Box Score

CAMDEN, N.J. (May 1, 2018) – With two of the best teams and best pitchers in the New Jersey Athletic Conference squaring off in the first round of the NJAC Baseball Championship Tournament here Tuesday at Campbell's Field, a low-scoring game wasn't difficult to envision.
 
Rowan University had other plans, however, as the Profs collected 21 hits on their way to a 14-2 win over Rutgers University-Camden in the double-elimination tournament. The third-seeded Scarlet Raptors (24-14) will try to stave off elimination Friday when the whole tournament moves to Kean University for the weekend. Rutgers-Camden will face top-seeded The College of New Jersey (28-7) at 3:30 p.m. The Lions ripped No. 6 seed William Paterson University, 9-0, in another first-round game Tuesday.
 
Rowan (30-8) will play second-seeded Ramapo College in a 7 p.m. winners' bracket game Friday after the Roadrunners edged Kean, 4-3, Tuesday afternoon.
 
Kean and William Paterson will play a losers' bracket game at 12 p.m. Friday.

Tournament bracket
 
In the last collegiate game scheduled for venerable Campbell's Field, which opened in 2001 for the Camden Riversharks and started hosting Rutgers-Camden games in 2002, Rowan's bats sent the stadium out with a bang. The Profs' offense spoiled the potential pitching duel between a pair of junior aces, Rutgers-Camden's Ian Scheidemann (Cherry Hill, NJ/Cherry Hill West) and Rowan's Danny Serreino. Both pitchers had thrown shutouts at their opponents when the teams split their regular-season series.
 
Rowan struck for a first-inning run off Scheidemann, who entered the game with a 7-0 record and a 1.00 ERA over eight stellar starts and 63 innings during the season. After allowing only 37 hits during the season, the Profs touched him for 16 hits over 5-2/3 innings, scoring nine runs (five earned) as he suffered his first loss of the year. He struck out four and didn't walk a batter, but saw his ERA climb to 1.57.
 
With one out in the first inning, third baseman Dylan Mendel and second baseman Alex Kokos had singles for the Profs. An infield error scored Mendel.
 
Rowan tacked on four more runs in the second inning, collecting five hits, including a two-run triple by Kokos.
 
Serreino, meanwhile, worked out of a pair of jams in the first two innings and shut down the Scarlet Raptors until the fourth inning, when Rutgers-Camden collected a one-out single by senior right fielder Brandon Cornelius (Sicklerville, NJ/Timber Creek). He stole second and scored on a double by junior second baseman Chris Jones (Washington Township, NJ/Bishop Eustace Prep), who stretched his hitting streak to 12 games, the longest current streak on the team.  Jones moved to third on a single by sophomore shortstop Nolan Gerold (Merchantville, NJ/Camden Catholic) and scored on a sacrifice fly by sophomore designated hitter Matt Yanick (Palmyra, NJ/Palmyra).
 
The Raptors' runs ended Serreino's scoreless inning streak at 34-2/3 innings, but Rowan got one run back in the top of the fifth and then broke the game open with three runs in the sixth and five in the seventh. The five-run seventh featured five hits, including a bases-clearing single, coupled with an outfield error, by catcher Steven Hewa.
 
Serreino (6-2) worked seven innings to earn the win, allowing seven hits, one walk and two earned runs. He struck out eight.
 
Kokos had a huge game for the Profs, going 5-for-6 with two runs and three RBIs. Shortstop Nick Schooley and right fielder Kyle Golla both went 3-for-6 with two runs and one RBI.
 
Rutgers-Camden collected nine total hits off Serreino and reliever Jordan Friedman, with Jones and Gerold both going 2-for-4. Jones, pictured above, added one RBI and one run scored.
 
Prior to resuming its NJAC playoff run, Rutgers-Camden will travel to York College of Pennsylvania for a regular-season makeup game Wednesday at 3:30 p.m. That game was postponed by rain on April 25.