April 29, 2007

Box Score

NEWARK, NJ - Senior outfielders Derrick McCain and Kwesi Mitchell were the home run heroes for New Jersey Institute of Technology in its 8-7 10-inning baseball win over visiting Felician Sunday afternoon at Bears & Eagles Riverfront Stadium.

With NJIT down to its last out and trailing by four runs in the bottom of the ninth, McCain gave the Highlanders a reprieve with a towering bases-loaded blast of more than 400 feet off the facing of the parking garage beyond the right field fence, tying the score, 7-7, and forcing extra innings.

Mitchell completed the stunning comeback an inning later when he led off the bottom of the 10th and hit a one-strike offering the opposite way over the right center field fence, lifting NJIT to its fourth straight win and its 10th of the season overall. Mitchell's home run was his 11th of the year--one shy of the school season-record 12, set by Jim Tensfeldt in 1983.

Junior LHP Cory Kuzmik, who pitched 1.1 innings of scoreless one-hit relief, earned the win for the Highlanders, raising his season record to 3-2.

Side-arming sophomore RHP Anthony Spina (3-1) took the loss in relief for Felician (18-22). He pitched 2.2 innings, allowing seven hits and five runs (one earned), with two strikeouts.

McCain, SS Miguel Lugo and DH Matt Schlitter all collected two hits apiece for NJIT. McCain and Mitchell each scored two runs and Schlitter backed up McCain's four runs batted in with two RBI of his own. Lugo, a freshman, picked up an RBI with his first college home run, a leadoff shot that tied the score, 3-3, in the bottom of the sixth inning.

Felician CF Vinnie DiBenedetti was 3-for-6, including a double and a triple. 1B Frank Quintana, DH Chris Flynn and 2B Rich Melendez all added two hits for the Falcons.

Quintana hit a two-run homer in the seventh inning, staking Felician to a 5-3 lead. It was the senior's 12th home run of the season--a new school record. Quintana and RF Kenny Vanderhee each stole two bases as well.

Felician got on the board first when DiBenedetti led off the game with a double and scored after an errant throw to first on Vanderhee's sacrifice bunt.

The Highlanders answered in the bottom of the first, when McCain and Mitchell, who were also teammates at Piscataway High School, each walked and then moved into scoring position on a double steal, setting up a two-run single up the middle by Schlitter.

Felician got a run back, tying the score on an unearned run in the top of the second. The Falcons later pulled into a 3-2 lead in the fifth, when DiBenedetti led off with a triple and scored on Vanderhee's infield out.

Lugo's home run knotted the score at 3-3 for NJIT in the bottom of the sixth, before Quintana's rising line drive into the netting above the left field fence pushed Felician into a 5-3 lead in the next half inning.

The Falcons added two more runs in the top of the ninth for what seemed like a comfortable 7-3 lead heading to NJIT's last licks.

Senior 1B Austin DeRogatis led off the bottom of the ninth with a scorching low liner off the glove of Felician 3B Dave Schoer for a single. NJIT 3B Mike Turner's hard grounder handcuffed Schoer for an error, putting runners on first and second with no one out.

After a fielder's choice force out at third, Highlander freshman 2B Rich Nazario punched a single to right field on an 0-and-2 count, loading the bases.

Felician's Spina struck out the next batter, closing to within an out of what would have been a save. McCain took the first pitch for a ball and then powered a high no-doubt-about-it blast far over the right field fence, pulling NJIT into a tie from a 7-3 deficit.

Kuzmik, the Highlanders bullpen ace, who had entered the game to get the last out of the ninth inning, faced three batters in tossing a scoreless 10th inning, setting the stage for Mitchell's opposite field game-winning homer leading off the bottom half.

Sunday's game was played before an Alumni Day crowd of 300 that included numerous former Highlander standouts.

NJIT is slated to resume play on Tuesday against Wagner in a scheduled 3:30 pm start in Staten Island, NY.