April 25, 2006

Box Score

NEWARK, NJ - Rob Forbes singled down the right field line, scoring Derrick McCain from second with the winning run in the bottom of the ninth inning, as New Jersey Institute of Technology rallied for a 9-8 win over powerful West Chester (PA) in non-conference baseball Tuesday night at Bears and Eagles Riverfront Stadium.

Forbes' walk-off RBI hit capped a comeback that saw the Highlanders, who trailed, 8-3, in the fifth inning, fight back with a run in the fifth and four in the bottom of the eighth, before plating the game-winner with no one out in the ninth.

The win raised NJIT's season record to 17-14, as it played for the first time in nearly a week. The Highlanders last played on April 19, when they dropped the second and third games in a brief three-game skid. Their three-game scheduled series vs. USP was washed out last weekend.

The win over West Chester ranks among the Highlanders' most impressive victories of the season. The Golden Rams came in having won 29 of their previous 35 games and have already clinched first place in their division of the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference. West Chester, ranked 6th in its region by the NCAA, is 29-14 after Tuesday's loss.

Forbes, who drove in the game-winning run, finished 3-for-5, with 3 RBI and two runs scored. Austin DeRogatis went 3-for-4 and drove in a pair of runs for NJIT. Dan Morogiello was 2-for-4, including a single to center field that drove in the tying run in the eighth. McCain, who scored the winning run after falling in an 0-2 hole before reaching on a walk and then stealing second before Forbes' hit, was also 2-for-4.

Pete Rivera (3-0), who pitched the ninth inning, got the win for NJIT. Rivera, who opened by allowing a bunt single and an intentional walk, worked out of the jam with runners on second and third and none out by striking out the next three batters he faced.

The third, fourth and fifth pitchers for NJIT gave the Highlanders a chance at the comeback, as they combined to work 4.2 innings, allowing two hits and no runs, with 8 strikeouts and two walks. West Chester had pounded out 8 runs and 11 hits over the first 4.1 innings.

Chris Legiadre pitched 2.2 innings, allowing a hit, while striking out five and walking one, Cory Kuzmik worked a hitless eighth inning and Rivera finished off with the gutty ninth-inning effort.

Submarining right-hander Mark Rubini (1-1) was the losing pitcher in relief for West Chester.

NJIT took a quick early lead, scoring three runs in the bottom of the first inning. However, West Chester, which had been scoreless in the first, put up at least one run in each of the next four innings, highlighted by a four-run fifth inning that put the Golden Rams on top, 8-3.

The Highlanders got a run back in bottom of the fifth on McCain's RBI single and they scored four times to knot the score in the bottom of the eighth. Pinch-hitters Matt Schlitter and Jeff Potter each drove in runs, sandwiched around a scorcher to shortstop by Austin DeRogatis that scored a run. Morogiello muscled the game-tying single to center, as he fought off an inside pitch from Rubini, whose delivery is extra tough on right-handed batters.

Sean Bond led West Chester with three hits, while Mark Gilliford (2-for-4) hit a pair of homers--a solo home run to right field and a two-run blast just inside the left field foul pole. Drew Pare hit a solo shot high into the left center field netting in the fourth inning. Blair Dameron had two hits, including a double.

NJIT will return to Central Atlantic College Conference play with a game at Felician on Wednesday. The teams split a doubleheader on April 9. The Highlanders will play a weekend CACC series against Philadelphia, playing a single road game on Friday afternoon and returning to Bears and Eagles Riverfront Stadium for a doubleheader with a special 10 am start time on Saturday.