Romond, Murphy, Cooper earn D3baseball.com All-Region 4 recognition; Romond, Murphy add ABCA honors
CAMDEN, N.J. (May 27, 2025) – Three key members of the New Jersey Athletic Conference champion Rutgers University-Camden baseball team have added a prestigious honor from D3baseball.com and two of them completed an award-filled day by later adding honors from the American Baseball Coaches Association (ABCA).
Second baseman
Frankie Romond (Lumberton, NJ/Rancocas Valley Regional), designated hitter/first baseman
Jack Murphy (West Deptford, NJ/West Deptford) and left-handed pitcher
Chase Cooper (Southampton, NJ/The King's Christian School) have been named to the D3baseball.com All-Region 4 teams.
Romond was named the second baseman on the D3baseball.com Region 4 First Team, while Murphy was the first baseman on the Region 4 Second Team. Cooper was one of the three starting pitchers honored on the Region 4 Third Team.
After the D3baseball.com team was announced Tuesday morning, the ABCA released its All-Region 4 teams. Romond was named the second baseman on the ABCA Region 4 First Team, while Murphy was tabbed as the designated hitter on the All-Region 4 Third Team.
D3baseball.com All-Region 4 Teams ABCA All-Region 4 Teams
Earlier this month, Romond was named to the All-NJAC First Team and Murphy captured All-NJAC Second Team recognition. Both players also served as two of the Scarlet Raptors' four captains this season and tied for the club lead with 18 multiple-hit games. Murphy also led the team with 15 multiple-RBI games, while Romond was second with 13.
All three players on the D3baseball.com regional teams added honors during the season as Rutgers-Camden's Raptor of the Week, with Murphy earning the honor on March 10, Cooper adding recognition on March 17 and Romond earning the award on April 28.
Romond, a senior academically who had junior eligibility in baseball after missing the entire 2024 season with injuries, has a monster season in his return to the playing field. He led the team in hitting (.363) while starting all 44 of his games. He also paced the team in runs (46), hits (65), triples (4), home runs (8), total bases (111), slugging (.620), assists (124) , in addition to setting program single-season records for at bats (179) and double plays (31). He added 45 RBIs, 14 doubles, 20 walks, a .427 on-base percentage, 10 stolen bases (in 14 attempts) and 151 putouts.
On April 4 against The College of New Jersey, Romond hit a home run for his 100th career hit. His big season included a pair of five-hit games and two six-RBI contests, with the first one coming against Gwynedd Mercy on Feb. 25 when he went 5-for-5 with a double, a triple, three runs, six RBIs and two stolen bases. He went 3-for-6 with a double, triple and home run against nationally-ranked Cortland on March 9, scoring two runs and driving home six. He was 5-for-6 with a double, three runs and one RBI against nationally-ranked Rowan on April 14.
During his three seasons at Rutgers-Camden, Romond played in 121 games, collecting 141 hits, 97 runs, 96 RBIs, 25 doubles, nine triples, nine home runs, 26 stolen bases and 211 total bases. He compiled a .328/.415/.491 slash line, was a three-time Raptor of the Week and collected a trio of five-hit games. He also
tied a single-game program record with two triples against Delaware Valley on Feb. 23, 2023.
A Business Management major at Rutgers-Camden, Romond is a member of the Student Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC), is a Dean's List student and a two-time NJAC Academic Honorable Mention honoree. He is a six-time member of the Rutgers-Camden Athletic Director's Honor Roll (the 2015 spring semester Honor Roll has yet to be named) and was one of only 26 athletes on the 142-member 2022 Spring AD Honor Roll to post a 4.0 GPA.
Murphy, a graduate student who returned for his final season of eligibility this year, capped his career with a bang, hitting .358 and leading the team with a single-season record of 18 doubles. His team-leading total of 52 RBIs was one shy of the program's single-season mark and he also tied for the club lead by reaching base 10 times as a hit batsman. His team-high seven sacrifice flies tied the program's single-season mark and he added 34 runs, two triples, three home runs, 18 walks, a .549 slugging percentage and a .437 on-base percentage.
Murphy started the season as the Raptors' designated hitter but finished the year at first base after starting first baseman
Diego Salazar was sidelined with an injury. Murphy finished with a perfect 1.000 fielding percentage, notching 124 putouts, seven assists and 13 double plays.
During his stellar career at Rutgers-Camden, Murphy set program standards that will be difficult to reach. He holds the Rutgers-Camden career marks for games (184), doubles (49), home runs (23) and RBIs (157), while placing second among the all-time leaders in at bats (612) and total bases (309), third in walks (76) and HBP (43), fifth in hits (185) and tied for fifth in sacrifice flies (9). He finished his career with a .302 batting average.
During the 2022 season, Murphy tied the program's single-season mark with nine home runs and he capped that year earning NJAC Honorable Mention, his first all-conference honor. He was the NJAC Player of the Week on April 11, 2022, and added another NJAC Player of the Week this season on March 10. He also has been an NJAC Rookie of the Week (March 16, 2020, during the brief Covid 19 season) and is a three-time Raptor of the Week.
In addition to his offensive numbers, Murphy also appeared in 29 games on the mound, starting 19, during his career. He worked 112.2 innings, posting a 4-6 mark and a 4.07 ERA.
A Finance major with a minor in Economics as a Rutgers-Camden undergraduate, Murphy was a four-time NJAC Academic Honorable Mention, a Dean's List student and a 10-time member of the Rutgers-Camden Athletic Director's Honor Roll. He posted a 4.0 GPA in two of those semesters.
Cooper capped his fine Rutgers-Camden career leading the pitching staff with a 2.62 ERA, while posting a 5-2 record. He finished second on the team in wins, starts (11) and strikeouts (45), while placing third in innings pitched (58.1). He walked 20 while striking out 45, allowed only 54 hits in his 58.1 innings and held opponents to a .254 batting average.
Cooper's won-loss record would have been even better with more run support: his two losses came against Rutgers-Newark in a 2-1 game and against Ramapo when the Raptors were blanked, 3-0, on four hits.
For his career, Cooper appeared in 37 games at Rutgers-Camden, making 28 starts and posting a 13-6 record. He had 49 walks and 109 strikeouts in 162 innings. He finished his career with a 4.61 ERA, but his last two seasons featured ERAs of 3.62 and 2.62, while posting a 10-2 record over 105.1 innings. He was named the school's Raptor of the Week during both of those seasons.
A Business Management major at Rutgers-Camden, Cooper was a Dean's List student and a six-time member of the Rutgers-Camden Athletic Director's Honor Roll.
