Pirates Hit the Road to Face Rutgers, St. John's

SOUTH ORANGE, N.J. – After the Pirates' final BIG EAST home weekend, the Seton Hall softball team (18-25, 6-15) will participate in the second leg of a Garden State clash before closing out their BIG EAST slate on the road.

The Hall will open the week on Wednesday, April 22, when they travel to Piscataway, New Jersey, to complete the season home-and-home series against the Rutgers Scarlet Knights (22-25). First pitch for the game is scheduled for 3 p.m.

This weekend, the Pirates close out BIG EAST play with a trip to Queens, New York, to face the St. John's Red Storm (27-19, 6-12). First pitch for game one on Friday is set for 3 p.m.

Schedule
Wednesday, April 22
3 p.m. – Seton Hall at Rutgers (Live Stats - Stream)
Friday, April 24
3 p.m. – Seton Hall at St. John's (Live Stats - Stream)
Saturday, April 25
1 p.m. – Seton Hall at St. John's (Live Stats - Stream)
Sunday, April 26
12 p.m. – Seton Hall at St. John's (Live Stats - Stream)

PREVIEWING RUTGERS

So far this season, Rutgers is 25-28 with wins over Michigan State, Indiana, Maryland, FGCU and UC San Diego.
Offensively, the Scarlet Knights possess a dynamic quartet of hitters batting over .325. Baleigh Burtis leads the team with 37 hits and a .346 batting average. Addie Osborne topped the charts with 28 runs scored and 39 RBI. Riley Hwang sits second with 37 runs scored. Lastly, Sam Rowher leads the team with 13 home runs and 95 total bases this season.
In the circle, the Scarlet Knights have been relatively average this season. Atop Rutgers' rotation is Kelsey Hoekstra, who holds a 4.18 ERA with 82 strikeouts across 78.2 innings and 27 appearances.

PREVIEWING ST. JOHN'S

St. John's is 27-19 overall, 6-12 in BIG EAST play, with wins over Campbell, UConn, Army, Georgetown and Butler.
The Red Storm's lineup boasts six different hitters batting above .305 on the season, but has underwhelmed when it comes to power hitting. Jess Bianco is second in the BIG EAST in hits and leads the team in runs while posting a .372 batting average. When it comes to the long ball, Natasha Limbani and Elanna Lysiak lead the team with three home runs each.
In the circle, however, St. John's boasts the best pitcher in the conference in Ana Serafinko. Across 34 appearances and 21 starts, Serafinko has a .282 ERA with 226 strikeouts and a .233 batting average against in 164 innings pitched. Behind her is Loreley Francia, who has pitched 130.1 innings with a 3.76 ERA and 100 strikeouts.

NEWS AND NOTES

With their three wins last week, the Pirates eclipsed 1000 wins in program history in their 51^st season of play.
Angelina Benitez, in her sophomore season, has broken out as one of the best hitters in the conference with a record-breaking campaign. She is currently on a school-record 23 game hit streak, which is the longest active streak in the nation and second-longest of the season. She also has 64 hits, which is seven shy of tying the team-record for the most hits in a season.
At first base, Sophia DeMarco has filled in perfectly since taking over the position from single-season RBI record holder Olivia Gilbert this season. So far this season, DeMarco is hitting .311 with both a team-leading six home runs and 31 RBI.
After struggling to start the season, junior Karissa Dupuis has been the Pirates' best pitcher on the team this season. Despite posting a 4.99 ERA, a career-best mark, Dupuis ranks top ten in the conference in innings pitched (7^th, 92.2 IP), starts (7^th, 16), complete games (5^th, 6), and batting average allowed (4^th, .257).