RU Baseball & Softball: A Better Result as B1G Play Begins; UPDATED B1G Players of the Week

Big Ten play...finally.  And the results were pretty good.  Both baseball and softball took two out of three in their opening Big Ten series.  Softball topped Indiana whiled baseball did the same to Purdue.

SOFTBALL

With a total of 13 hits contributed collectively from all nine batters and seven straight innings of work from senior Alyssa Landrith, the Rutgers softball team made history in its inaugural Big Ten matchup, recording an 11-5 victory over Indiana on Friday night at the Andy Mohr Field.

"We had a great day at the plate as everyone in the lineup had at least one hit," said head coach Jay Nelson.  "We had 13 hits with two doubles and two home runs. Alyssa got off to a slow start, but she settled down in the third and shut Indiana out the rest of the way for the win."

Knight Notes - game 1

• Alyssa Landrith pitched a complete game to register her 58th career victory in game 1 and to move into sole possession of the third-place spot in the Rutgers record books.
• Landrith ranks first on the all-time career list with 543 career strikeouts.
• All nine Scarlet Knight batters to the plate recorded at least one hit in game 1, while a total of eight registered at least one run.
• The Scarlet Knights tied their highest team batting average this season with a .302 clip in the contest.
• Jackie Bates registered a two-run homer for the third consecutive game to bring her season total to seven.
• Bates ranks second on the all-time list with 25 career home runs.
• Liz Adams registered the first home run of her career in game 2

Series and Game 3 Wrap up

"We did a really good job with hitting once again. Eight runs in five innings is a tremendous job by our offense," said head coach Jay Nelson. "Our pitching is a work in progress as we need to eliminate the walks and hit batters, but I have all the confidence in the world that they are working their best to correct the challenges of the early season. We are going to turn it around."

• Dresden Maddox recorded the victory to improve to a record of 4-2 on the year.
• Shayla Sweeney recorded her first save of the season and second of her career.
• A total of seven Scarlet Knights recorded hits in the victory.
• Rebecca Hall recorded a career-high three hits, along with tying her career-best with three RBIs; in game one Hall extended her hit streak to 10 straight contests
• Melanie Slowinski went 3-for-4 in game 3, setting a new career-best with three hits.; she recorded three home runs over the weekend, including a homer in each contest.
• Bridget Carr registered her second home run of the season.
• Carr also tied her career-high with two RBIs in the win.
• Stephanie Huang extended her hit streak to 12 consecutive games.
• Jackie Bates led the team with three runs in the win and tied her career-high with two walks.

RESULTS AND UPCOMING SCHEDULE

3/20/15	at Indiana *	Bloomington, Ind.	W, 11-5
3/21/15	at Indiana *	Bloomington, Ind.	L, 8-7
3/22/15	at Indiana *	Bloomington, Ind.	W, 10-6
3/24/15	at Monmouth	West Long Branch, N.J.	4:00 p.m. ET
3/25/15	at Hofstra	Hempstead, N.Y.	3:00 p.m. ET
	at Hofstra	Hempstead, N.Y.	5:00 p.m. ET
3/27/15	at Purdue *	West Lafayette, Ind.	5:00 p.m. ET
3/28/15	at Purdue *	West Lafayette, Ind.	1:00 p.m. ET
3/29/15	at Purdue *	West Lafayette, Ind.	12:00 p.m. ET

B1G SOFTBALL STATISTICS

In the latest version of the NCAA statistics, several Big Ten teams are ranked among the top 20 in the nation in various statistical categories.

• In batting average, Minnesota ranks 12th (.351) and Nebraska is 16th (.348).
• Michigan checks in at No. 9 with 1.64 ERA, while Purdue ranks 13th (1.84).
• The Wolverines rank 16th in scoring (7.5 runs per game), while Minnesota is 17th (7.3). In double plays per contest, Nebraska ranks No. 8 (.63), while Iowa checks in at No. 18 (.50). Wisconsin ranks second in stolen bases (3.19 per game).

Player of the Week
Olivia Duehr, Northwestern, Sr., OF, Antioch, Ill.

• Belted four home runs in three games, guiding the Wildcats to a sweep of Penn State
• Recorded at least one hit, run, RBI and home run in each contest
• Led the conference last week with a slugging percentage of 1.700

Pitcher of the Week
Megan Betsa, Michigan, So., RHP, McDonough, Ga.

• Struck out 23 batters in two complete-game victories against Ohio State, allowing just seven hits with a 0.58 earned run average (ERA)
• Matched a career high with 14 strikeouts in the series opener
• Earned her second complete-game shutout of the season in the finale, striking out nine batters

Freshman of the Week
Laura Barrow, Nebraska, 2B, Kearney, Mo.

