Box Score

GALLOWAY, NJ. (April 15, 2016) – What seemed like a laugher heading into the bottom of the ninth inning nearly became a nightmare for the Rutgers University-Camden baseball team here Friday before it woke up to survive with an 11-10 victory over Stockton University in a New Jersey Athletic Conference game.
 
Leading, 11-2, Rutgers-Camden watched Stockton score eight runs on five hits, four hit batsmen and two walks, pulling to within one run, with the bases loaded and two outs in the ninth inning. The inning, which included a pair of RBI hit batsmen, was highlighted by a bases-clearing triple from junior catcher Stepen Struble (Hammonton, NJ/Hammonton), that cut the gap from 11-6 to 11-9. Struble came home to score Stockton's 10th run on an infield single. A hit batsman and another infield single reloaded the bases. With the winning run in scoring position, however, the Ospreys' rally was finally extinguished when Raptor senior Alex Scarlett (Galloway, NJ/Holy Spirit) struck out Osprey senior leftfielder Matt Mangarella (Milltown, NJ/Spotswood) to end the game.
 
The victory was the fourth straight NJAC win for the Scarlet Raptors and fifth straight triumph overall, helping Rutgers-Camden even its conference record at 4-4 after an 0-4 start. Overall, the Raptors are 16-8 after beating Stockton for the second straight day and the seventh consecutive time in the head-to-head series.
 
Stockton falls to 3-18 overall and 0-6 in the NJAC.
 
The Raptors were aided by a sterling job of long relief from freshman Steven Bloyed (North Brunswick, NJ/North Brunswick), who earned his first collegiate victory.
 
Rutgers-Camden jumped on the board quickly when senior first baseman and leadoff man Joe Sigismondi (Blackwood, NJ/Highland Regional) drew a walk to open the game. He raced to third on a double by junior leftfielder Joe Brooks (Blackwood, NJ/Gloucester Catholic) and scored on a sacrifice fly by freshman shortstop Chris Jones (Sewell, NJ/Washington Township).
 
Stockton bounced back in the bottom of the first on a walk, a fielder's choice and an RBI double by senior centerfielder Dan Sweeney (Middletown, NJ/Middletown South), but Rutgers-Camden regained the lead for good in the top of the second with three runs on two hits and a trio of Osprey errors. Brooks had an RBI double in the frame, his second double in as many innings, while freshman third baseman Ray Taylor (Collingswood, NJ/Collingswood) also doubled.
 
Stockton notched one run in the bottom of the third and had the bases loaded with nobody out when Bloyed relieved senior starter Ryan Sullivan (Livingston, NJ/Livingston). Bloyed wriggled out of the jam with a 1-2-3 double play and a swinging strikeout. He went on to hurl five innings of two-hit, shutout ball, walking nobody and striking out two as he  raised his record to 1-0.
 
The Raptors exploded for five more runs in the fifth, aided by a leadoff home run by junior designated hitter Andujar Cedeno (Bronx, NY/Escuela Nueva Esperanza, DR), an infield single by Taylor and an RBI double by junior centerfielder Cory Kreamer (Philadelphia, PA/Father Judge). Senior second baseman Brett Tenuto (Audubon, NJ/Gloucester Catholic) added a two-run single in the inning, which also featured a hit batsman (Sigismondi) and three Stockton errors.
 
A double by Kreamer, a run-scoring error and an RBI pinch-hit single by senior Matthew McElhatton (Haddon Heights, NJ/Camden Catholic) produced two more runs in the seventh inning for the Scarlet Raptors. That gave Rutgers-Camden a seemingly-safe 11-2 lead before the Raptors sweated out their victory in the ninth inning.
 
Cedeno went 2-for-3 with his fifth home run of the season, while Brooks and Kreamer had two doules apiece. Taylor also added two hits, one of them a double, in the 14-hit Raptor attack. Tenuto had two RBIs and Sigismondi scored four runs.
 
Rutgers-Camden travels to Mahwah Saturday for a huge NJAC doubleheader with Ramapo College, beginning at 11:30 a.m. The Roadrunners are ranked No. 1 nationally in the latest D3baseball.com Top 25 poll and are No. 2 in the ABCA Division III Coaches' Poll.