AUBURNDALE, Fla. (March 17, 2025) – The Rutgers University-Camden baseball team scored three runs in the bottom of the sixth inning to overcome a one-run deficit and went on to defeat Ripon College (Ripon, Iowa), 10-8, in its second game of the day Monday at the RussMatt Central Florida Invitational.
Earlier in the day, the Scarlet Raptors saw their seven-game winning streak snapped in a 9-4 loss to #3/6-ranked Johns Hopkins University, but they jumped back on the winning track against the Red Hawks. Rutgers-Camden improved to 11-2, while Ripon fell to 3-6.
Trailing, 8-7, Rutgers-Camden tied the game in the sixth inning when junior first baseman
Frankie Romond and senior third baseman
Ryan Nutley opened the frame with back-to-back doubles. After Nutley advanced to third on a fly out by graduate designated hitter
Jack Murphy, junior left fielder
Isaiah Pinkney walked and then got caught in a rundown as Nutley scampered home with the go-ahead run. Sophomore right fielder
Brandon Petrick capped the inning with his first home run of the season.
The two teams scored in each of the first three innings, including a four-run Rutgers-Camden second that included a two-run single by senior center fielder
Steven Shaffer and a two-run double by Nutley. The wild first three innings left Rutgers-Camden with a 7-4 lead, but Ripon used two hits, two walks, a hit batsman and a double steal to score four times in the fourth inning, surging into an 8-7 lead. Junior
Tyler Griswold relieved junior starter
Ryan Rumsey to work out of the frame. Rumsey ended up pitching four innings in long relief, allowing two hits, two walks and one earned run. He struck out four and picked up the win for his first decision of the season.
Junior southpaw
Dylan Oliver closed out the game with two scoreless innings, allowing one hit and striking out one. He earned his first career save, only two days after beating Mount Union for his first career win.
Nutley led the eight-hit Rutgers-Camden attack, going 3-for-5 with one run and three RBIs. Shaffer and sophomore second baseman
Austin Dubler both had one hit and two RBIs, while Romond scored three runs and Petrick scored twice.
The Scarlet Raptors have a day off on Tuesday at the RussMatt Invitational. They return to action Wednesday at 2:45 p.m. in Davenport, Florida when they face Babson College (Babson Park, Massachusetts), which was ranked #19 in last week's D3baseball.com Top 25 poll. The new poll will be released Tuesday.
