2/17/2022 baseball Edit

Preview Rutgers Baseball's season opening series vs. Houston Baptist

Hector Rodriguez

Rutgers.Rivals.com

The wait is over, as Rutgers baseball is back after a long offseason. The Scarlet Knights will be on the road for their first couple series of the season, with their first stop taking place in Houston, Texas.

Rutgers will take on the Houston Baptist Huskies this weekend for a three-game series between the two programs, but before the first pitch is thrown let’s take a quick look at each team.

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HOUSTON BAPTIST HUSKIES.....

Houston Baptist has a new head coach this year and it’s someone that baseball fans are pretty familiar with in former MLB All-Star first baseman Lance Berkman.

The Huskies pitching staff is dealing with a bit of turnover this year as they’ve lost some of their top arms including Jacob Coats, who signed with the Astros as an undrafted free agent. Their pitching staff as a whole will be led by senior right-handed pitcher Andrew Reidmeyer.

Houston Baptist really struggled on the mound last season as they had a 5.96 team-ERA and opponents batted .290 against their arms. Berkman and his staff will need some of their arms to step up and take that next step if they want to compete with Rutgers this weekend.

As for their offense, there is one player on Houston Baptist’s roster that stands out and it is first baseman Brennan Bales. The junior infielder out of Nebraska was the Huskies top hitters last season as he batted .356 with eight doubles, two home runs and 22 RBIs.

Nobody else on Houston Baptist’s roster batted .300 or over last season but they’ll need more production from the rest of their lineup. Senior second baseman Jake Miller is one player that had a solid season in 2021 and hits in the top of the Huskies lineup. Two other hitters to watch are catcher Dawson Woods and speedy outfield Lane Boykin.

RUTGERS SCARLET KNIGHTS.....

Rutgers is excited to get back on the diamond after an up and down 2021 season. The Scarlet Knights will be led by their head coach, Steven Owens, who’s in his third season at Rutgers.

The Scarlet Knights pitching staff will have plenty of new faces after losing their entire weekend rotation to graduation or pro baseball. The new ace on the Rutgers pitching staff will be left-handed pitcher Brian Fitzpatrick.

The 6-foot-7 230-pound southpaw out of New York will get the Opening Day start on Friday afternoon. Fitzpatrick didn’t make any starts last season but did pitch in 14 games where he posted a 3-2 record with a 6.11 ERA, .242 opponent batting average and 10.2 K/9.

Seton Hall graduate transfer Jared Kollar will get the start for Rutgers on Saturday. Kollar is one of the few transfers Rutgers landed in the Transfer Portal this past offseason. Kollar made over 30 starts at Seton Hall and was arguably the staff’s best arm in his last two seasons.

Finally, Hartford graduate transfer Nathan Florence will get the start in the series finale. Florence was a solid arm at Hartford but really pitched well over the summer in the Cape Cod Summer League. In four games, Florence made two starts with a 0.79 ERA and 0.88 WHIP.

As for Rutgers offense, they’ll be returning the majority of their lineup and have also added some transfers and talented freshmen to create more depth. Players like Chris Brito, Ryan Lasko, Evan Sleight and Mike Nyizstor are players Rutgers will look to produce at a high level. Rutgers offense has a chance to be one of the best in the Big Ten. Two other hitters to watch for are outfielder Richie Schiekofer and middle infielder Danny DiGeorgio.