Box Score 1 | Box Score 2

MAHWAH, NJ. (April 16, 2016) – The Rutgers University-Camden baseball team is getting a well-deserved reputation as a giant killer this season and the Scarlet Raptors added another highly-ranked team to its list of victims Saturday as it split a New Jersey Athletic Conference doubleheader with Ramapo College.
 

Rutgers-Camden won the opening game, 6-3, behind the combined pitching of seniors Billy Jackson (Estell Manor, NJ/Buena Regional) and Kyle Gaff (Gloucester City, NJ/Gloucester City), who set the program's career record with his 14th save.
 
In the nightcap, the nationally-ranked Roadrunners edged the Scarlet Raptors, 2-1, snapping Rutgers-Camden's six-game winning streak in the head-to-head series.
 
Ramapo is currently ranked No. 1 nationally in the D3baseball.com Top 25 poll and No. 2 in the American Baseball Coaches Association Division III poll. The split leaves the Roadrunners with a 23-2-1 record overall and a 7-1 mark in the NJAC, while Rutgers-Camden stands at 17-9 overall and 5-5 in conference play. The Raptors own a 7-4 record this season against teams appearing in at least one of the two national polls, including victories over Wisconsin-La Crosse (No. 2 in the D3baseball.com poll at the time the Raptors beat them), a doubleheader sweep over No. 10/13 Wisconsin-Stevens Point and a victory over No. 22 Washington University prior to splitting with No. 1/2 Ramapo College. Rutgers-Camden also nearly beat defending national champion and top-ranked Cortland State, losing a wild 22-20 game.
 
Rutgers-Camden faces another nationally-ranked team Tuesday when it travels to La Plume, Pennsylvania for a 3:30 p.m. non-conference game against Keystone College. The Giants are ranked No. 21 in the ABCA Division III poll and received 23 votes toward last week's D3baseball.com Top 25 poll.
   
Jackson, whose list of nationally-ranked victims this season includes Wisconsin-La Crosse and Wisconsin-Stevens Point, added top-ranked Ramapo to the mix as he snapped the Roadrunners' nine-game winning streak while handing them only their second loss of the season.
 
Jackson (5-2) worked 7.2 innings, allowing five hits, four walks and three earned runs, while striking out nine. He left the game with two runs home and the bases loaded in the eighth inning, giving way to Gaff. Gaff wriggled out of the jam with a strikeout and then worked a scoreless ninth inning, despite allowing a double and two walks, as he earned his third save of the season. It was his 14th career save, snapping the tie he held atop the program records with Matt Novella (2001-05).
 
With Jackson and Ramapo sophomore southpaw Nick Recarte (Hackensack, NJ/Queen of Peace) locked in a scoreless pitchers' duel, the Scarlet Raptors broke the ice in the fourth inning on a solo home run by junior designated hitter Andujar Cedeno (Bronx, NY/Escuela Nueva Esperanza, DR). It was his sixth homer of the season. Rutgers-Camden added another run in the frame after junior catcher Jon Theckston (Gloucester City, NJ/Gloucester Catholic) walked, stole second and scored on a single by freshman third baseman Ray Taylor (Collingswood, NJ/Collingswood).
 
The Raptors added two runs in the fifth on RBI singles from junior rightfielder Doug Carter Jr. (Union, NJ/Union) and Theckston, before Ramapo broke Jackson's shutout bid in the bottom of the frame. The Roadrunners got a one-out solo home run by junior centerfielder Brandon Martinez (River Edge, NJ/River Dell).
 
Rutgers-Camden added two more runs in the top of the eight on two hits, an RBI ground out by freshman shortstop Chris Jones (Sewell, NJ/Bishop Eustace Prep) and an RBI fielder's choice by senior second baseman Brett Tenuto (Audubon, NJ/Gloucester Catholic). Ramapo rallied with two in the bottom of the frame before Gaff shut the door with his record-breaking save.
 
Senior first baseman Joe Sigismondi (Blackwood, NJ/Highland Regional) led the Raptors' eight-hit attack with a 2-for-3 game. Sigismondi also was hit by a pitch in both games, raising his career total to 46, one shy of the program record held by Tom Cusano (1991-94).
   
The Roadrunners turned the tables in the nightcap, surviving a terrific pitching duel between Raptor senior Andrew Gottstein (Bloomsburg, PA/Bloomsburg) and the Ramapo duo of junior Eli Garcia-Reyes (Trenton, NJ) and sophomore Jerry D'Andrea (Ridgewood, NJ/Ridgewood).
 
Gottstein (3-2) hurled seven innings, allowing seven hits, two walks and two earned runs. He struck out three. Garcia (2-0) worked 7.1 innings of six-hit ball, allowing two walks and one unearned run, while striking out five. D'Andrea picked up his sixth save, working 1.2 innings and allowing one hit. He struck out one.
 
The nightcap was scoreless until the bottom of the fifth, when senior catcher Jared Ensmenger (Bayonne, NJ/Bayonne) led off with a home run to left field. Rutgers-Camden tied the game in the top of the sixth on a one-out double by junior centerfielder Cory Kreamer (Philadelphia, PA/Father Judge) and a run-scoring infield throwing error.
 
Ramapo broke the tie and plated the eventual winning run in the bottom of the sixth following a leadoff single by senior second baseman Joe Venturino (Barnegat Light, NJ/Monsignor Farrell). He eventually scored on a single by sophomore first baseman Connor Walsh (Waldwick, NJ/Waldwick).
 
Venturino went 3-for-4 with one run for the Roadrunners. Jones and Kreamer each had two hits for the Scarlet Raptors.