GLENSIDE, Penn. (April 18, 2023) – The Arcadia University baseball team has been receiving attention in the national Division III polls throughout the season and the Knights made a convincing case in a non-conference game here Tuesday.
Arcadia built a 4-0 lead after three innings and went on to defeat Rutgers University-Camden, 7-1.
The Knights, who have been in the d3baseball.com Top 25 poll or receiving votes toward the Top 25 all season long, improve to 23-8. In the d3baseball.com poll released Tuesday, Arcadia had the second-most votes (38) toward the Top 25, effectively giving the team a number 27 ranking.
Rutgers-Camden falls to 19-12 with the loss and will head into a huge New Jersey Athletic Conference series with Rowan University on Thursday and Friday. The Scarlet Raptors visit the Profs at 3:30 p.m. Thursday before hosting them at the same time Friday.
Arcadia used three hits and two Raptor errors to score a pair of unearned runs in the first inning. Sophomore catcher Michael Bukowski, who went 3-for-3 in the game, drove home the second run of the inning with a triple.
The Knights struck for two more runs in the third inning, sparked by a leadoff triple from senior shortstop Alex Madera, Arcadia's leadoff man who went 3-for-5 in the game. Madera scored on a one-out triple by senior right fielder Matt Donchez, who scored on a ground out.
Rutgers-Camden cut its deficit to 4-1 when it scored its lone run in the fourth inning. Junior second baseman
Giacomo Antonicello opened the frame with a single and advanced to second base on a single by sophomore designated hitter
Frankie Romond. Sophomore third baseman
Andrew Brown had a sacrifice bunt and junior center fielder
Auggie Uzdanovics plated the run with a ground out.
The Knights added an unearned run in the fifth inning and scored twice in the seventh on a two-run single by freshman first baseman Thomas Strauch.
Senior
Jack Murphy (1-1) started and took the loss for the Scarlet Raptors, working 5.2 innings and allowing nine hits and one walk. He was charged with five runs, although only two were earned.
Junior Hunter Curley (3-0) worked eight innings to pick up the win. He allowed five hits, two walks and one earned run, while striking out four.
Rutgers-Camden finished with six hits in the game, with a 2-for-4, one RBI night by Uzdanovics highlighting the attack. His second-inning double was the Raptors' lone extra-base hit.
