch at the plate, as he leads his team with three home runs, 10 RBI, four doubles and nine runs scored.
Evan Truitt will likely serve in long relief this weekend. In two appearances, the right-handed pitcher owns a 2-0 record with a 2.53 earned run average (ERA) and 13 strikeouts across 10.2 innings.
On the other side, sophomore right-handed pitcher and reigning Big Ten Pitcher of the Week Christian Coppola is slated to start for the Knights. In his start against Old Dominion last weekend, Coppola fired six innings of two-run, one-hit ball along with nine strikeouts to earn his second win of the season.
In three appearances in relief, graduate student right-handed pitcher Jake Marshall owns a 1.13 ERA with 12 strikeouts and two saves in eight innings. Marshall is expected to trot out of the bullpen once again against Charleston Southern.
Rutgers will look to get hot with the bats again this weekend. Through seven games, five Knights have at least 10 hits.
While Rutgers is coming into the series off a win, the Buccaneers will look for a bounce-back performance after losing to The Citadel 5-4 on Tuesday.
The series between the Knights and Charleston Southern will begin on Friday at 5 p.m. followed by game two the next day at 4 p.m. and the closer on Sunday at 11 p.m. The games will be held at Nielsen Field @ CSU Ballpark.
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