Box Score
Jenkintown, Pa. – The Penn State Abington baseball squad dropped a hard-fought affair to the Scarlet Raptors of Rutgers-Camden earlier Wednesday afternoon. The Nittany Lions were unable to slow down a potent attack put forth by the visitors, and ultimately the Blue and White fell victims of a 5-9 defeat. Tom Ditro had two hits and two RBIs to lead the Nittany Lions, while Rutgers-Camden got multiple RBIs out of three of their batters.
 
The Nittany Lions (7-13-1, 1-5 NEAC) did a good job of bouncing back in the bottom of the first inning after falling behind 1-0 early on. Ted Smallwood got things started with a single to right center, and then after a strikeout, Tom Kreiling followed that up with a single of his own to put runners on first and second. A wild pitch moved each runner up a bag, and then Tom Ditro stepped up and doubled to deep left field. Smallwood and Kreiling both came home, giving the Nittany Lions their first lead of the game at 2-1. Unfortunately, however, that lead would be short-lived, as the Scarlet Raptors (14-6-1, 4-2 NJAC) would score three runs in the second to retake a 5-2 lead, thanks in part to two RBI doubles in the frame. In the fourth, an RBI single from Adrian Gonzalez made it a 6-2 game, and then Gonzalez scored another run in the top of the sixth to make it 7-2. Gonzalez would knock in run more run in the eighth, making it a six run Abington deficit, before the Nittany Lions got a comeback effort underway in the bottom of the inning. Fran Caruso started things off with a walk, and when A.J. Vagliani was hit by a pitch to follow that, the Nittany Lions had runners on first and second for Michael Dunlap. The freshman outfielder singled into right, loading the bases for Smallwood. He hit a sinking liner into left field, scoring Caruso, and when the left fielder misplayed the ball in the outfield, each runner moved up an extra bag, plating Vagliani as well. Trey Guaglionona came up next, and he grounded out to shortstop, scoring Dunlap and making it an 8-5 game. However, the Scarlet Raptors got out of the rest of the inning thanks to a groundout to third, and in the top of the ninth they got one of those runs back to increase their lead to 9-5. The Nittany Lions were unable to do much of anything in their last at-bats, and Rutgers-Camden came away with the four-run win.
 
With the loss, the Blue and White drop to 7-13-1 on the season, but the team still has plenty to look forward to over the upcoming days. After a much-needed two day break, the Nittany Lions will get back to conference play with a three-game series at Keuka this weekend. The series kicks off with a doubleheader on Saturday starting at 12:00 before game three takes place on Sunday. The Storm are currently just a few games ahead of Penn State Abington in the conference standings, so this weekend's series is a great opportunity for the Blue and White to make up some ground in the NEAC. Be sure to keep checking in at abingtonsports.com for updates on all your Nittany Lions athletics teams.