Rutgers Baseball took a break from Big Ten Conference play and hosted the California Baptist Lancers for a three-game series this past weekend. However in the end, the Scarlet Knights were unable to get the series win, as they dropped the rubber match on Sunday afternoon.
With that being said, here are three takeaways from the Rutgers Baseball's three game series versus Cal Baptist.
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THE RUTGERS OFFENSIVE STRUGGLE STRUGGLES CONTINUE....
The Rutgers offense continues to struggle, as they are just not doing enough at the plate to win games. This past weekend the Scarlet Knights batted .310 overall in the Cal Baptist series and while that’s good, they are severely lacking in power department.
In the series, Rutgers didn’t have a single home run and averaged a little over two doubles per game. With pitching issues already hurting the Scarlet Knights, they can't afford to keep having struggles at the plate as well.
If the Scarlet Knights can’t hit for power, they’ll need to find other ways of manufacturing runs. Head Coach Steve Owens likes to play small ball, but they haven’t been consistent at moving runners over or stealing bags so far this season.
FRESHMAN RHP LANDON MACK PITCHES A GEM
True freshman right-handed pitcher Landon Mack was the star for the Scarlet Knights last weekend. The Bishop Eustace High School product earned his first win of collegiate career after a stellar outing versus the Lancers.
Mack pitched 6.0 innings, allowing two hits, no runs, one walk, and two strikeouts. He has been the most consistent starter for the Scarlet Knights this season, posting a 1-2 record with a 3.80 ERA, 1.31 WHIP, and 17 strikeouts in 21.1 innings pitched.
While Mack doesn’t have the strikeout numbers like some of the other pitchers for the Scarlet Knights, he has done a great job of forcing weak contact and limiting his free passes. Right now Mack has the lowest WHIP out of everyone on the Rutgers pitching staff with with nine or more innings pitched.
TOO MANY FREE PASSES FROM RUTGERS PITCHING STAFF
The Rutgers pitching staff continues to allow too many free passes, which in turn leads to big innings for their opponents. In both of their losses versus Cal Baptist, the Scarlet Knights walked at least nine batters in each game.
As a pitching staff, the Scarlet Knights have a 1.74 WHIP, which ranks second to last in the Big Ten Conference and 198th in the country. They have also walked more batters than any other team in the conference and also ranked 237th in the country in BB/9 with a 6.20. This pitching staff needs to make some serious adjustments and quickly before this becomes a lost season.
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