Rutgers baseball has been off to a rocky start this season, especially in Big Ten play. The Scarlet Knights have shown wild inconsistency at the start of the season. One such example of this is their series against Virginia Tech, where Rutgers ran ruled the Hokies 16-1 in seven innings during the first game before going on to lose the next two and ultimately losing the series.

This inconsistency has shown up in Big Ten play as well. In every single series, the Knights have had a few moments where they look good, whether that be by winning one of the games or by pushing a far superior team on paper to the brink. Despite those flashes, Rutgers only had one series win in Big Ten play going into last weekend, where they secured a 2-1 series win over Penn State.

The most notable thing about the Knights’ win over the Nittany Lions was the offensive explosion from Rutgers bats that those in Happy Valley got to witness. The Knights put up a total of 30 runs throughout all three games, which averages out to be 10 runs a game. They needed the offensive efficiency as well, with Penn State scoring 26 runs over that time. The Knights finished the series with 6 total home runs, two by Trey Wells and Jack Sweeney, and one by Julius Rosado and Matt Chatelle.

However, just because Rutgers won the series does not mean that everything went perfectly. Penn State ended up winning the final game of the series, 14-13, which highlights another issue for the Knights. The Nittany Lions had 45 total hits across three games ad the Knights could not find a good pitching option to keep things under control. Much skepticism has arisen about the quality of the Rutgers pitchers and the overall depth of the bullpen, something the Knights will have to fix if they hope to build on this series win.

A win like this could not have come at a better time for Rutgers as well, as they now sit at an even 20-20, .500 on the season with only four weekend series left. With the NCAA tournament looking more and more out of sight, Rutgers will hope to at least finish the season strong and make the Big Ten tournament. The good news for the Knights is that they have no ranked opponents the rest of the way.

Rutgers baseball will be back in action on Tuesday at 6 p.m. for a midweek contest against St. John’s at Bainton Field. 

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