Box Score

WINTER HAVEN, Florida – For the first time this season, the Rutgers University-Camden baseball team didn't face a team that has been nationally ranked, but the Scarlet Raptors dropped a 4-2 decision here Wednesday against Bowdoin College at the RussMatt Florida Central Invitational.
 
Rutgers-Camden fell to 2-4 with its fourth straight loss. Bowdoin, out of Brunswick, Maine, evened its record at 5-5. The Polar Bears have won five of their last six games.
 
Bowdoin scored two runs in both the second and the third innings off Raptor starter Andrew Gottstein (Bloomsburg, PA/Bloomsburg). In the second, the Polar Bears used two hits and two errors to plate their runs. In the third, a leadoff single by sophomore shortstop Sean Mullaney (Leominster, MA/Lawrence Academy) was followed by a home run to left field by junior first baseman Chad Martin (Rowley, MA/The Governor's Academy).
 
Rutgers-Camden scored a run in the top of the third after senior center fielder Bobby Romano (Vineland, NJ/Vineland) was hit by a pitch and stole second. He scored on a single by junior designated hitter Joe Sigismondi (Blackwood, NJ/Highland Regional).
 
The Raptors added a second run in the eighth inning and threatened for more, with the bases loaded and one out, before the frame ended on a double play. With one out, back-to-back singles by sophomore right fielder Zach Ellin (Marlton, NJ/Cherokee) and sophomore second baseman Joe Brooks (Blackwood, NJ/Highland Regional) were followed by a walk to senior first baseman Connor Hall (Delran, NJ/Delran). Sophomore shortstop Pedro Perez (Burlington, NJ/Burlington City) reached on an infield error, driving home a run, before the double play ended the inning.
 
Gottstein worked 6-2/3 innings, allowing eight hits, four runs (three earned) and two walks. He struck out two.
 
Junior Michael Staes (Salt Lake City, UT/Skyline) earned the victory, working six innings of three-hit ball, allowing one earned run and two walks. He struck out six.
 
Senior Jon Fraser (Marshfield, MA/Marshfield) worked the final two innings, allowing two hits, one run and one walk, to earn the save. He struck out one.
 
Brooks and Ellin had two hits apiece in the Scarlet Raptors' six-hit attack.
 
Rutgers-Camden's schedule at the RussMatt Florida Central Invitational continues Thursday when they Scarlet Raptors face Centenary College (Hackettstown, New Jersey) in a 1 p.m. game.