Box Score

AUBURNDALE, Fla. (March 16, 2017) – For five innings here at the RussMatt Central Florida Invitational, the baseball game between Rutgers University-Camden and Trinity (Conn.) College was a tight, one-run affair.
 
Then the Scarlet Raptors' offense went to work.
 
By the time the Rutgers-Camden bats had finished their work, the Scarlet Raptors walked away with a 14-5 victory over the Bantams, raising their record to 5-4. It is the first time they've been over .500 since their opening-day win over Mitchell College on Feb. 24.
 
Rutgers-Camden pounded out 15 hits, including three apiece by sophomore centerfielder Peter Farlow (Gloucester City, NJ/Gloucester Catholic) and sophomore second baseman Chris Jones (Washington Township, NJ/Bishop Eustace Prep). Freshman third baseman Matthew Stoots (Browns Mills, NJ/Pemberton), meanwhile, went 2-for-3 with five RBIs, three of them on a double in the Raptors' five-run seventh inning.
 
A solo home run by Jones in the first inning accounted for the only run of the game until the sixth inning, as Raptor senior righty Paul Haynes (Blackwood, NJ/Triton Regional) and Bantam junior right-hander Anthony Egeln Jr. (Ponte Vedra Beach, FL/Ponte Vedra) were locked in a tight pitchers' duel into the sixth inning. While Haynes continued his mastery for his first  victory as a Scarlet Raptor, the Rutgers-Camden offense finally got to Egeln.
 
Rutgers-Camden scored five times in the top of the sixth, knocking Egeln out of the game. The Raptors used three hits, four walks and an error as they sent 11 batters to the plate against three Trinity pitchers. Farlow started the frame with a leadoff single and scored the first run of the big inning on a double by senior designated hitter Doug Carter Jr. (Union, NJ/Union). Later in the inning, senior first baseman Frank Cerami IV (Lumberton, NJ/Rancocas Valley) had a two-run single.
 
The hit parade continued in the seventh with five runs on five hits, including the bases-clearing double by Stoots. Farlow and senior leftfielder Brandon Cornelius (Sicklerville, NJ/Timber Creek) both added RBI singles in the inning. The Raptors added three more runs in the eighth on a run-scoring double by junior rightfielder Brett Kuchera (Collingswood, NJ/Collingswood), a sacrifice fly by Stoots and an RBI ground out by freshman Wayne Jackson (Sicklerville, NJ/Winslow Township), who made his first collegiate appearance and earned his first RBI in a pinch-hitting role.
 
Haynes worked seven innings of five-hit, shutout ball. He walked three and struck out seven. Trinity (3-3) broke the Scarlet Raptors' combined shutout when it collected all five runs in the bottom of the ninth inning.
 
In addition to the three hits apiece by Farlow and Jones, Carter and Stoots had two hits each. Stoots led the way with his five RBIs, while Kuchera and Cerami added two apiece.
 
The Raptors will face a pair of nationally-recognized programs on Friday, with games at 9 a.m. and 12:30 p.m. They face Wheaton (Norton, Massachusetts) College, which has received votes toward the D3baseball.com Top 25 poll this season, and Suffolk University (Boston, Massachusetts), which is ranked No. 24 in the D3baseball.com poll this week and received 48 votes toward the ABCA poll. Both of those games will be in Auburndale, Florida.
 
The Raptors end their trip in Winter Haven, Florida, Saturday against Wisconsin-Whitewater, ranked No 6 and 7 nationally by the D3baseball.com and ABCA polls, respectively.