EWING, N.J. (April 28, 2022) – The College of New Jersey baseball team ripped 25 hits and took advantage of 11 walks, three hit batsmen and six Rutgers University-Camden errors as it routed the Scarlet Raptors, 28-6, in a New Jersey Athletic Conference game here Thursday.
 
The loss was the eighth in a row for Rutgers-Camden. It drops the Scarlet Raptors to 17-20 overall and 4-11 in the NJAC, putting them on life support in their bid to make the six-team conference playoffs with three games remaining. The Scarlet Raptors sit in eighth place in the NJAC and trail sixth-place Stockton University (6-9 in the NJAC) by two games and seventh-place Ramapo College (5-10) by one game.
 
Stockton plays a home game Friday against NJAC-leading Rowan University (13-2) and a doubleheader Saturday at ninth-place Rutgers University-Newark (3-12). Ramapo finishes its season with a home game Friday against William Paterson University (10-5) and a home doubleheader Saturday against The College of New Jersey, which improved to 17-15 overall and 7-8 in the NJAC with its win over Rutgers-Camden.
 
The Scarlet Raptors host TCNJ tomorrow at 3:30 p.m. and Montclair State University (tied for second in the NJAC at 12-3) in a 2 p.m. doubleheader Saturday.
 
After the Lions scored one run in the bottom of the first inning, they exploded for six hits and seven runs in the second inning, aided by two Scarlet Raptor errors. The frame was capped by a three-run home run from freshman third baseman Andrew Fernandez.
 
Trailing, 9-1, the Scarlet Raptors struck for five runs in the top of the fifth inning to cut their deficit to three runs. Rutgers-Camden used four walks and three hits in the frame, including a two-run single by senior left fielder Garrett Warner.
 
Just as quickly as the Raptors climbed back into the game, the Lions put the contest away. TCNJ countered with a nine-run bottom of the fifth inning on five walks, two hit batsmen, three hits and two errors. Senior first baseman Joe Oczkowski had a three-run double in the frame.
 
TCNJ kept hitting and scoring against six Rutgers-Camden pitchers, adding five runs in the sixth inning, one in the seventh and four in the eighth. Oczkowski paced the attack with a 4-for-6 day, two runs and three RBIs. Sophomore left fielder Jack Haynes went 3-for-6 with three runs and three RBIs, senior shortstop Chris Cote went 3-for-5 with three runs and two RBIs, Fernandez was 3-for-7 with three runs and four RBIs and sophomore center fielder Michael Schumacher went 3-for-4 with three runs and one RBI. The Lions' leadoff man, freshman second baseman Mike Lagravenis, went 2-for-3 with one RBI and four runs scored.
 
Rutgers-Camden managed only four hits against a trio of TCNJ pitchers, with Warner notching a single and two RBIs and freshman third baseman Andrew Brown collecting the only extra-base hit with a double.