March 16, 2008

Box Score

WEST PALM BEACH, FL - The University of Pittsburgh scored nine runs before NJIT ever came to bat and the Panthers cruised to a 17-2 baseball win over the Highlanders Sunday morning in the second game of NJIT's Spring Break trip to Florida.

Pitt SS Danny Lopez was retired for the first out of the game, but the Panthers scored six times before the Highlanders could record another out. And immediately after the second out, Pittsburgh LF Sean Conley, batting for the second time in the inning, tacked on three more runs with a home run to center field.

Conley finished 4-for-4, with three runs scored and four runs batted in to lead Pitt, which went to 6-7 with the victory.

1B Dan Williams, CF Jordan Herr and RF Matt Litzinger all added two hits apiece for the Panthers, who finished with 16 hits as a team. 1B Chris Warner, who, like Litzinger, did not start the game, joined Conley in the home run club, belting a leadoff homer in the sixth.

Pittsburgh's Brian Chrisman started and got the win, working the first eight innings and scattering three hits, with 10 strikeouts and no walks.

Sophomore LHP Bobby Wyrwa, the first of five NJIT pitchers, took the loss and is 0-2 on the season. The last two Highlander relievers, LHP Gio Bermudez and LHP Cory Kuzmik, pitched a scoreless, hitless frame, with one strikeout in the eighth and ninth innings, respectively.

Freshman James D'Aloia started in center field and batted leadoff for the Highlanders, getting two hits, including a ninth-inning triple that drove home the first NJIT run.

D'Aloia then scored the second run on a sacrifice fly by DH Matt Schlitter, who also had a hit in three official at-bats. 3B Rich Nazario (1-for-2) had the other NJIT hit.

The Highlanders averted the shutout with two runs in the ninth inning, as Pitt reliever Anthony Rossi hit NJIT LF Tom Farina leading off. After a strikeout, D'Aloia tripled and then scored on Schlitter's sac fly to center.

NJIT's next action is Monday at 6 pm, when the Highlanders take on Long Island University. The last time the team's met, on March 12, 2007, also in Florida, NJIT got its first win of the Division I era, 23-12. The 23 runs that day stand as the most the Highlanders have scored in a game since beginning Division I competition in the 2007 season.