March 9, 2008

Box Score

DOVER, DE - Delaware State rallied for eight runs in the bottom of the eighth inning against three NJIT relievers and the Hornets pulled out an 18-11 baseball win over the visiting Highlanders Sunday afternoon.

NJIT, which trailed, 9-2, after two innings had fought back over the next five innings to take an 11-10 lead in the seventh inning, but, after a scoreless bottom of the seventh, Delaware State broke out for eight runs in the bottom of the eighth on four hits, three walks and two hit batsmen. Seven of the runs scored with two outs.

Senior Josh Schmidt picked up his first win of the season for Delaware State after pitching the last five innings and allowing two earned runs. NJIT reliever Cory Kuzmik, who allowed one run through his first 5.2 innings, started the fateful eighth inning and was tagged with the loss. He is 1-2 on the season.

NJIT banged out 17 hits, paced by C Matt Schlitter, who was 4-for-5, with 3 RBI. A native of Delaware, Schlitter was 6-for-8 and drove in five in the two-game set in his home state.

NJIT SS Miguel Lugo was 3-for-5 and three other Highlanders--CF Craig Binkiewicz, 1B Mike Turner and 3B Rich Nazario--collected two hits apiece.

Turner, who had hit a grand slam in Friday's 18-11 win, hit a two-run shot in the seventh inning, tying the score at 10-10.

LF James Johnson was Delaware State's top hitter, going 3-for-5, with 2 RBI. Johnson hit a solo home run with one out in the bottom of the first inning.

Four Hornets rapped out two hits each, with two of those four--1B James Friel and 2B Jose Portela each driving in three runs. C Wynton Weather was 1-for-1 with 3 RBI.

The series, which turned out to be two games, was not one for fans of precise pitching or people with early evening appointments. In Friday's 18-11 win by NJIT, the teams combined for 29 runs, 24 hits, 14 walks, four hit batsmen and five errors in a game that consumed four-and-a-half hours to play seven innings, before heavy rain arrived.

After Saturday's game was rained out, the teams played on Sunday and Delaware State reversed Friday's score and came out on top, 18-11, in nine innings. On Sunday, there were 29 runs, 31 hits, 10 walks, seven hit batsmen and the game took an official time of 5:40.

As it has done frequently in this young season, NJIT scored first, getting its run when Lugo, who had walked and advanced to third on a single by Schlitter, came home on a balk by Delaware State starter JR McAllister.

The lead was short-lived, however, as Delaware State came up with four runs in the first inning and then answered another NJIT run in the top half of the second with five runs in the bottom half for a 9-2 lead through two innings.

The Highlanders got back two runs in the third and then three in the fourth, closing the deficit to 9-7, before the Hornets got a run back in the bottom of the fourth.

NJIT, with Kuzmik holding the fort on the mound, scored another run in fifth to make it 10-8 for the home team and then the Highlanders surged into the lead, 11-10, with a three-run seventh inning.

Lugo led off with a single, but was erased before Schlitter doubled and Turner homered to tie the score with one out. Pinch-runner Ricky Petrosino later scored the go-ahead run when Nazario reached on a two-base error.

NJIT maintained its slim 11-10 lead when Kuzmik blanked the Hornets in the bottom of the seventh.

After a scoreless top of the eighth, the bottom of the frame began innocently enough on an infield ground out. After a single, walk and hit-by-pitch loaded the bases, Delaware State tied the score on another ground out.

A two-out walk followed and Kuzmik, who had pitched 6.1 innings, gave way to freshman Anthony Corsi, who was greeted by a two-run single by Portela that put Delaware State on top, 13-11.

The Hornets added five more runs against Corsi and Matt Melody, with one more, the eventual winning run, charged to Kuzmik, three to Corsi and one to Melody.

Delaware State's Schmidt then struck out the Highlanders in order to nail down the win in the ninth inning.

NJIT is scheduled to return to action on Wednesday at 3 pm, when it visits Rutgers, perennially among the top Division I teams among schools located in the Northern and Eastern regions of the country.