YORK, Penn. (March 6, 2025) – The Rutgers University-Camden baseball team didn't waste any time taking control of its non-conference game here Thursday.
The Scarlet Raptors exploded for 11 runs in the top of the first inning and went on to defeat York College of Pennsylvania, 15-9, in a game called after six innings due to darkness on a cold, windy day.
Rutgers-Camden, which received two votes toward the D3baseball.com Top 25 poll this week, improves to 6-1.
York, a traditionally-strong team, now owns a deceptive 0-5 record to start the season. That mark includes three losses to nationally-ranked Lynchburg and a loss Tuesday against a strong Franklin & Marshall team prior to the Spartans' loss to Rutgers-Camden.
The Scarlet Raptors sent 15 batters to the plate in the opening inning and took advantage of six hits, three walks, two hit batsmen and one error in their 11-run explosion. It was the team's biggest inning since an 11-run third inning in a 16-6 win over Gwynedd Mercy University on Feb. 27, 2024. It was one run shy of the program's biggest inning ever, a 12-run fifth in a 20-3 win over Immaculata University in the second game of a Feb. 23, 2020, doubleheader.
Rutgers-Camden opened the contest when junior left fielder
Jacob Watson was hit by a pitch and extended his program-record career stolen base total to 82. A pair of seniors, center fielder
Steven Shaffer and third baseman
Ryan Nutley walked to load the bases. Two runs scored on the 35th career double for senior designated hitter
Jack Murphy, tying the veteran slugger for fifth place on the program's career list.
Senior first baseman
Diego Salazar doubled home two more runs and scored on an RBI single by junior right fielder
Isaiah Pinkney. Senior shortstop
Billy Richards was hit by a pitch before the Spartans got the first out of the inning, but sophomore catcher
Julian Gonzalez walked to load the bases. Watson doubled home a pair of runs and Shaffer followed with a sacrifice fly to center. Nutley singled home Watson and scored on a triple by Murphy. Murphy scored the final run on an error.
The Scarlet Raptors added a run in the second when senior second baseman
Giacomo Antonicello hit a one-out single and Gonzalez was hit by a pitch. With two outs, Shaffer had an RBI single.
York broke the shutout with two-run innings in the third and fourth, which included a two-run home run in the third inning by senior shortstop Michael Tinneny. Tinneny finished the day 2-for-3 with three RBIs.
Camden scored two more runs in the fifth on two hits, two walks and a hit batsman. Salazar had an RBI single and Antonicello plated a run with a bases-loaded walk. In the sixth inning, Murphy had an RBI single for his fourth hit of the game.
York attempted a late-inning comeback with a run in the fifth and four runs in the sixth, cutting the gap to 15-9. Senior
Joey Rappaport entered the game in the sixth inning with two outs and the bases loaded, ending the threat and the game with a swinging strikeout.
Senior
Daniel Robeson (1-0) picked up the win, working the first five innings. He allowed six hits, four walks and five runs, only three of them earned. He struck out eight.
Murphy led the Scarlet Raptors' 12-hit attack, going 4-for-5 with three runs and four RBIs. He needed only a home run for a cycle.
Salazar (three RBIs) and Pinkney (one RBI) had two hits apiece, while Watson and Shaffer both had two RBIs and two runs scored. Nutley joined Murphy in scoring three runs.
The Scarlet Raptors return to action on Sunday when they host nationally-ranked SUNY-Cortland at 12 p.m. The Red Dragons are ranked #15 nationally in the D3baseball.com Top 25 poll and #19 in the ABCA poll.