• Reached base in seven of her 10 plate appearances last week in a series sweep of Michigan State, totaling three hits and four walks
• Scored six runs in three games, including a career-high three runs in the series opener
• Tied a career high with two hits in game one and tied a career high with two walks in game two

2015 SOFTBALL		Overall		Conference
		W-L	%	W-L	%
1.	Michigan	28-4	.875	3-0	1.000
	Minnesota	27-4	.871	3-0	1.000
	Purdue	22-9	.710	3-0	1.000
	Northwestern	14-10	.583	3-0	1.000
	Nebraska	15-12	.556	3-0	1.000
6.	Maryland	19-12	.613	2-1	.667
	Rutgers	12-8	.600	2-1	.667
8.	Indiana	10-22	.313	1-2	.333
	Iowa	10-22	.313	1-2	.333
10.	Ohio State	13-12	.520	0-3	.000
	Michigan State	15-15	.500	0-3	.000
	Penn State	13-15	.464	0-3	.000
	Wisconsin	13-16	.448	0-3	.000
	Illinois	8-19	.296	0-3	.000

Updated through all games of March 22.

BASEBALL

Junior Howie Brey pitched seven strong innings to lead Rutgers baseball to its first Big Ten win, 4-1, over Purdue Saturday at Alexander Field. With the victory, the Scarlet Knights evened the three-game series against the Boilermakers.

"The first Big Ten win means a lot to Rutgers University and the baseball program dating back way before I have been here," head coach Joe Litterio said. "This is a move in the right direction. Howie Brey was there for us today. We have been playing better ball, but Howie came in and put the team on his shoulders to give us a chance to win. I am proud of the team."

Knight Notes

• Marcinczyk is now hitting 15-for-28 (.536) on the trip with six runs and has notched two hits or more in four of the last five games; Marcinczyk has now reached base in 13 consecutive games
• it was the fourth career start Brey logged at least six innings and allowed three or less hits
• O'Reilly has either won or earned a save in three of the Scarlet Knights' four wins this year
• D'Annunzio stole his team-leading sixth base
• Rutgers improved to 5-2 when logging 10 or more hits and 4-2 when scoring first this season
• Rosa has a 2.43 ERA in nine career conference starts
• the last RU player to steal three bases in a game before Freeman in game 3 was Carter at Iona on April 2, 2014
• the defense was charged with just one error for the weekend
• Freeman ended the series hitting 5-for-6

RESULTS AND UPCOMING SCHEDULE

3/21/15	at Purdue *	West Lafayette, Ind.	W, 4-1
3/22/15	at Purdue *	West Lafayette, Ind.	W, 5-2
3/24/15	vs. NJIT	Bainton Field	3:00 p.m. ET
3/25/15	at Rider	Lawrence, N.J.	3:30 p.m. ET
3/27/15	vs. Ohio State *	Bainton Field	3:00 p.m. ET
3/28/15	vs. Ohio State *	Bainton Field	1:00 p.m. ET
3/29/15	vs. Ohio State *	Bainton Field	1:00 p.m. ET

BIG TEN PLAYERS OF THE WEEK - Updated / Corrected

Player of the Week

Brandon Lowe, Maryland, So., 2B, Suffolk, Va.

· Guided the Terrapins to a 5-0 week with sweeps of Elon and Minnesota in their first Big Ten series

· Notched four multi-hit games, batting .522 (12-for-23) with eight runs scored and seven RBI

· Recorded two home runs, two triples and two doubles, including plating the tying run in the seventh inning of a comeback win over Elon

Pitcher of the Week

Kevin Duchene, Illinois, Jr., LHP, Dakota Dunes, S.D.

· Ended South Florida’s previous nine-game winning streak and picked up the win after striking out eight batters in 7.0 innings of work

· Allowed only two hits without an earned run

· Improved to 3-1, lowering his ERA to 0.67 on the season

Co-Freshmen of the Week

Sal Biasi, Penn State, RHP, Willkes Barre, Pa.

· Struck out nine consecutive batters across two relief appearances against Canisius and Indiana in 4.1 innings pitched

· Struck out three straight batters in one inning against Canisius

· Tossed 3.1 scoreless innings, including six strikeouts and allowing only one hit against the Hoosiers

Milo Freeman, Rutgers, INF, Millburn, N.J. – Millburn

· Batted .571 (8-for-14), helping the Scarlet Knights to their first conference series win over Purdue

· Went 4-for-4 with an RBI and three stolen bases in the final game against the Boilermakers

· Recorded four putouts at third base

2015 BASEBALL	Overall		Conference
	W-L-T	%	W-L	%
Maryland	17-4-0	.810	3-0	1.000
Nebraska	17-6-0	.739	3-0	1.000
Ohio State	14-6-0	.700	2-1	.667
Rutgers	5-14-0	.263	2-1	.667
Indiana	15-5-0	.750	1-1	.500
Penn State	4-14-0	.222	1-1	.500
Michigan State	9-11-0	.450	1-2	.333
Purdue	9-13-0	.409	1-2	.333
Illinois	17-5-1	.761	0-0	.000
Iowa	14-5-0	.737	0-0	.000
Northwestern	5-16-0	.238	0-0	.000
Michigan	11-11-0	.500	0-3	.000
Minnesota	7-13-0	.350	0-3	.000

Updated through March 22, 2015