CAMDEN, N.J. (February 24, 2024) – Rutgers University-Camden senior Ethan Carpenter pitched six innings of shutout ball in the opening game and Immaculata College sored all four of its runs in the fifth inning of the nightcap as the two teams opened their baseball season splitting a pair of seven-inning games here Saturday.
 
Rutgers-Camden won the opener, 4-1. Immaculata, which received 11 votes in the pre-season D3baseball.com Top 25, took the nightcap, 4-0.
 
Rutgers-Camden returns to play Tuesday, hosting Gwynedd Mercy University in a 3:30 p.m. non-conference game.  
Carpenter allowed four hits and one walk in six shutout innings as the Scarlet Raptors won their season opener.
 
The Scarlet Raptors scored their first run of the season in the second inning after a leadoff double by senior designated hitter Jack Murphy. One out later, junior first baseman Diego Salazar singled through the right side of the infield to plate Murphy and pick up the team's first RBI of the year.
 
In the Raptors' two-run fifth inning, senior right fielder Giacomo Antonicello had a one-out single and sophomore left fielder Jacob Watson was hit by a pitch. Senior center fielder Auggie Uzdanovics, playing in his 100th career game at Rutgers-Camden, ripped a two-out, two-run double to center.
 
The Raptors added their final run in the sixth inning after a leadoff error and singles by sophomore catcher Evan Carbone and Antonicelli loaded the bases. Watson plated the run with an infield single.
 
Antonicello led the Raptors' eight-hit offense, going 3-for-3 with one run scored.
   
The second game was a scoreless pitching duel between Raptor junior Daniel Robeson and Mighty Macs graduate student Stephen DiBattista. Both southpaws worked four scoreless innings in their first outing of the year, with Robeson allowing two hits and three walks, while striking out six. DiBattista allowed only one hit – the first collegiate hit by freshman catcher Julian Gonzalez, with a third-inning single up the middle – while walking two and striking out one.
 
Immaculata broke through in the fifth inning after Robeson was finished for the day, sending nine men to the plate and scoring all four of its runs. The Mighty Macs opened the frame with a leadoff double by sophomore catcher Robert Woodward. Immaculata added two more hits, two walks and a hit batsman in the frame, with the biggest hit being a two-run single from senior third baseman Shawn Haut to cap the frame.
 
DiBattista picked up the win, while freshman hurler Alex LePage collected a three-inning save, allowing only one hit while striking out two.
 
Gonzalez and junior third baseman Jose Correa, a transfer from Rowan College of South Jersey – Gloucester,  had the lone two hits for the Scarlet Raptors, the first for both in their Rutgers-Camden careers.