Box Score AUBURNDALE, Fla. (March 13, 2016) – Senior righty
Billy Jackson (Estell Manor, NJ/Buena Regional) shut down one of the nation's top teams, Wisconsin-La Crosse, as the Rutgers University-Camden baseball team opened its spring break with an impressive 16-4 victory here Sunday at the RussMatt Central Florida Invitational. The Scarlet Raptors pounded out 19 hits while raising their record to 4-0.
That win didn't come against any old team. Wisconsin-La Crosse was ranked No. 2 in the
D3baseball.com poll after finishing last season with a 36-16 record as the national runner-up. The Eagles didn't do anything to hurt that ranking in their season-opening games Saturday, sweeping a doubleheader from Indiana's Anderson University by scores of 11-4 and 24-1.
The daunting task didn't faze Jackson, who raised his record to 2-0. He worked seven innings of shutout ball before finally allowing three hits and three runs to open the eighth inning. He finished the day with eight strikeouts and no walks, while allowing eight hits. By that time, the Scarlet Raptors had piled up a 12-0 lead against six Wisconsin-La Crosse pitchers.
The Scarlet Raptors scored single runs in the first, fourth, fifth and sixth innings against Eagles junior starter
Lukas Kolasch (Monticello, WI/Monticello), who worked four innings, and junior reliever
Brock Rude (Onalaska, WI/Onalaska). In the opening frame, junior right fielder
Zach Ellin (Marlton, NJ/Cherokee) singled, stole second and later scored on a bases-loaded single by junior designated hitter
Andujar Cedeno (Bronx, NY/Escuela Nueva Esperanza, DR). In the fourth, junior center fielder
Cory Kreamer (Philadelphia, PA/Father Judge) singled, stole second and scored on a two-out single to left by junior left fielder
Joe Brooks (Blackwood, NJ/Gloucester Catholic). The Raptors made it a 3-0 game in the fifth after senior second baseman
Brett Tenuto (Audubon, NJ/Gloucester Catholic) collected a one-out infield single and continued to second on a throwing error. With two outs, senior third baseman
Joe Sigismondi (Blackwood, NJ/Highland Regional) hit an RBI single to center.
The Raptors chased Rude in the sixth after junior catcher
Jon Theckston (Gloucester City, NJ/Gloucester Catholic) singled, stole second and reached third on a single by Brooks. Senior
Logan Mallek (Plover, WI/SPASH) relieved Rude and the Raptors plated a run on an RBI fielder's choice by freshman shortstop
Chris Jones (Washington Township, NJ/Bishop Eustace Prep). Rutgers-Camden blew the game open with eight runs in the eighth following a one-out double by Brooks and a passed ball. He scored on a single to left by Jones. Cedeno followed with a walk to chase Mallek and Tenuto greeted junior
Nic Pierick (Highland, WI/Highland) with a two-run triple to center field. Tenuto scored on a wild pitch, moments before junior first baseman
Frank Cerami IV (Lumberton, NJ/Rancocas Valley) doubled to left center, chasing Pierick. Freshman
James Witt (River Falls, WI/River Falls) relieved Pierick and allowed a two-run home run to left by Sigismondi. The hit parade continued when Kreamer singled and junior pinch-hitter
Doug Carter Jr. (Union, NJ/Union) was hit by a pitch. A wild pitch set up a sacrifice fly by Theckston and the final run scored on an RBI single by Brooks.
While all that was happening, Jackson was holding the high-powered Wisconsin-La Crosse offense off the board. Jackson retired the first seven Eagles before an error broke the string, followed by a single to left field by junior third baseman
Eric Vatch (Roselle, IL/Lake Park). Jackson worked out of that jam and continued shutout pitching into the eighth inning.
At one point, with the Raptors clinging to a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the fourth, Jackson allowed a leadoff triple by senior right fielder
Taylor Kohlwey (Holmen, WI/Holmen) and then stranded the Eagles' runner on a comebacker to the mound, a strikeout looking and a fly out. He worked out of a jam again in the fifth after back-to-back singles opened the frame for Wisconsin-La Crosse. A swinging strikeout, pop to short and foul to first base ended the threat.
Wisconsin-La Crosse finally broke through against Jackson in the eighth inning with three straight hits, including a RBI double by Kohlwey. Senior first baseman
Justin Anderson (Minnetonka, WI/West Lutheran) greeted Raptor junior reliever
Justin Geri (Vineland, NJ/Buena Regional) with a three-run home run to left field.
The Scarlet Raptors got all of those runs back in the top of the ninth on a walk to Cerami, a single by Sigismondi, a three-run home run to left by Carter and another homer to left, this time a solo shot by Theckston.
Carter, who entered as a pinch-hitter before playing right field, went 1-for-1 with two runs and three RBIs. Brooks and Tenuto each went 4-for-5, with two RBIs apiece. Tenuto also scored twice, while Brooks scored one run. Sigismondi went 3-for-6 with three RBIs and two runs. Theckston went 2-for-5 with two runs and two RBIs, while Kreamer went 2-for-5 with two runs. Jones had one hit and two RBIs, while Cerami had one hit and two runs scored.
Geri hurled the final two innings, allowing two hits and one earned run. He struck out two.
The Scarlet Raptors return to RussMatt action Monday in Winter Haven, Florida, where they will face the nation's top-ranked team, defending national champion SUNY-Cortland, at 3 p.m.
