Three Takeaways from Rutgers Baseball in the Swig & Swine Classic
Rutgers Baseball finished playing in the Swig & Swine Classic last weekend and it was another tough weekend for the Scarlet Knights, finishing 1-2 on the weekend and are now 2-4 to begin the 2023 season.
The Rutgers offense has been terrible to begin the season, especially with how good they were at the plate last season. Their offense is striking out at a very high rate. However, their Friday starter had a much better outing against George Mason. Here are three takeaways from the Swig & Swine Classic.
WHAT HAPPENED TO THE OFFENSE?
During the 2022 season, the Rutgers Scarlet Knights had one of the best offenses in college baseball. They were close to averaging ten runs per game forcing teams would have to outhit them to win.
To start the 2023 season, the Rutgers offense has been difficult to watch. Only one player on the roster is batting over .300 with four starts. The only batter hitting over .300 is outfielder Trevor Cohen. He leads the Rutgers offense with a .524 batting average and 1.113 OPS.
Hitters like Ryan Lasko, Chris Brito, Evan Sleight, and Josh Kuroda-Grauer are struggling to begin the season. They need to start producing at the plate if Rutgers expects to contend for the NCAA Tournament.
TOO MANY STRIKEOUTS...
One way Rutgers can fix their issues at the plate is by cutting down their strikeouts and putting the ball in play more often. Rutgers already has one player with more than ten strikeouts and four more that are not far off.
As a team, Rutgers has struck out 62 times in their first two weekend series. That means Rutgers is striking out 32.2% of their at-bats. It also means the Scarlet Knights are striking out over ten times per game.
The Scarlet Knights are swinging and missing way too much. They need to focus on making more contact and forcing the defense to make plays. Striking out ten times a game isn’t going to lead to many great offensive performances that we saw last season.
DREW CONOVER BOUNCED BACK...
During his first start as a Scarlet Knight, Seton Hall transfer Drew Conover struggled and couldn’t pitch past the third inning. Conover struggled with his command and walked five batters and allowed five runs in two innings pitched.
Against the George Mason Patriots, the Cape Cod All-Star right-hander was lights out and dominated the Patriots. Conover pitched six innings allowing three hits, no runs, no walks, and seven strikeouts.
In the middle of his outing, Conover even had an immaculate inning. An immaculate inning is when a pitcher throws nine pitches, all of them for strikes, and punches out all three batters he faced in three pitches. If Rutgers gets more of that Drew Conover, Friday games should be easy wins for the Scarlet Knights.
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