BLACKWOOD, N.J. (April 11, 2019) – Thursday's New Jersey Athletic Conference game between Rutgers University-Camden and Rowan University featured just about anything a baseball fan could ask for, from outstanding pitching and defensive plays to late-inning clutch home runs by both teams. The battle was so evenly matched between the two NJAC rivals that it took 11 innings in a span of 3:12 before the nationally-ranked Profs outlasted the Scarlet Raptors, 6-2.
 
Rowan, ranked No. 5 nationally in the D3baseball.com Top 25 poll and No. 8 in the ABCA/Collegiate Baseball Division III rankings, scored four runs on five hits in the top of the 11th inning to pull out the victory. The win raised the Profs' record to 19-5 overall and 6-1 in the NJAC, extending their winning streak to nine games.
 
Rutgers-Camden falls to 11-13 overall and 3-4 in the NJAC.
 
The final inning wasn't indicative of the first 10, as pitching was the order of the day. The two starters, Rutgers-Camden junior Bobby Girgenti and Rowan senior Justin Smith, both turned in stellar performances. Girgenti worked eight innings of three-hit ball, allowing only one earned run of the two charged against him. He walked three and struck out six. Smith, meanwhile, worked into the ninth, finishing with 8-1/3 innings of eight-hit ball, allowing two earned runs and three walks. He struck out 10.
 
After a pair of 1-2-3 relief innings by Jaylen Paula, Rowan finally got to the sophomore reliever in the 11th inning, sparked by a leadoff double from senior left fielder Dan Shane. After he was balked to third, he scored on a single by senior center fielder Matt Woods. Woods stole second and scored on a double by senior shortstop Dillon Mendel. After junior second baseman Alex Kokos reached on a fielder's choice, with Mendel out at third, the Profs had back-to-back singles from senior DH Anthony Harrold and junior first baseman Mitch Walker. Harrold was removed for pinch-runner Frankie Aiello before Walker's RBI single. A fielder's choice by junior right fielder Eric Schorr erased Walker and set up a first and third situation with two outs. Schorr got caught in a rundown just long enough for Aiello to cross the plate with the final run of the frame.
 
Rutgers-Camden put two runners aboard in the bottom of the frame on a walk to junior shortstop Nolan Gerold and a two-out single by freshman center fielder Brett Yurgin before Rowan senior reliever Andrew Cartier ended the game on a called third strike.
 
Cartier (1-1) worked the final 2-2/3 innings to get the win, allowing two hits and one walk, while striking out six.
 
The wild finish was in contrast to the duel between Girgenti and Smith. Through six innings, the Raptors clung to a 1-0 lead, produced in the third inning when sophomore right fielder Rob Scanlan singled and advanced to second on a Yurgin single. A sacrifice by sophomore left fielder Billy Eisler left two runners in scoring position and Scanlan scored on a fielder's choice by sophomore catcher R.J. Concepcion.
 
Rowan finally tied the game in the top of the seventh inning with an unearned run and appeared set to win the game an inning later when Woods hit a two-out solo home run to left field. Rutgers-Camden bounced right back on a leadoff home run in the ninth inning by Gerold to tie the game at 2-2.
 
Rutgers-Camden out-hit Rowan, 10-8, with Yurgin turning in a 4-for-6 performance at the top of the lineup. Scanlan and junior third baseman Matthew Stoots both added two hits, with Stoots extending his hitting streak to nine games and Scanlan padding his to four games.
 
The two teams play again tomorrow in a 3:30 p.m. NJAC game at Rowan University.