Rutgers—Newark baseball hovering at .500 record, looking to finish season strong
The Rutgers—Newark baseball team has lost 10 straight games after beginning its season 15-5, but the Scarlet Raiders (15-15, 0-10) are holding out hope that they will finish the year with a record better than their 21-16-1 finish last year.
Both coaches and players think they have a shot at making that happen because the team is well-rounded.
"We're doing a good job manufacturing runs … our pitching, same thing — they're putting up a lot of shutdown innings, so it's pretty good results so far," said sophomore infielder Michael Weinbel.
Rutgers has started strong at home, currently boasting a 9-6 record at Weequahic Park in Newark.
"It's a huge field with a big outfield and high walls … We definitely try to play to our park," said head coach Conor Kortmann. "We take pride in it."
Kortmann, who is coaching his fourth season with the Raiders, prepares the team for success by treating practices just as he does games.
"I always say the games are for the players, but the practices are for the coaches. I treat our practices like a game day," Kortmann said. "The day-to-day grind of practice and putting in the work … practicing with good effort and good intensity — I think if we do those things day in and day out at practice, you'll start to see some of those results come game day."
Weinbel has bought into Kortmann's philosophies.
"We do a bunch of machine work, hitting drills, directional work, all the stuff that in the game is gonna eventually translate," Weinbel said. "The results should be there by all the drills and just the hard work we put in at practice."
Senior infielder Robert Gonzalez is a big part of the team, sporting the second-highest batting average.
Gonzalez has been along for the bumpy ride with Rutgers, with the team having significantly improved since he joined in the 2021 season. The Raiders were 2-17 that year and 16-18 the following year.
"My freshman year, we had a rough season," Gonzalez said. "I feel really good about our team this year, even the freshmen. I feel like the freshmen are contributing a lot."
With just eight games left on the schedule, Rutgers will look to finish the season strong after essentially falling out of conference contention with its 0-10 conference record. If the Raiders can flip the script, they can still best their record from last season.
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