May 23, 2008
Box Score
EDINBURG, TX - Northern Colorado took an early lead Friday afternoon and then fought off an NJIT comeback, as the Bears scored an 8-3 baseball win over the Highlanders in day three of the 2008 national Division I Independent Championship Tournament hosted by Texas-Pan American.
The win by Northern Colorado leveled the all-time series between the Bears and NJIT at a game apiece. In the 2007 Division I Independent tournament, the Highlanders notched a 13-12 win over the Bears last May 23 in Orem, Utah. That game, played 4,700 feet above sea level, featured 11 home runs between the teams.
Perhaps the most noteworthy statistics on Friday weren't the kind you normally look for in a box score, as the temperature midway through the game in one of the southernmost locales in the United States was 102 degrees, with a heat index of 116, according to weather.com.
Given the extreme Texas heat, neither starting pitcher lasted beyond the fifth inning. Northern Colorado's Jon Klausing, who made his team-leading 13th start, went the full five innings, scattering four hits, while striking out one and walking one without allowing a run. He was credited with the win after relievers Matthew Dudley and Dan Kazell combined to work two innings apiece, while being touched for NJIT's three runs.
NJIT starting LHP Bobby Wyrwa pitched into the fifth, but gave way to right-handed reliever Spiro Molfetas after allowing three hits and a run to open the inning. His final line was: 4 innings, 6 hits, 4 runs, 2 strikeouts and 2 walks. Wyrwa took the loss.
Northern Colorado finished with 11 hits, paced by third-place hitter 1B Chad Murray, who was 3-for-5, including a double, with three runs batted in. LF Andy Mees, the Bears' leadoff man, and SS Cory Morales each collected a pair of hits. 2B Jeff Horn had one hit, but it was an RBI triple in the second inning as Northern Colorado built a 3-0 lead through two.
The Highlanders got two hits apiece from SS Miguel Lugo, DH Matt Schlitter and LF Rob Pietrocola. Lugo's home run leading off the sixth inning was the only extra-base hit for NJIT on the afternoon.
The Bears scored first on Murray's single in the bottom of the first inning that scored Mees, who had led off with a walk. Northern Colorado added two more in the second inning keyed by Horn, who tripled home one run and later scored himself.
The score stayed at 3-0 until the bottom of the fifth inning, when Murray again drove home Mees on a single.
Trailing, 4-0, through five innings, the Highlanders got on the board when Lugo greeted Bear reliever Matthew Dudley with a home run, Lugo's third of the season, which ties him for the team lead.
After an out, RF Dom Hayes and 1B Mike Turner each walked in front of a single by LF Rob Pietrocola that loaded the bases for C Matt Tomczyk, who drove home another run with a sacrifice fly to right field that closed the gap for NJIT to 4-2.
Having seen its lead threatened in the top of the sixth, Northern Colorado answered swiftly in the bottom of the frame against Molfetas, who had gotten out of the fifth without any damage. The first five Bears batters combined for four hits and a walk with three runs, bringing on junior LHP Matt Melody, who allowed one of his two inherited runners to score before halting the four-run Northern Colorado rally.
Schlitter, the senior playing the penultimate game of his NJIT career, helped build another run for the Highlanders when he led off the eighth inning with a single and later crossed the plate on Pietrocola's one-out sacrifice fly.
The Highlanders will complete play in the Independent tournament and complete their season and the overall 2007-08 NJIT intercollegiate athletic season on Saturday at 11 am CST when they take on Le Moyne.
