AUBURNDALE, Fla. (March 22, 2019) – The Rutgers University-Camden and Westminster College baseball teams combined for 40 hits, 22 walks and 30 runs here Friday as the teams split their doubleheader at the RussMatt Central Florida Invitational.
 
Westminster (Fulton, Missouri) won the opener, 4-3, while Rutgers-Camden posted a 12-11 victory in the 21-hit nightcap.
 
The Scarlet Raptors conclude their RussMatt trip with a 10 a.m. game against Hamilton College.
   
Despite collecting 13 hits and taking a 3-1 lead in the top of the eighth inning, the Scarlet Raptors watched Westminster rally for three runs in the bottom of the eighth to pull out the victory. The Blue Jays used three hits and an error in the decisive eighth inning, with center fielder Zach Eisenreich doubling home the tying run and scoring the eventual winning run on a single by catcher Branden Beeler.
 
Rutgers-Camden had broken a 1-1 tie in the top of the eighth on a single by senior second baseman Chris Jones and an RBI double by junior designated hitter Matt Yanick, pictured above.
 
The Scarlet Raptors collected 13 hits in the game, including three by Jones and two apiece by Yanick, sophomore right fielder Billy Eisler and junior catcher Tyler Travis.
   
In a crazy game that featured 21 hits (12 by Westminster) and 18 walks (12 by the Blue Jays' five pitchers), Rutgers-Camden rallied from an early 5-0 deficit to post the victory. Westminster scored four times in the first inning and added a run in the top of the third before Rutgers-Camden roared back with a five-run bottom of the third to tie the game. The inning featured three hits and three walks, with the big hit being a two-run single by junior left fielder Wayne Jackson.
 
Despite a four-run bottom of the fourth by the Raptors, Westminster surged ahead, 11-9, with three runs in both the fourth and fifth innings. Rutgers-Camden scored single runs in each of the last three innings to pull out the win. The Raptors tied the game, 11-11, in the bottom of the eighth on an unearned run, aided by two errors. They won it in the ninth after sophomore right fielder Rob Scanlan and Travis set the table, both reaching as hit batsmen to open the inning. A fielder's choice left runners at the corners and Jones ended the game with an RBI single.
 
Jones and Jackson collected two hits apiece in the Scarlet Raptors' nine-hit attack. Yanick had three RBIs, while Travis, Jones and Jackson had two apiece.
 
Junior Keith Jacobs (1-0), a transfer from Felician University, picked up the win in relief with 1-1/3 shutout, hitless innings, walking one batter.
 
For the day, Jones went 5-for-9 with one run and two RBIs, Yanick was 3-for-8 with three runs and four RBIs, Travis went 3-for-8 with three runs and two RBIs and Jackson went 3-for-9 with two RBIs.