WAYNE, N.J. (April 3, 2021) – The William Paterson University baseball team has been a nightmare for Rutgers University-Camden this season and things didn't change here Saturday when their head-to-head battles started counting in the New Jersey Athletic Conference standings.
 
Paterson, which was 3-0 against the Scarlet Raptors in March before the NJAC schedule started, continued its success against Rutgers-Camden as it swept a doubleheader, 18-7 and 3.1.
 
The Pioneers, who received 43 votes to make them the highest "Also Receiving Votes" team toward the more recent D3baseball.com Top 25 poll, improve to 11-2 overall and 2-0 in the NJAC. The Raptors fall to 1-7 and 0-2.
 
The Scarlet Raptors return to NJAC action Thursday with a doubleheader at Rutgers-Newark. The twinbill, which will be played at Weequahic Park, begins at 3 p.m.
   
The Scarlet Raptors, batting as the home team, had a great start to their first NJAC game of the season, scoring three runs in the bottom of the first inning to grab a quick 3-0 lead. Senior center fielder Billy Eisler continued his red-hot hitting with a leadoff single. After junior catcher Jesse Gerdes was hit by a pitch, both runners scored on a triple by junior right fielder Brett Yurgin. Senior first baseman R.J. Concepcion plated Yurgin with a sacrifice fly to center.
 
Paterson bounced right back with a three-run top of the second inning, but Rutgers-Camden regained the lead in the bottom of the frame when Eisler hit a leadoff triple and scored on a single by Gerdes.
 
The Pioneers took the lead for good with a three-run third inning, highlighted by a two-run single from junior second baseman Colin Lombardo, and blew the game open with a six-run fourth inning. Junior third baseman Chris Liriano hit a three-run triple in that frame, the first of his two bases-clearing triples in the game. He also had one in a five-run Paterson sixth inning.
 
Paterson collected 17 hits in the game, including a 4-for-4 day with four runs and two RBIs by senior left fielder Frankie Deane. Lombardo had three hits and four RBIs, while Liriano was 2-for-2 with three walks, a pair of triples and six RBIs.
 
Rutgers-Camden's 15-hit attack was paced by Eisler, who went 4-for-5 with a double, a triple and two runs scored from the leadoff spot. Coupled with a huge doubleheader last weekend at Kean University (8-for-10), that made Eisler 12-for-15 in his last three games.
 
Gerdes, sophomore shortstop Danny Vazquez and Concepcion each added two hits for the Scarlet Raptors.
   
In the nightcap, the Pioneers scored all the runs they needed in a two-run second inning, which started with a one-out error, a hit batsman and a wild pitch. Liriano doubled home one unearned run and another later scored on a wild pitch.
 
After the Pioneers added another run in the fifth inning, Rutgers-Camden got on the board with a single by Gerdes, a fielder's choice by Yurgin and a RBI double by Concepcion.
 
That lone run was all the Scarlet Raptors could manage against the Paterson duo of Jack DeFouw (seven innings, 5 hits, 1 earned run, two walks and four strikeouts) and Darmany Rivas (two innings, one hit, no runs, no walks and one strikeout). DeFouw picked up the win to raise his record to 4-0, while Rivas notched his second save.
 
Rutgers-Camden senior Ethan Pritchett (0-1) was the tough-luck losing pitcher, working 4.1 innings and allowing five hits, three walks and three runs, only one earned. He struck out one. Sophomore Jack Murphy did a great job in relief, hurling 4.2 shutout innings, allowing two hits and no walks, while collecting four strikeouts.
 
Deane went 2-for-3 with one RBI for the Pioneers and Concepcion was 2-for-4 with one RBI for the Scarlet Raptors. They were the only multi-hit players in the game.
 
For the doubleheader, both Eisler and Concepcion went 4-for-8.