CAMDEN, N.J. (April 2, 2022) – The Rutgers University-Camden baseball team had the tough task of opening its New Jersey Athletic Conference schedule against one of the top teams in the nation here Saturday.
Kean University entered the NJAC doubleheader ranked #15 in the D3baseball.com Top 25 poll and #27 in the Collegiate Baseball Division III poll. The Cougars didn't do anything to hurt their rankings as they swept the Scarlet Raptors, 3-0 and 14-2.
Kean improves to 19-4 overall and 2-0 in the NJAC, stretching its winning streak to eight games. Rutgers-Camden, which saw its four-game winning streak snapped, falls to 11-9 overall and 0-2 in the NJAC.
The Scarlet Raptors host Keystone College Tuesday in a 6 p.m. non-conference game.
Kean 3, Rutgers-Camden 0
The first game featured a terrific pitching duel between two of the top righthanders in the conference, the Raptors'
John Kasper and the Cougars' Collin Kiernan. The game was scoreless into the sixth inning when Kean struck for all the runs it needed.
A pair of singles set up senior third baseman Michael Lapczynski, who drilled a one-out, three-run home run to right field. It was the first home run in a collegiate game at the Scarlet Raptors' new Camden Athletic Complex field.
Kiernan (6-0) finished with a seven-hitter in his complete-game shutout, walking four and striking out seven. Kasper (2-2) worked seven innings, allowing eight hits, three hits and no walks, while fanning seven.
Kean left fielder Philip Mahlik went 3-for-4 with one run, while Raptor junior first baseman
Jack Murphy was 2-for-4.
Kean 14, Rutgers-Camden 2
The Cougars scored two runs in the first inning on a double by Lapczynski and put the game away with an eight-run explosion in the third. Kean sent 12 men to the plate in its big inning, which featured six hits, two walks and an error. Mahlik capped the frame with a bases-clearing triple.
Rutgers-Camden scored its two runs in the bottom of the fifth inning, with a solo home run to left field by Murphy breaking the shutout bid for Kean's Justin Diefenbach. Murphy's home run was the first by a Scarlet Raptor at the new field and his seventh this season. The single-season program record is nine, shared by two players.
The Raptors' other run that inning came after senior designated hitter
R.J. McGettigan walked, advanced all the way to third on an infield throwing error and scored on a balk.
Diefenbach (3-1) worked seven innings, allowing three hits and two runs, only one earned. He walked one and struck out seven. Raptor junior starter
Dylan Wichrowski (3-2) took the loss, working the first 2.2 innings and allowing eight hits and eight runs, six earned. He walked one and fanned two.
Mahlik went 3-for-4 with two runs and four RBIs for Kean, while Lapczynski was 3-for-6 with one run and two RBIs. For Rutgers-Camden, Murphy went 2-for-2 with one run and one RBI.
