Box Score Camden, N.J. - The Penn State Abington baseball team struggled to their fifth straight loss earlier this afternoon, falling to Rutgers-Camden University by a score of 9-1. Junior A.J. Vagliani was 1-for-4 on the day with the lone RBI for the Nittany Lions.
 
Rutgers-Camden (5-3, 0-0 NJAC) got on the board first in the affair, scoring two runs in their first at bats to jump ahead 2-0. After Vagliani opened the inning by making a spectacular diving catch to make the first out, a walk and a fielding error put runners on first and second for the Scarlet Raptors. Dave Prager came up next and sent a double into right center to score one run. Then, George Spingler cashed in again with a single through the left side of the infield to score the second run. Nittany Lions starter Bill Parave was able to buckle down after that, striking out the final two batters of the inning, but the damage had already been done.
 
Penn State Abington (4-11, 0-0 NEAC) did manage to get one run back in the top of the fourth inning. Parave helped his own cause out with a single into left field, and senior catcher Mike Kerns followed that up with a single of his own. Then, after a strikeout, sophomore Tom Ditro sent a sacrifice fly into right field, moving Parave up to third base. It was Vagliani who came up next, and the junior came through with an important two-out RBI, singling through the right side to score Parave and make the score 1-2 in favor of Rutgers-Camden.
 
Unfortunately for the Nittany Lions, this would be the only run they would get the rest of the way. Rutgers-Camden starter Tommy Potts did a good job of shutting down the Abington offense, throwing seven innings while striking out seven and allowing just the one earned run on eight hits. Paul Walters came in to finish the game off for the Scarlet-Raptors, completing the final two innings while allowing just one hit.
 
Meanwhile, Rutgers-Camden managed to increase their lead by scoring at least two runs in each of their final three innings at bat. In the bottom of the sixth, back-to-back doubles were what hurt the Nittany Lions the most, as the Scarlet Raptors tallied three runs in the inning. Then, in the seventh, a double from Shaune Collins brought in runners from first and third, upping the scoreline to 7-1. Finally, in the bottom of the eighth, Rutgers-Camden used some small ball to score their final two runs, getting the first on a groundout and the second on a wild pitch.
 
When all was said and done, the Nittany Lions came away with a 9-1 loss, their fifth in a row dating back to last week's spring break trip. However, Penn State Abington has a great chance to get things turned around when they hit the diamond again tomorrow afternoon for a doubleheader against Ursinus College. Game one of the day is scheduled to start at 1:00 pm. Be sure to keep checking in at abingtonsports.com for all your schedule updates and notes on the Nittany Lions 2013 baseball campaign.