ASTON, Penn. (March 26, 2019) – The Rutgers University-Camden baseball team will be road warriors all season long in 2019 as they wait for their new home stadium to be built, replacing the demolished Campbell's Field. Yet while the Scarlet Raptors won't be playing a game in Camden this season, they will have designated "home" games at a variety of sites.
 
The Raptors' first home-away-from-home contest came here Tuesday at the Maplezone Sports Institute, and Rutgers-Camden couldn't have asked for better results.
 
The Scarlet Raptors plated three runs in the first inning and rode the outstanding pitching of seniors Ian Scheidemann and Steven Bloyed, and junior Daniel Beebe, to a 3-0 victory over a perennial national power, Keystone College.
 
In a pre-determined pitching split slated to give their hurlers a tune-up for Saturday's opening New Jersey Athletic Conference doubleheader, the trio of Raptor hurlers each pitched three innings, combining on a five-hitter. Scheidemann picked up the victory to raise his record to 3-0, working the first three shutout innings and allowing one hit and one walk, while striking out two. Bloyed struck out three and allowed three hits in the middle three frames, while Beebe collected his first save of the year with three innings of one-hit ball. He struck out five.
 
The victory lifts Rutgers-Camden to 6-8. Keystone, which has been ranked as high as 13th nationally in the D3baseball.com Division III Top 25 poll this year (Feb. 26) and as high as No. 20 in the ABCA/Collegiate Baseball pre-season Division III poll, falls to 3-7 with its fourth straight loss. Several of those defeats have come against other nationally-ranked teams.
 
Rutgers-Camden scored all the runs it needed in the bottom of the first inning against tough-luck Giants starter Mohammed Hussein (1-1). Freshman center fielder Brett Yurgin was hit by a pitch leading off the frame and junior catcher Tyler Travis followed with a single to center. Junior third baseman Matthew Stoots followed with a perfect sacrifice bunt down the third base line, which would have been a single if not for a stellar fielding play by Hussein. Senior second baseman Chris Jones hit behind the runners with a ground out to second base, plating Yurin with the game's first run. Junior left fielder Wayne Jackson followed with a fly ball to right field that fell for a RBI single when Keystone's right fielder lost it in a brutal sun, shining right into his eyes. Junior designated hitter Matt Yanick then drilled a deep drive to left field that went for an RBI triple when Keystone left fielder Adam Kelly slammed into the fence and went down injured.
 
The rest of the way, pitching ruled the game. Hussein finished with an eight-inning complete game, allowing six hits and three earned runs. He didn't walk a batter and struck out one.
 
Keystone had runners reach second base in only two innings. The Giants had a pair of singles off Bloyed in the sixth inning before Hussein lined to Jones at second base to end the threat. In the seventh, facing Beebe, a leadoff walk and a one-out hit batsman placed a pair of runners on base. They moved up on a ground out to freshman first baseman R.J. McGettigan. Beebe, pictured above, ended the threat by striking out the Giants' leadoff man.
 
The lone batter who had multiple hits was Keystone's Ronald Medina (2-for-4). He also had 18 putouts at first base.
 
The Scarlet Raptors return to the Maplezone Sports Institute on Wednesday for another home game against Susquehanna University, beginning at 4 p.m.