CAMDEN, N.J. (April 6, 2024) – Senior third baseman Ryan Nutley delivered a walk-off RBI single in the bottom of the 10th inning of the opening game and the Rutgers University-Camden baseball team weathered a ninth-inning rally in the nightcap as the Scarlet Raptors swept Kean University here Saturday in a New Jersey Athletic Conference doubleheader.
 
The Scarlet Raptors won by scores of 6-5 and 4-3 to raise their record to 17-6 overall and 4-1 in the NJAC. It was Rutgers-Camden's first regular-season sweep over Kean since 2018, when the Raptors later lost a NJAC playoff game to the Cougars. Rutgers-Camden also swept the regular-season series from Kean in 2015 and 2016.
 
Kean falls to 14-11 overall and 2-4 in NJAC play.
 
The Scarlet Raptors play a 1 p.m. game Sunday at The College of New Jersey as part of their home-and-home series with the Lions, which was disrupted by rainouts during the week.
   
In a wild back-and-forth game that featured big plays, clutch pitching, a two-RBI squeeze bunt by the Cougars, the Scarlet Raptors emerged victorious with two outs in the bottom of the 10th inning. Freshman Austin Dubler, who was inserted as a pinch-runner in the eighth inning and stayed in the designated hitter spot, made his first at bat of the game count in the 10th inning. He had an infield single, stole second base and scored the winning run on Nutley's drive up the right-center field gap.
 
Setting the stage for the extra-inning win, sophomore Gavin Cunard worked out of a bases-loaded no-out jam in the ninth inning after entering the game in relief. Kean struck out on a failed squeeze and the runner breaking from third base was doubled up before the inning ended with a fly out.
 
Kean scored twice in the first inning on four hits, but Rutgers-Camden cut its deficit in half in the second inning after a walk to Nutley, a double by junior first baseman Diego Salazar and an RBI ground out by senior shortstop Billy Richards.
 
The Scarlet Raptors took the lead with a three-run fourth inning, which included an RBI single by Nutley, a run-scoring double by Richards and an RBI single by senior center fielder Auggie Uzdanovics.
 
Kean struck right back with three runs in the top of the fifth to regain the lead. The Cougars used two walks, two hits and a strange squeeze play that plated two runs as the Raptors waited in vain for the bunt to trickle foul.
 
Junior centerfielder Steven Shaffer tied the game with an RBI single in the fifth inning, setting the stage for the late-game dramatics.
 
Cunard (2-0) picked up the win in relief, working two innings of one-hit shutout ball. He walked one and struck out one.
 
Nutley and senior designated hitter Jack Murphy both had two hits for Rutgers-Camden.
   
In the nightcap, the Raptors broke a 2-2 tie with two runs in the eighth inning and survived a ninth-inning scare.
 
With two outs in the eighth, Shaffer started the rally with a walk and stole second. He scored on a single by Murphy, who also stole second. He scored on a single by Salazar.
 
In the bottom of the frame, a sophomore right fielder Tyler Stone walked and scored on a two-out pinch-hit double by senior Christian Pellone. A walk and a wild pitch moved a pair of runners in scoring position before sophomore reliever Tyler Griswold ended the game with a strikeout.
 
Griswold, a transfer from Immaculata University, picked up his first Rutgers-Camden decision with the win. He worked two innings, allowing one hit, three walks and one earned run. He struck out two.
 
Junior shortstop Jose Correa went 2-for-3, including an RBI double in the fifth inning that broke up a no-hitter by Kean junior starter Jason Gilman. Gilman (2-3) worked 7.2 innings, allowing two hits, five walks and three earned runs. He struck out nine.
 
The Raptors received several fine defensive plays, including one by sophomore left fielder Jacob Watson, who threw out the potential go-ahead run in the seventh inning on an RBI single by freshman second baseman Nick Sellari, which tied the game at 2-2.