St. John’s to Visit Rutgers on Tuesday

Tuesday, April 23

New Brunswick, N.J. (Bainton Field)

6 p.m.

St. John's University

Rutgers

4/22/2024 4:19:00 PM | Baseball

Live Stats Watch (B1G+)Game Notes (PDF)

Red Storm visits Scarlet Knights for first time since 2012

QUEENS, N.Y. – Fresh off its second conference series win of the season, the St. John's baseball team (25-9-1) will head to New Jersey, taking on former BIG EAST foe Rutgers (23-16) on Tuesday at Bainton Field. First pitch from New Brunswick has been adjusted to 6 p.m.

Tuesday's contest will be streamed on B1G+ and live stats will be available on RedStormSports.com.

St. John's took two of its three games from Butler over the weekend, getting necessary offensive support from Marty Higgins and Garrett Scavelli, who both smacked six hits in three games. Higgins, who earned a spot on the BIG EAST Weekly Honor Roll on Monday, provided run support with four RBIs and two runs scored. Scavelli recorded a .667/.750/.889 slash line while drawing three walks, scoring four times and smacking an RBI triple. The Molloy transfer has also reached base safely in 22 straight games.

Slashing .429/.519/.476 in six starts since cracking the starting lineup against UConn on April 13, Higgins paces the team with eight RBIs to go with five runs scored along the way. The Nutley, N.J., native has also been vital defensively in his transition to the right side of the infield, providing 53 putouts and a pair of assists with no errors at first.

The Red Storm holds a 46-35 record over its former conference foe. St. John's will make its first trip to Bainton Field since 2012 when the Red Storm took two of three games in the Scarlet Knights' final season with the BIG EAST. The Red Storm earned a 17-10 victory in the series finale, seeing its 1-4 batters – Matt Wessinger, Pat Talbut, Jeremy Baltz and Frank Schwindel – register 10 runs on 13 hits combined. Baltz rattled off five RBIs while Talbut and Schwindel managed three apiece.

St. John's nearly toppled Rutgers last season at Jack Kaiser Stadium, dropping a 3-1 affair despite six scoreless innings of two-hit ball from starter Mario Pesca.

Both teams enter Tuesday ranked inside the top 35 nationally in batting average. Rutgers sits 15^th in the nation with a .315 mark while the Johnnies are 32^nd in Division I hitting .307. St. John's (298) and the Scarlet Knights (295) are separated by three in total runs scored this season.

Freshman Jacob Ruiz is slated to make his second collegiate start on Tuesday after tossing a scoreless inning against Columbia in his first appearance back from Tommy John surgery. The Jersey City, N.J., product is scheduled to oppose right-hander Sonny Fauci, who will enter Tuesday's slate against his former team with a 5-0 record and a 6.00 ERA.

The Johnnies will also square off with a pair of familiar faces on Tuesday, facing Rutgers pitching coach Brendan Monaghan and assistant coach Danny Bethea, both of whom spent multiple seasons on the Red Storm coaching staff prior to their arrival with the Scarlet Knights. Monaghan and Bethea were a coach/player tandem during St. John's first-ever appearance in the 2012 NCAA Super Regionals, seeing the latter belt a walkoff three-run homer over North Carolina to advance. Both are also catching alumni of the Red Storm baseball program.

Rutgers enters Tuesday's contest having dropped three straight games to Iowa over the weekend. The Scarlet Knights are also one of the nation's top-hitting teams, boasting 441 hits, good for 11th in Division I. The squad also leads the Big Ten with 69 stolen bases on the season.

Joshua Kuroda-Grauer paces the team and ranks fourth in the country with a .440 batting average. The junior infielder is the national leader in hits with 77 and also sits 12th with 17 doubles. Kuroda-Grauer also sits 19th in toughest to strike out with 12.8 at-bats between each punchout.