AUBURNDALE, Fla. (March 16, 2025) – The Rutgers University-Camden baseball schedule is loaded with nationally-ranked opponents this season and the Scarlet Raptors passed another tough test here Sunday at the RussMatt Central Florida Invitational.
 
Rutgers-Camden scored four runs in the top of the first inning and made them stand up as it defeated UMass-Boston, 4-2.
 
The Scarlet Raptors, who received 37 votes toward the latest D3baseball.com Top 25 poll, improved to 10-1 with their seventh straight win. The Beacons, who received nine votes toward that D3baseball.com poll, fell to 7-2.
 
UMass-Boston was the second team the Raptors have defeated this season that has appeared in one or more national polls. On March 9, Rutgers-Camden defeated #15/19 SUNY-Cortland, and the Raptors have another powerhouse opponent lined up for Monday in Auburndale, Florida. They face Johns Hopkins University at 10 a.m. The Blue Jays are ranked #3 in the latest D3baseball.com Top 25 poll, while logging in at #6 in the ABCA national rankings.
 
Later in the spring break trip the Scarlet Raptors face both Denison and Babson, teams that were ranked sixth and 19th, respectively, in the latest D3baseball.com poll. The next poll will be released Tuesday.
 
The Scarlet Raptors did all the offensive damage they needed in the first inning Sunday, scoring four runs off of Beacons senior lefty Keenan Metrick (0-1). Senior center fielder Steven Shaffer hit a leadoff single and, one out later, stole second. He scored on a single by senior third baseman Ryan Nutley. Graduate designated hitter Jack Murphy walked and after another out, junior right fielder Isaiah Pinkney unloaded a three-run home run, It was his team-leading second homer of the season.
 
Those runs were more than enough support for Raptor senior pitchers Chase Cooper and Joey Rappaport. Cooper (3-0) worked the first six-plus innings, facing one batter in the bottom of the seventh inning. He allowed five hits, two walks and one unearned run that put the Beacons on the scoreboard in the seventh. Cooper struck out five.
 
Rappaport collected all three outs in the seventh inning and finished off the game for his first save of the season. He allowed two hits, one walk and one earned run in three innings of work.
 
Shaffer and Nutley had two hits apiece for Rutgers-Camden, with Shaffer adding two walks and one stolen base. Pinkney went 1-for-3 with his three-run home run.