DAVENPORT, Fla. (March 20, 2025) – It's been a tough couple of days for the Rutgers University-Camden baseball team ever since the Scarlet Raptors jumped into the national rankings on Tuesday.
Rutgers-Camden lost its second straight game here Thursday at the RussMatt Central Florida Invitational as it lost a seven-inning game, 11-0, against Saint John's University of Collegeville, Minnesota. The loss comes on the heels of an 11-4 defeat against #18/26 Babson College on Wednesday.
The Scarlet Raptors, ranked #19 in this week's D3baseball.com Top 25 and #25 in the latest ABCA poll, fell to 11-4, while the Johnnies improved to 8-4, snapping a two-game losing streak.
The result marked the first time the Scarlet Raptors suffered a shutout defeat since the second game of a season-opening doubleheader against Immaculata University on Feb. 24, 2024.
Rutgers-Camden, which was averaging 9.85 runs through its first 14 games, was held to only one hit by Saint John's pitching: sophomore second baseman
Austin Dubler doubled to lead off the bottom of the first inning. Other than Dubler's hit, the Scarlet Raptors' only other runners came off nine walks, with three of them by senior third baseman
Ryan Nutley.
The Johnnies scored all the runs they needed on a three-run home run in the third inning by senior third baseman Joe Becker.
Saint John's added seven runs in the fourth inning on four hits, two errors and two walks. Junior shortstop Reed Marquardt had a two-run single in the inning.
Senior first baseman Owen Best went 3-for-4 with one run and one RBI to lead the Johnnies' 13-hit attack.
Saint John's senior southpaw Will Fazio (2-0) worked 6.2 innings of one-hit shutout ball to earn the win. He walked nine and struck out 10. Senior Connor Hartley collected the last out of the game after Fazio had loaded the bases on walks in the seventh inning.
The Scarlet Raptors have already faced four opponents that have been ranked in the Top 25 or have received votes toward that ranking. They will face another one tomorrow when they face Denison University at 10 a.m. in Winter Haven, Florida. The Big Red are ranked #7 this week in both the D3baseball.com and ABCA national rankings.
