COLLEGEVILLE, Pa. – The Ursinus College baseball team got a solid outing from starting pitcher Will Peiffer, but the bats remained in hibernation as the Bears dropped an 8-2 decision to Rutgers-Camden in Monday's season opener on Thomas Field.
The Ursinus offense, which averaged nearly 10 runs per game a year ago, managed just five hits and struck out 12 times against Ethan Pritchett and two Scarlet Raptors relievers. Four of the five knocks went for extra bases, but the Bears were unable to generate enough traffic on the base paths to make them count.
Pritchett struck out nine in five shutout innings for Rutgers-Camden (4-1), but Peiffer was almost as good. The junior southpaw worked around three walks and conceded only a solo home run to Brett Yurgin in the top of the fourth before exiting after five frames with the Scarlet Raptors leading by the lone run.
The Bears got it back in the bottom of the sixth as preseason All-American Alex Mumme tripled off the base of the center-field fence to lead off the inning. It was the 159th career hit for the senior, who moved into a tie with Chris Jablonski '16 for fourth in program history.
Jon Moldoff followed with a bouncing ball to the first baseman, who mishandled it and allowed the streaking Mumme to score without a play.
Rutgers-Camden broke it open in the seventh, scoring five runs with two outs. R.J. Concepcion's bases-loaded single plated two go-ahead runs, and Matt Yanick followed with a three-run bomb to left-center field to make it 6-1. The visitors tacked on more in the eighth on a two-run double by Jesse Gerdes.
Ursinus scored once in the ninth. Peiffer led off with a ringing double to right-center, advanced to third on a wild pitch, and scored on a groundout by Tom Jacobs.
Mumme and Dom Fiorentino each tripled for the Bears, while Peiffer and Jacobs both had doubles.
Ryan Schwab took the loss, allowing four runs in 1.2 innings. Casey Fitzsimmons worked a scoreless ninth.
Concepcion finished 3-for-4 with two RBI for the visitors, while Thomas Gosse was 2-for-3 and scored two runs.
Ursinus remains home to face TCNJ on Wednesday.