CAMDEN, N.J. – The College at Brockport Baseball team met a worthy adversary Saturday afternoon when it traveled to New Jersey to face off against Rutgers-Camden in Campbell's Stadium as its six game winning streak to start the season was snapped in an 8-2 nonconference loss.
Brockport (6-1) held a 2-1 lead after six and a half innings before surrendering seven unanswered runs in the bottom half of the seventh and eighth innings.
The Green and Gold offense was pitted against Scarlet Raptors' left handed pitcher Andrew Gottstein in his first start of the 2016 season after finishing last year with a 4-2 record and 2.51 earned run average. However the Golden Eagles were able to chase the southpaw before he was able to complete five innings.
Brockport struck first in the top of the third inning. Dane Cala, batting in the number two hole beat out a grounder hit towards the second baseman for an infield single. He proceeded to use his exceptional speed and score when Wesley Burghardt hit a ball into the gap for a double putting Brockport ahead 1-0 in the third inning.
In the top of the fourth Brockport added another run. Joe Bender hit a leadoff double and advanced to third on Dave Battel's grounder to second base. Bender scored his fifth run in two days when Brett Sanders sent a liner to center field for a base knock.
Starting pitcher Austin Spindler worked four innings of scoreless ball before the Scarlet Raptors scored a two out run in the bottom of the fifth to cut the Golden Eagle lead in half, to 2-1. Paul Ludden got the Green and Gold out of the inning as he threw out the base runner in an attempted steal of second base. Sanders was on the receiving end of the throw and applied the tag for the final out of the fifth.
Spindler was relieved by Seve Kowalski in the seventh after a leadoff walk. The Raptors tied the score at 2-all heading into the eighth inning.
Pinch hitter Ryan Juergens worked a two out walk in the eighth before being pinch ran for by speedster Drew DeBlasiis, however the Golden Eagles were unable to keep the inning going.
Things unraveled in the bottom of the eighth, Kowalski got two outs with two men on but the Raptors rallied with a bean ball sandwiched by four hits to score six runs. Eli Carrera's two out pinch hit walk was not enough to get the Green and Gold going, as Brockport fell 8-2.
Burghardt finished the day 2-for-4 with a double and run batted in as Spindler tossed six quality innings, giving up two runs and only three hits.
The Green and Gold stay on the road working their way back into New York state with a game against Bard College tomorrow at 11 a.m. Be sure to stay up to date on all of your Golden Eagle scores and awards by following @BportAthletics on Twitter and by liking the "Brockport Golden Eagle" Facebook page.