Box score
EDINBURG. TX—Host Texas-Pan American exploded for 12 runs in the bottom of the sixth inning and went on to a 14-1 seven-inning win over NJIT in the final game of the 2010 season for both teams at the Great West Conference Baseball Tournament Friday night at the Edinburg Baseball Stadium.
Both teams entered Friday's game knowing it would be the last of the season, as neither had a chance of advancing to Saturday's tournament championship game.
The eight Great West Conference teams were divided into two pools of four teams and then played their three fellow pool members, with the top team in each pool qualifying for the one-game championship and the other six teams heading home after the three-game pool play.
The Highlanders, who had lost their first two games in the tournament, were already eliminated because they could do no better than 1-2, while Northern Colorado and NYIT were already 2-1. Texas-Pan American could not get out of pool play even with a win, due to pre-determined tie-breakers.
Texas-Pan Am, with Friday's win over NJIT was 2-1 in the Great West Conference Tournament and completed the season with a 22-32 overall record. NJIT, 0-3 in the season-ending tournament, finished 13-44 overall.
Top-seeded Utah Valley, winner of Pool 1 with a 3-0 record, will take on Northern Colorado, the second seed and winner of Pool 2 by virtue of a tie-breakers, for the first GWC title.
The Broncs got single runs in each of the first two innings against NJIT on Friday and the score stayed 2-0 entering the bottom of the sixth inning, when things got totally out of hand for the Highlanders. UTPA poured 12 runs across the plate in the frame on eight hits, two walks, a hit by pitch, and three errors. NJIT needed four pitchers to finally get through the inning.
The Highlanders managed their only run of the game in the top of the seventh inning, but the game ended there under the 10-run rule in effect for the GWC tournament.
Kyle Burdi, who started for NJIT, allowed just one earned run through the first five innings, could not get an out in the sixth and took his ninth loss of the season. His final line showed five innings pitched, eight hits, four earned runs (six total), two walks, and four strikeouts.
The first two Highlander relievers were charged with eight runs (five earned) between them. They got just one out, before the fourth pitcher of the inning, John Prestano came on and retired both of the batters he faced.
Texas-Pan American starter Kyle Kotchie (4-6) earned the win with five shutout innings on two hits, while striking out eight and walking four. He had not pitched when the teams met in a three-game late-April regular season series in New Jersey.
Hayden Dougherty extended the shutout with one scoreless inning and AJ Franco finished up by allowing one run in his inning of work for UTPA.
UTPA's hits leader was Vincent Mejia (3-for-4, including a double). Four other Broncs got two hits apiece, including Bryan Elliott, who hit his third home run of the year, a solo shot in the second inning. Mejia and Elliott each drove in two runs, as did Ryan Vest. Billy Donaho collected three runs batted in.
Mike McCarthy, who went 2-for-3, led off UTPA's 12-run sixth inning with a triple and Elliott followed with a double. Three players—Mejia, Donaho, and Stuart MacInnes—all had two-run hits in the inning as the runs piled up.
NJIT's four hits in the game came from four different players and included a triple for Anthony Caiola and a double for John Bouck, as the extra-base hits created the Highlander run. With one out in the top of the seventh, Caiola tripled to left center field and Bouck followed with a double to left field.
The 2010 Highlanders, who experienced unquestionable rough patches, also gained irreplaceable experience for an exceptionally young squad that had one senior on the roster, first baseman Kyle McCarthy.
The team's 13 wins for the season were the second-highest in four years of competition at the Division I level (the record is 15 wins in 2007).
Three players finished with batting averages above .300, led by freshman Teddy Bickert batting .322. Sophomore Bryan Bleakley finished at .319. and sophomore Jeffrey Pizzi, who played through injuries most of the year, finished at .304. Another freshman, Matt Petrone, was not far off the .300 mark with an average of .290.
Bleakley, who was plagued with injuries as a freshman in 2009, blossomed with renewed health as a sophomore. In addition to posting the team's top batting average, he led the team in runs scored (32), doubles (16, tied the school record), total bases (94), slugging percentage (.500), walks (27), on-base percentage (.416), home runs (6), and runs batted in (tied at 29).
Bleakley shared the RBI lead with junior Matt Tomczyk, who got four of his 29 RBI on sacrifice flies, tops on the team. Petrone led the Highlanders with 17 stolen bases, a new NJIT Division I record.
Bickert, with 66 hits, and Bleakley (60) both surpassed the existing school record for hits in a season, which had been 59 (Chris Schwartz, 2004).
Three Highlanders broke the school record for games played, which had been 50. They were: Bickert (56), Tomczyk (55), and Bleakley (54).
The team's 57 games played in 2010 were the most in program history, surpassing the old mark of 52 games in 2008.
Three of the four regular starting pitchers in conference games were freshmen and those three were the ones who started NJIT's games in the Great West Conference Tournament. They were: Tripp Davis, Mark Leiter Jr. , and Kyle Burdi. The top two relievers, Austin McAuliffe and DJ Roche, were freshmen, as well.
The team leadership in wins was shared by the freshmen Davis and Leiter (3). McAuliffe had three saves, while Roche and junior Steven Ace each added one save apiece.
Leiter led the team in innings pitched (81.1), two more than Davis' 79.1. Leiter was the strikeouts leader (60) and he also tossed four of the team's six complete games. Roche's 25 appearances, all in relief, led the team, while Leiter and Davis shared the team lead with 14 games started. The team earned run average leader was junior Bobby Wyrwa, who did not finish the season on the team.
On defense, NJIT was hurt by errors in many games, but the 2010 Highlanders turned a school-record 51 double plays, shattering the existing record of 34, set just one year earlier. Tomczyk, the junior regular second baseman, was in on 38 of the double plays, and regular shortstop Vincent Del Vecchio, a sophomore, was part of 35 twin killings.
