Rutgers baseball is having one of the best seasons in program history, putting them on the cusp of an NCAA Tournament berth for the first time since 2007. The latest projections for Rutgers and the tournament don’t have the Scarlet Knights necessarily as a lock, but they are more comfortable than not in their postseason outlook.
The projections came out before this weekend’s series at Michigan. Rutgers has dropped the first two games in Ann Arbor, marking just the third time this season that Rutgers will have lost a series.
The Scarlet Knights head into today’s regular-season finale with a record of 40-14 (16-7 Big Ten).
As for their postseason outlook, the NCAA website is projecting that Rutgers will be the third seed in the Coral Gables region along with No. 1 Miami, No. 2 Florida and No. 4 Florida A&M.
As for the rest of the Big Ten, Maryland is a top seed in the projections, putting them in the College Park region along with No. 2 Virginia, No. 3 Old Dominion and No. 4 Fairfield.
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No other Big Ten program makes the field of 64 teams.
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In a recent interview with RutgersWire, Big Ten Network analyst Michael Huff praised the job done by head coach Steve Owens so far this season:
“In my opinion, Rutgers is definitely trending up. I think what I’ve seen, and again, what I’ve heard about him at Bryant was a developer of talent and obviously some great teams over there as he translated that experience, which is very unique and rare. So I think he has the earmarks of something and someone special,” Huff told ‘Rutgers Wire.’
“So I think overall, he’s stepped into a new job and you start to see what he’s been able to do is pretty extraordinary. I don’t know how many other head coaches could have accomplished what he’s done in his first three years.”
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