EWING, N.J. (April 29, 2021) – The College of New Jersey baseball team stunned Rutgers University-Camden by scoring three unearned runs with two outs in the bottom of the ninth inning as it posted an 8-7 victory here Thursday in a New Jersey Athletic Conference game.
The win snaps a four-game losing streak for TCNJ, lifting the Lions to 6-14 overall and 5-10 in the NJAC. Rutgers-Camden falls to 8-13 overall and 7-8 in the NJAC.
Rutgers-Camden took a 7-5 lead into the bottom of the ninth and started the frame with two outs sandwiched around a walk. After senior second baseman Aydon Chavis reached on an error, junior Grant Sible tied the game with a two-run pinch-hit double down the left field line. An intentional walk followed before sophomore center fielder Sebastian JnoBaptiste ended the game with a RBI single to center field.
The turn of events made a winner of TCNJ freshman reliever Alec Schwartz, who earned his first collegiate victory after pitching 2.2 innings and allowing one earned run. Schwartz (1-0) allowed three hits.
The tough-luck losing pitcher was junior
Stephen Brady (2-2), who hurled 1.2 innings in relief of sophomore
Jack Murphy. Brady allowed five hits and five runs, only two of them earned. He walked two and struck out one. Murphy hurled seven innings, scattering 11 hits and two walks, while fanning four. He allowed three runs, one of them unearned.
TCNJ received a solo home run in the first inning from JnoBaptiste and that run stood up until the Scarlet Raptors scored four in the top of the third inning. Sophomore shortstop
Danny Vazquez opened the frame by reaching on an error. He was chased to third on a double by junior designated hitter
Jesse Gerdes and both Raptors scored on a single by senior second baseman
R.J. Concepcion. Senior first baseman
Matt Yanick and junior center fielder
Brett Yurgin followed with singles, with Yurgin's hit scoring Concepcion. Senior left fielder
Rob Scanlan sacrificed the runners to second and third base, setting the stage for a sacrifice fly by freshman catcher
Nick Sylvester.
In the bottom of the frame, the Lions collected three straight singles, but were kept off the scoreboard when Scanlan ended the frame by throwing out a runner at the plate.
An error and two extra-base hits helped the Lions claw back two runs in the fourth inning, but the Scarlet Raptors countered in the seventh with their own two-run frame. Vazquez singled and scored one out later ahead of a two-run home run by Concepcion.
TCNJ opened the bottom of the eighth with three straight hits and a fielder's choice to plate two runs, cutting the Raptors' lead to 6-5. Rutgers-Camden added what seemed to be an insurance run in the top of the ninth after senior right fielder
Billy Eisler was hit by a pitch. Vazquez and Gerdes followed with singles, with Gerdes' hit plating the run.
TCNJ's 16-hit attack was led by a pair of freshmen, left fielder Jack Haynes and catcher Ryan Goodall, with three hits apiece.
Concepcion had a big day for the Scarlet Raptors, going 3-for-4 with a walk, a home run, two runs and four RBIs. Vazquez and Gerdes added two hits apiece.
The Scarlet Raptors return to TCNJ Friday at 3:30 p.m. for another NJAC game.
