Camden, NJ – The Montclair State baseball team fell behind early in both games and was never able to recover as the Red Hawks were swept by Rutgers-Camden by identical 8-2 scores at Riversharks Stadium on Saturday afternoon.

MSU, which has dropped three straight, fell to 6-11 overall, 1-3 in the NJAC with the two losses while the Scarlet Raptors are now 13-5-1 overall, 4-1 in the NJAC .

In the first game, Montclair collected 10 hits but could only manage a pair of runs, one of which came in the top of the first inning.  Freshman Ryan Long (Washington Township, NJ, Washington Township) led off with an infield single and stole second with two outs before coming home on an error.

Rutgers-Camden responded with six runs in the bottom of the inning which began with the first of five Montclair State errors in the game. An RBI single by Adrian Gonzalez tied the game and a second error allowed the next runner to score before Bobby Romano tripled home two runs for a 4-1 Scarlet Raptor lead. Two run-scoring singles later, Rutgers-Camden led 6-1.

The Red Hawks would get a run back in the third on an RBI single by Christopher Reynolds (Randolph, NJ, Randolph) who brought home Lou Martini (Flemington, NJ, North Hunterdon), who had led off with a triple.

But that would be it for MSU as Rutgers-Camden, which extended its lead to 8-2 in the fourth,  held the Red Hawks off the board the rest of the way including the sixth inning when Montclair loaded the bases with one out. However reliever Kyle Gaff retired the next two hitters to end the threat.

Ron Reagan picked up the win for Rutgers-Camden upping his record to 4-1. Reagan went the first five innings allowing two runs (one earned) and seven hits, striking out six and walking four. Gaff gave up three hits and struck out two in picking up his first save of the year.

Junior lefthander Jonathan Torregroza (Bound Brook, NJ, Immaculata) suffered the loss falling to 1-2. Long went 3-for-5 for Montclair State while Martini collected two hits.

In the second game, starter Harry Sturgis (2-0) held the Red Hawks in check over the first 7 2/3 innings while his Raptor teammates gave him plenty of support. Rutgers-Camden built a 7-0 lead scoring once in the second, twice in the third, once in the fourth and three times in the fifth.

Montclair State would get on the boar in the top of the sixth on a two-run double by Reynolds.

Sturgis allowed three hits, struck out five and walked three before giving way to Dashon Jones who recorded the final four outs allowing a hit with one strikeout.

The Red Hawks will look to get back on the winning track on Sunday, April 6 as it takes on Rutgers-Newark at Yogi Berra Stadium in a doubleheader beginning at 11:30 am. It will be a makeup of last week's rainout which was halted in the third inning of the first game.