Box Score

AUBURNDALE, Florida – For eight innings here Monday, it appeared the Rutgers University-Camden was on the way to handing nationally-ranked Cortland State its first loss of the season.
 
The Red Dragons, however, turned things around in a big way in the top of the ninth inning.
 
Cortland State, which is ranked No. 3 in the D3baseball.com poll and was No. 5 in the pre-season ABCA/Collegiate Baseball poll, scored seven times in the top of the ninth and went on to defeat Rutgers-Camden, 11-6, at the RussMatt Florida Central Invitational.
 
The Red Dragons improve to 10-0, while the Scarlet Raptors fall to 2-1.
 
Rutgers-Camden entered the ninth with a 6-4 lead before Cortland exploded for five hits and seven runs, aided by two walks. Senior second baseman Mark DeMilio (Valhalla, NY/Valhalla) opened the ninth with a home run. Two walks, a sacrifice and a hit batsman later, senior pinch-hitter Adam Smith (Vestal, NY/Vestal) tied the game with a RBI single, and senior pinch-hitter Anthony Simon (Suffern, NY/Don Bosco Prep, NJ) put the Red Dragons ahead to stay with another RBI single. Sophomore third baseman Sean Getman (Oneonta, NY/Oneonta) made it a 9-6 game with a two-run single, and Cortland added two more run-scoring hits before the inning ended.
 
The rally countered the Scarlet Raptors' early-game comeback, as Rutgers-Camden fell into a 3-1 hole after three innings before taking the lead with a three-run fourth. Junior third baseman Brett Tenuto (Audubon, NJ/Gloucester Catholic) had a run-scoring single in the frame, while senior center fielder Bobby Romano (Vineland, NJ/Vineland) added a two-run double.
 
After Cortland tied the game in the top of the sixth, Rutgers-Camden pushed across two runs in the bottom of the frame to take its 6-4 lead. A pair of sophomores, pitcher/designated hitter Pedro Perez (Burlington, NJ/Burlington City) and second baseman Joe Brooks (Blackwood, NJ/Gloucester Catholic), had RBI singles in the frame.
 
Brooks ended up 3-for-4 in the game, while Romano, senior first baseman Connor Hall (Delran, NJ/Delran) and sophomore left fielder Doug Carter (Union, NJ/Union) all added two hits apiece. The two hits gave Hall 99 for his Rutgers-Camden career, putting him on the verge of becoming the 27th player in program history to reach the 100-hit milestone.
 
The Scarlet Raptors return to action in Auburndale Tuesday when they face two more nationally-ranked teams at the RussMatt Florida Central Invitational. They play Wisconsin-Stevens Point at 2:30 p.m., followed by a game against Birmingham Southern. The Pointers are ranked No. 10 in the D3baseball.com poll and No. 14 in the ABCA/Collegiate Baseball rankings. The Panthers, out of Birmingham, Alabama, are No. 7/19 and owned a 14-0 record entering Monday night's action.