2016 Schedule | 2016 Roster

NEWARK, N.J. (February 17, 2016) - The Rutgers University-Newark baseball team will open its 2016 schedule on Friday afternoon at Christopher Newport University. R-N will play three games over the weekend - two against CNU (Friday and Saturday) and one again the City College of New York on Sunday.

The Scarlet Raiders are looking to get back to the New Jersey Athletic Conference (NJAC) Tournament for the first time in several years, possibly making a run at a conference title or earning a berth in the Eastern Collegiate Athletic Conference (ECAC) Championship.

Rutgers-Newark graduated several players and lost a few others to injury during the offseason and preseason, but nine newcomers - six freshman and a trio of transfers - and a wealth of returners should help the Scarlet Raiders improve upon their 12-win 2015 campaign.

The starting lineup is missing just one regular from last year in graduated third baseman Nick Gencarelli, and with solidified and consistent roles, Rutgers-Newark should see improvement out of the gate in terms of its defense.

"Consistency was a key component in some of our defensive struggles last year, and that should change this season," Head Baseball Coach Mark Rizzi said. "We have tremendous speed and arm strength in the outfield, and we should be much stronger up the middle."

The outfield should feature honorable mention All-NJAC pick Josh Cote in left, senior Ryan MacFarlane in center and senior Billy Taylor in right to start the season.

Cote led the Scarlet Raider offense a season ago, batting .342 and slugging .535. The junior tallied 39 hits, a team-high five home runs, 30 runs batted in and a total of 10 extra-base hits in 32 appearances (30 starts). MacFarlane played some shortstop before moving to center field, finishing his year batting .307 with 20 stolen bases in 21 attempts. MacFarlane got on base at a .379 clip, tallying 39 hits, including eight doubles. Taylor should stay atop the order after doing a nice job out of the leadoff spot in 2015, finding his way on base in 44 percent of his plate appearances and swiping an excellent 28 bags in 32 attempts. Taylor did not make a single error in 35 starts, leading the team in runs scored (30) and totaled 37 knocks for a .294 average.

Taylor and MacFarlane should also help bolster the Scarlet Raider pitching staff after not seeing much time on the mound as juniors due to their importance on the diamond day-in and day-out.

Bolstering the Scarlet Raider outfield will be junior Nick Striglia, sophomore Danny Iannaccone and sophomore Anthony Perconte.

Early on, the Scarlet Raider infield should feature senior Brian Kokos at third base, senior Gerry Patrizio at shortstop, rookie Ryan Zucker at second and senior Cameron Dias at first. Patrizio made the move from second to short towards the end of last year and played well in that spot. He ended the year hitting .246, but had an on-base percentage of .370 and used his excellent speed to steal 27 bases in 31 tries. Patrizio worked 25 walks and scored 24 runs as well. Zucker comes on board after winning a state title in high school at Governor Livingston, helping his teams to 49 wins as a junior and senior. Kokos will be tasked with taking over third base early in the season for Gencarelli after seeing 12 starts and 18 appearances in 2015. A hard worker and someone with a lot of power, Kokos could give the lineup some extra pop. Dias was second on the team in batting average as a junior, hitting .339 overall. He walloped three homers and five doubles, driving in 19 runs and scoring 26 of his own. The veteran owned a .900-plus OPS and worked out 20 walks and can also be a valuable asset in the outfield should the need arise.

A member of the New Jersey Collegiate Baseball Association's (NJCBA) All-Rookie team after a strong freshman season, Justin Marks will be tasked with catching the Scarlet Raider pitching staff. Marks played in and started 35 games as a newcomer in 2015, hitting .269 and finishing second on the Scarlet Raiders with 39 hits. Marks hopes to see his numbers increase across the board and is already one of the best receivers and arms behind the dish in the conference.

Backing Marks up will be sophomore Nick Dispenza and freshman Ross Halkias. Dispenza was solid in limited action as a freshman but has demonstrated growth over the offseason, and Halkias is a versatile player with the ability to be a backstop but may also see time as a designated hitter and first baseman. Halkias hit .310 at County College of Morris a season ago, driving in 19 runs and tallying one homer.

Sophomore infielder Greg Sampson and sophomore infielder Anthony Hernandez will be competing for time and at-bats out of the gate after limited action as freshmen. Hernandez received six starts (10 appearances), while Sampson took the diamond six times as both players are hoping to carve out large roles on the '16 version of the Scarlet Raiders. Additionally, freshmen Casey Hanley and Nolan Rivera will also find themselves in the mix for playing time as the year progresses. Hanley came to the Scarlet Raiders after tallying 30 hits and compiling a .345 batting average as a senior at Passaic Valley High School.

Sophomore Dominick Fazio played in 17 games in his first season as a designated hitter and first baseman and should see plenty of opportunities for R-N. The Haworth native also will be a valuable arm on the Scarlet Raider pitching staff after tossing 19.0 innings with 12 strikeouts as a rookie. Like Fazio, sophomore Brian Boulineau should see innings at the corners, as well on the mound after 11 total games played as a freshman, including four appearances as a hurler.

An early projected rotation has senior Chris Nichols, sophomore Mike Zibrin, Fazio, freshman Anthony Rosoline and MacFarlane as starters. Nichols made six starts (seven appearances) as a junior, striking out 12 in 32.1 innings pitched. After Fazio comes Zibrin who made three starts and nine appearances in his first collegiate season, going 27.2 innings and striking out eight. Rosoline was the ace of the Paramus Catholic staff as a senior, pitching to a 1.62 earned-run average and a record of 4-2, while MacFarlane made six appearances (four starts) and struck out 12 in 27.0 innings in addition to notching one save.

Perconte, Taylor and others will see time in the field and on the mound, with sophomore Dan Murphy serving as one of the team's most valuable relievers. Murphy appeared in nine games as a rookie, throwing to a 4.09 earned-run average and striking out six in 11.0 innings of work. Transfer Vincent Enea, freshman Nick Bruno and freshman Justin McDonald should also find themselves with opportunities to shine early on.

In addition to boasting an improved defense, Rutgers-Newark returns three of the top-five base stealers in the NJAC and their team speed will be something for opposing defenses to contend with.

"Returning Billy, Gerry and Ryan gives us a ton of speed, and if they can get on base like they did last year it will be a huge boost for the offense," said Rizzi. "They need to be smart and disciplined, but those guys - and others - can really force the action and create opportunities to score."

After a tough three-game slate to start the year, the Scarlet Raiders will host Penn State University-Abington at Diamond Nation in Flemington on March 1 and visit Stevens Institute of Technology before a Spring Break Trip to sunny California.

Following nine games out West, seven non-conference games (six at Riverfront Stadium in Newark) await before the Scarlet Raiders open conference play on April 2 at home against Rowan University. The 2016 home finale will be April 29 against The College of New Jersey and the regular-season finale will be at Stockton University on April 30.

The top-six teams in the conference make the NJAC Tournament which will begin that next week at campus sites.

"If we play solid baseball - pitching, defense, base running - I think we can be a very good team," added Rizzi. "If we do those things and get some timely hitting we should be in a good spot come late April in terms of postseason position."

Fans should follow at @ScarletRaiders on twitter all season long and should expect a video preview released soon on RAIDER VISION. All Scarlet Raider home games will have live stats this season for the first time and those links can be accessed via the schedule page or www.rutgersnewarkathletics.com.