May 24, 2008
Box Score
EDINBURG, TX - Powerful Le Moyne scored nine runs in the last two innings Saturday to pull away from NJIT and trigger the 10-run rule in a 14-4 seven-inning win for the Dolphins in day four of the 2008 national Division I Independent baseball Championship Tournament hosted by Texas-Pan American.
Although it was not quite as hot on Saturday as it had been on Friday, the thermometer hit the high 90s and the heat index was over 100 for the fourth straight day of the tournament, which was played about five miles from the United States-Mexico border in southeastern Texas.
The intense heat was especially draining on the pitchers and in three of NJIT's four games in the tournament, their opponents blew open relatively close games in the late innings.
On Saturday, Le Moyne, which won its 33rd game overall and its 10th straight, held a 5-4 lead on the Highlanders through five innings, but the Dolphins added three runs in the sixth inning and six in the seventh to invoke the 10-run rule that was in effect for the tournament in order to keep the multi-game slate close to schedule.
Saturday's fourth and final game for NJIT, with Le Moyne scoring nine runs over the last two innings, was not unlike the first tournament game for the Highlanders on Thursday, when they saw a 3-1 lead through six innings turn into a 12-2 loss when NYIT scored 11 runs in the last three innings.
Game two was an exception, as the Highlanders lost to host Texas-Pan American, 5-3, as starter PJ Saporito closed his junior season with a strong eight-inning effort. But game three on Friday was another one where late runs shaped the final score, as Northern Colorado, leading 4-2 going to the bottom of the sixth inning, scored four times in what would become a comfortable 8-3 win.
Le Moyne, playing as an independent for the first time in many years after being the premier program in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference for the better part of two decades, came into the Independent tournament with the best record among the participating teams.
NJIT, which struggled for much of the season, came in with the worst record, despite going 2-2 the last week of the regular season.
However, the Highlanders held their own for the first five innings. NJIT scored two runs in the top of the first inning and Le Moyne, a 2007 NCAA Division I postseason qualifier, managed to tie the score with a run in the first and another in the second before going ahead, 5-2, with three tallies in the bottom of the fourth inning.
NJIT answered back with two runs of its own in the top of the fifth to cut the deficit to 5-4.
Highlander starter Rob Pietrocola got one out in the sixth inning, but the powerful Dolphins reached him for three more runs in that frame and then they poured across six runs against two relievers in the bottom of the seventh inning.
Pietrocola was tagged with the loss in the season finale for NJIT, while Le Moyne reliever Tom McDermott got the win with three innings of scoreless relief behind starter Cory Nelson, who allowed all four NJIT runs in four innings.
NJIT got five hits, but also took advantage of eight bases-on-balls to push across its four runs. Freshman RF Dom Hayes (2-for-3) was the only Highlander with more than one hit, while senior DH Matt Schlitter was 1-for-3, with two runs batted in. NJIT's other runs batted in came from 1B Mike Turner and from 2B Dan Morogiello, All three run producers for the Highlanders were seniors playing their final college games.
Eight different Le Moyne batters produced hits, as the Dolphins pounded out 15 hits, including four doubles and two home runs, both of which came off the bat of DH Chris Haynes, who finished the game 3-for-3. He drove in two runs, as did 3B Stephen Crawford, SS Matt Nandin, and substitute 2B Rich Brown. Crawford and Brown were among five Dolphins to chalk up two hits each.
NJIT got its two runs in the top of the first inning when its first four batters walked, the first run scoring when leadoff man SS Miguel Lugo was forced home on a walk to Turner. Schlitter, who also walked, scored the second run on a fielder's choice RBI for Morogiello. Looking at the possibility of a really big inning, NJIT left the bases loaded after scoring the two runs.
Le Moyne got one run in the bottom of the first inning and pulled even when Haynes led off the bottom of the second with a home run down the left field line.
The Dolphins went ahead for good with a three-run fourth inning that included Haynes' second solo home run of the day, this one over the left field fence with one out.
Down, 5-2, the Highlanders fought back with two runs in the top of the fifth inning, as Schlitter drove a two-run single with no one out to plate CF Ricky Petrosino, who had walked and Lugo, who had singled and stole second base. Hayes followed Schlitter with a single, but they were stranded when Le Moyne's McDermott came on to retire the next three NJIT batters.
Pietrocola worked around an error in the bottom of the inning to hold the score at 5-4, but Le Moyne broke through for three more runs in the sixth and then belted six hits in its six-run bottom of the seventh inning to seal the win.
Five starting players and reliever Cory Kuzmik wrapped up their college careers for NJIT with Saturday's game. In addition to Schlitter, Turner and Morogiello, 3B Tyler Hamilton and C Chris Cardone were senior starters on Saturday. All of the seniors were members of NJIT's ECAC Championship season in 2006 in the Highlanders' last season of Division II competition.
The top season batting average for the Highlanders in their second season of Division I competition belonged to Pietrocola, who will be a fifth-year senior in 2009. Inserted more and more in the outfield on days when he didn't pitch as the season progressed, he batted .370 in 81 at-bats.
Hayes, rock solid in right field as a freshman, finished at .316 with 24 RBI. Petrosino, a virtual rookie after making five appearances in 2007 as a freshman, finished at .302. And Lugo, the talented shortstop who needed a year to adjust to college competition, broke out as a sophomore in 2008 and finished strong at .286, with three home runs, 25 RBI and a team-leading 13 stolen bases in 16 tries.
Schlitter, who carried the offense through the early part of the season, played through a shoulder injury that will likely require postseason surgery and led the Highlanders with 28 runs batted in. Turner, who started slowly, finished with 21 RBI and shared the team home run lead with Lugo at three.
With the exception of Kuzmik, NJIT's core group of pitchers are slated to return, but they will all be looking for improvement over a five-win 2008 season that represented a sizeable dropoff from the 15-win season in 2007, NJIT's first year facing Division I competition.
