Thursday, May 19
Piscataway, N.J.
12 p.m.
Northwestern
at
Rutgers
Wildcats Close Out Campaign at Rutgers
5/18/2016 10:15:00 PM | Baseball
| NORTHWESTERN BASEBALL AT RUTGERS | ||||||
| DATE | OPPONENT | TIME | LOCATION | WATCH | STATS | |
| Wednesday, May 19 | Rutgers | 12 p.m. CT | Piscataway, N.J. | BTN Plus | Live Stats | |
| Thursday, May 20 | Rutgers | 12 p.m. CT | Piscataway, N.J. | BTN Plus | Live Stats | |
| Saturday, May 21 | Rutgers | 11 a.m. CT | Piscataway, N.J. | BTN Plus | Live Stats | |
| Social: Twitter (@NUCatsBaseball and @NU_SportsLive) | Instagram (nucatsbaseball) | Facebook | ||||||
PISCATAWAY, N.J. — Northwestern baseball will wrap up its 2016 campaign with a three-game series at Rutgers that begins on Thursday, May 19 and runs through Saturday, May 21.
All three contests against the Scarlet Knights will be streamed on BTN Plus/BTN2Go.
Northwestern (13-38, 5-16 B1G) enters the Big Ten Conference series against Rutgers after taking a break from league play last weekend (May 14-16) to face California in a four-game series. The Wildcats were swept in the non-conference action against the Golden Bears.
THE OPPONENT
Rutgers (26-26, 8-13 B1G) comes into the weekend having won three of its last four contests, which includes taking two of three from Maryland last weekend. The series win was the third of the campaign for the Scarlet Knights, who also captured series against Indiana and Penn State.
As a team, Rutgers ranks seventh in the Big Ten with a .266 batting average. RJ Devish has been the offensive spark for the Scarlet Knights all season. The senior is hitting .382 in 49 games, which places him third among all Big Ten batters. Devish leads the league in runs scored with 54.
Tom Marcinczyk is fourth in the conference with 45 RBIs.
The Scarlet Knights have a school-record 109 stolen bases this season, a total that leads all Big Ten teams by 27 and is fourth-most nationally.
The Rutgers pitching staff boasts a 4.72 ERA.
ON THE BUMP
Northwestern will again start the trio of LHP Reed Mason (ERA), RHP Joe Schindler (ERA) and RHP Tommy Bordignon (ERA). Head coach Spencer Allen has gone with this rotation in each of the last three series dating back to #B1GCats' road trip to Indiana (April 29 – May 1).
Rutgers is slated to throw LHP Howie Brey (6-4, 3.27 ERA) in game one followed by RHP John O'Reilly (1-5, 4.96 ERA) and RHP Serafino Brito (5-5, 4.63 ERA)
SERIES HISTORY
This series between Northwestern and Rutgers will be the first as Big Ten foes. The teams have met three times before with the Wildcats holding a 2-1 advantage in the series history. Northwestern earned a 7-5 victory over the Scarlet Knights in the 2010 season.
HOPPY CAN'T HELP BUT HIT
Since the Wildcats opened Big Ten Conference play on March 25, junior Matt Hopfner has ranked in the Big Ten's top 10 for batting averages every week.
Currently, the Edina, Minn., native has a team-best .360 average, which places him eighth in the Big Ten.
For the season, Hopfner has 22 multiple-hit games and a total of 67 knocks.
B1G PITCHING PERFORMANCES
Northwestern's starting rotation of Reed Mason, Joe Schindler and Tommy Bordignon have stepped up in Big Ten appearances this season.
Mason, who has started each one of Northwestern's Friday series openers this season, has been stellar on the road in conference play. The lefty has gone at least 6.0 innings in three conference road games this year, which includes a quality start at Indiana (April 29) when he went 6.0 innings and only allowed four hits, two runs and struck out three. Mason followed up that performance by tossing a season-high seven innings against Purdue the next weekend (May 6) and striking out a season-high seven batters.
Three of Schindler's four starts this season have come in Big Ten play. The right-hander threw a season-high 5.2 scoreless innings against Indiana (April 29) and at one point sat down 15-striaght batters. Schindler struck out a season-high six batters in his next outing against Purdue on May 7.
Bordignon has made the transition from the bullpen to a starting role in the recent weeks. The Glenview, Illinois, native made his first career start on May 1 at Indiana, before going out and throwing a season-high 5.1 innings. Bordignon kept the Boilermakers out of the runs column en route to the #B1GCats first shutout of the season.
SPOIL THE PARTY
Northwestern will have the opportunity to play spoiler this weekend. Currently, Rutgers sits in 11th place in the Big Ten with an 8-13 conference. The Scarlet Knights still have a chance to make the Big Ten tournament, but need to take all three from the Wildcats and have help from other series around the conference. A Northwestern win in the series will eliminate Rutgers from postseason play.
CRUSHING IN CONFERENCE
Three members of Northwestern's roster have accumulated 20-or-more hits in conference play this season. Matt Hopfner (29), Connor Lind (26) and Joe Hoscheit (20) have all eclipsed the 20-hit plateau in Big Ten play. Hopfner is batting .367 against league pitchers, while Lind and Hoscheit have posted a .325 and .303 average, respectively.
Hoscheit has a .515 slugging percentage in 18 conference games, with four of his team-leading seven home runs coming in those contests.
WINNIN' THRU THE SIX WITH MY…
The sixth inning has proven to be the tell tale sign for Northwestern in 2016. All 13 of Northwestern's wins have come when the team has held a lead following the sixth frame. The 'Cats have been in that situation on 17 occasions this year.
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