Box Score 1 | Box Score 2

CAMDEN, N.J. (April 2, 2016) – The William Paterson University baseball team scored four runs in the top of the ninth inning to rally past Rutgers University-Camden, 8-7, in the second game of a New Jersey Athletic Conference doubleheader here Saturday to complete a sweep of the NJAC-opening twinbill for both teams.
 
Paterson, which improves to 13-8 overall and 2-0 in the NJAC, won the first game, 4-3, with sophomore Bryan Kopko (Colonia, NJ/Colonia) picking up his first of two saves on the day. The victories broke a five-game Scarlet Raptor winning streak in the series and increased Paterson's all-time lead over Rutgers-Camden to 53-14.
 
Rutgers-Camden, ranked No. 8 in the ABCA Division III Coaches' Poll and No. 10 in the D3baseball.com Top 25, has suddenly lost four straight games to fall to 10-6 overall. The Scarlet Raptors are 0-2 in NJAC play.
 
Rutgers-Camden returns to action Tuesday with a 3:30 p.m. game at Neumann University. Paterson starts a home-and-away two-day NJAC series when it hosts Kean University Thursday at 3:30 p.m.
  
The Pioneers built a 4-1 lead midway through the fourth inning and hung on in the opener, with Kopko working two hitless innings, walking one and striking out one, to earn his first save of the day and fourth of the season. Paterson scored two runs on two hits and an error in the opening frame and added two more in the fourth on a two-run single by senior third baseman Vic Sanchez (Haverstraw, NY/North Rockland).
 
Those runs were enough to send Raptor senior ace Billy Jackson (Estell Manor, NJ/Buena Regional) to his first defeat in five decisions. Jackson hurled a complete game, allowing eight hits and four runs, three of them earned. He struck out six and didn't walk a batter.
 
Rutgers-Camden added single runs in the second, fifth and eighth innings, but left nine men on base against three Paterson pitchers. In the second, junior designated hitter Andujar Cedeno (Bronx, NY/Escuela Nueva Esperanza, DR), drilled a long home run to left field, his fourth of the season. Junior leftfielder Joe Brooks (Blackwood, NJ/Gloucester Catholic) had a sacrifice fly in the fifth, while junior rightfielder Zach Ellin (Marlton, NJ/Cherokee) had a sacrifice fly in the eighth.
 
Cedeno went 3-for-4 with one run and one RBI for the Raptors, while freshman shortstop Chris Jones (Sewell, NJ/Bishop Eustace Prep) went 2-for-4 with one run. Senior second baseman Brett Tenuto (Audubon, NJ/Gloucester Catholic), playing in his 100th career game at Rutgers-Camden, went 1-for-3 with two walks.
 
Sanchez and junior designated hitter Eriq Colon (Hackensack, NJ/Hackensack) had two hits apiece for Paterson, while senior Mitch D'Amato (Edison, NJ/Edison) picked up the win in relief, working three innings and allowing two hits, one earned run and two walks. D'Amato (3-2) struck out one.
  
Trailing, 7-4, with two outs and two on in the ninth inning, the Pioneers pulled out an unlikely comeback. Junior catcher Mike Knauf (Manalapan, NJ/Manalapan) ripped a two-run double to draw Paterson within a run, and his pinch-runner, Jordan Aughey (Wanaque, NJ/Lakeland Regional) scored the tying run on a single to right center by senior rightfielder Jimmy Kenny (Fairfield, NJ/West Essex Regional). Kenny advanced on a passed ball and scored the eventual winning run on a single to left by sophomore first baseman Anthony Hoagland (Dumont, NJ/Dumont).
 
Kopko retired the Scarlet Raptors in the bottom of the ninth, allowing only a one-out walk to senior first baseman Joe Sigismondi (Blackwood, NJ/Highland Regional), to earn his second save of the day. Junior Mike Sasso (West Orange, NJ/Montclair Kimberley), the fourth of five Pioneer hurlers, earned the win with two hitless, scoreless innings. Sasso (1-4) walked one and struck out one.
 
Prior to the ninth inning, the Raptors appeared ready to earn a split as senior southpaw Andrew Gottstein (Bloomsburg, PA/Bloomsburg) worked 7.1 innings, allowing seven hits, four runs (two earned) and no walks, while fanning two. His last run was an unearned tally in the eighth inning as he left with the lead.
 
Rutgers-Camden built a 7-3 lead after six innings, sparked by two hits apiece from Jones, freshman third baseman Ray Taylor (Collingswood, NJ/Collingswood) and junior centerfielder Cory Kreamer (Philadelphia, PA/Father Judge). Taylor and Sigismondi had two RBIs apiece, while Kreamer scored one run and made a spectacular diving catch in center field.
 
Knauf went 2-for-5 with one run and three RBIs to pace the Pioneers, who also had three other players contribute two hits apiece to their 13-hit attack.