AUBURNDALE, Fla. (March 14, 2026) – The Rutgers University-Camden baseball team made the long journey to Florida for its spring break on Friday.
 
The Raptors' "reward" was playing the nation's 21st-ranked team in its first game here Saturday at the RussMatt Central Florida Invitational.
 
The University of Mount Union (Alliance, Ohio), which jumped into the D3baseball.com Top 25 poll this week at #21, raised its record to 13-2 as it defeated the Scarlet Raptors, 8-2. The Raiders scored eight runs over the fifth through seventh innings to wipe out a 1-0 Rutgers-Camden lead.
 
Rutgers-Camden (4-5) scored an unearned run in the bottom of the third inning when sophomore right fielder Gavin McCaffrey reached on an error, was sacrificed to second by sophomore catcher Mason Blizzard and scored on a two-out error.
 
That run held up for Raptor junior pitcher D.J. Juliano until the fifth inning, when three hits, an error and two walks produced four Mount Union runs. The Raiders added two-run innings in the sixth and seventh innings before McCaffrey had an RBI single in the bottom of the seventh inning for the Scarlet Raptors' final run.
 
Rutgers-Camden managed only three hits off a pair of Mount Union pitchers, with McCaffrey, junior second baseman Austin Dubler and sophomore third baseman Will Gural each getting a single.
 
Junior lefty Luke Ickes (4-0) picked up the win, working seven innings, allowing three hits and two runs (one unearned). He walked one and struck out five.
 
Juliano (0-1) took the loss, allowing six hits, two walks and four runs (three earned) in five innings. He struck out five.
 
Rutgers-Camden will face Ripon College on Sunday at 10 a.m. in Winter Haven.