Watson, Slusarski earn All-NJAC baseball recognition
CAMDEN, N.J. (April 29, 2026) – Center fielder
Jacob Watson has been the sparkplug of the Rutgers University-Camden offense since his freshman year, and designated hitter
Jake Slusarski has given the Scarlet Raptors a power bat in the middle of the lineup in his first season with the team.
The contributions of both players were recognized today when they were named to the All-New Jersey Athletic Conference baseball team. Watson, who has junior eligibility after missing most of 2025 with an injury, was honored on the All-NJAC First Team. Slusarski, a sophomore who transferred to Rutgers-Camden after spending his freshman season at Division I Mount St. Mary's University, captured NJAC Honorable Mention.
Both players have helped the Scarlet Raptors reach the semifinals of the NJAC playoffs, winning a quarterfinal game at Ramapo Tuesday, as Rutgers-Camden attempts to defend its 2025 conference championship.
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Watson (Elk Township, NJ/Delsea Regional), who earned his long-overdue first All-NJAC honor, has been one of the most electric players in program history. The Scarlet Raptors' leadoff man throughout his career until being switched to the cleanup spot part-way through this season, Watson is hitting a team-leading .381 after his 2-for-5 performance in the NJAC semifinals on Tuesday. He leads the team as a hit batsman (20, a single-season club record) and with his .492 on-base percentage and is second on the Raptors in hits (56), doubles (8), home runs (2), RBIs (35), total bases (72), slugging (.490) and stolen bases (20).
Watson ranks first and second on the single-season list for stolen bases with 39 in 2024 and 33 in 2023. His career total of 107 stolen bases is by far the most in program history and his next stolen base will
double the previous school mark of 54 that stood before he broke it.
Watson also ranks among the program's career leaders with 144 runs (second), 39 HBP (fourth), a .452 on-base percentage (currently fourth), 175 hits and 67 walks (both seventh), 509 at bats (eighth), a .344 batting average (currently 10th), 133 games (tied for 11th), 204 total bases (13th), 82 RBIs (tied for 16th) and 12 sacrifices (tied for 19th).
One of the Scarlet Raptors' four captains this season, Watson had a pair of outstanding seasons as a freshman and a sophomore in 2023 and 2024. He was enjoying another great season in 2025 before he was injured during the Scarlet Raptors' spring trip to Florida and wound up playing only 14 games, getting his junior eligibility restored for 2026.
Honored at the third annual Raptor Rising Star Awards, Watson was a three-time NJAC Rookie of the Week in 2023, while also earning honors on March 20 of that season as Rutgers-Camden's Raptor of the Week.
A Health Sciences major at Rutgers-Camden, Watson was a baseball letterman at Delsea Regional High School who was a two-time All-Conference selection.
Slusarski (Williamstown, NJ/Williamstown) has made a major contribution to the baseball program in his first season at Rutgers-Camden. He leads the team in triples (3), home runs (5), RBIs (44), total bases (76), slugging (.524), walks (27) and sacrifice flies (5), while placing second in on-base percentage (.450), third in hits (51) and batting average (.351) and fifth in runs (30). His 44 RBIs are tied for eighth place on the program's single-season chart.
A Business Management major, Slusarski also earned a berth on the Rutgers-Camden Athletic Director's Honor Roll for the 2025 Fall semester, his first semester on campus.
Slusarski was a four-year baseball letterman at Williamstown High School, where he hit .396 with a .729 slugging percentage over his career with the Braves. He was a three-time All-Conference First Team player who also was named to the
Courier-Post's All-South Jersey Second Team and was a Carpenter Cup selection.
All-NJAC release, teams
