Box score
SOUTH ORANGE, NJ—Mike Tamsin's drive into the left center field gap with one out in the bottom of the 14th inning brought home Matt Miller from second with the winning run in Northeastern's 5-4 win Sunday over NJIT on the third and final day of the 2009 Rawlings Strike Out Cancer Tournament hosted by Seton Hall.
Sunday's result left Northeastern with a 2-1 record in the tournament and a 9-4 mark overall, while NJIT was 1-2 in the tournament and 1-7 overall. Both teams had defeated Iona and lost to host Seton Hall in the tournament heading into Sunday's action.
Senior LHP Dan Zehr, the third reliever for the Huskies, upped his record to 2-1 by working 5.2 scoreless innings to close the game. NJIT got all four of its runs against the starter, sophomore RHP Les Williams, who worked the first four innings. Four NU pitchers combined to allow 12 hits and four walks, while striking out 15 Highlanders in 14 innings.
The losing pitcher was sophomore RHP Matt Tomczyk, who fell to 0-2. Tomczyk, who started the game in left field, came on to pitch at the start of the 14th inning as NJIT's fifth pitcher. He got one out and allowed hits to Miller and Tamsin.
NJIT got five more solid innings from its starter, Steven Ace, who had pitched well on Wednesday at Rutgers and came back to allow four hits and two runs against Northeastern. Both runs scored in the fifth as he appeared to tire, pitching in his 14th inning since last Saturday.
Junior RHP Chris Parenti was touched for two unearned runs in the sixth, but he kept Northeastern off the board in the seventh. Freshman RHP Dan Moreno, who started the game at first base, then worked five scoreless innings and freshman RHP Reid Okita worked a strong 13th inning before the Huskies finally got the winning run an inning later.
The Highlanders had their best hitting game of the season, coming up with 12 hits, including a pair of doubles. Freshman SS Vincent Del Vecchio led the way with three hits, raising his season average to .364 in the process. He is also giving NJIT steady play at the crucial shortstop position, a troublesome defensive spot in the Highlanders' first two seasons of Division I competition in 2007 and 2008.
Senior tri-captain RF Thomas Farina, freshman C John Bouck, and Moreno all added two hits apiece for the Highlanders. 2B Craig Binkiewicz singled, as did James D'Aloia, and Giorbis Bermudez, who pinch ran for Farina and then played right field, also got a hit, doubling in the 11th inning.
For Northeastern, which got a total of 15 hits, Miller went 4-for-6 and Tamsin was 3-for-6, with three runs batted in, including the game-winner. Substitute RF Brendan Stokes added a pair of hits, as did SS Sam Berg. Miller, the NU leadoff man, also stole three bases.
NJIT scored all four of its runs in the third inning—three coming home with two out. Del Vecchio and Binkiewicz opened the frame with back-to-back singles and after an out they both advanced on a wild pitch, one of three by Williams, the NU starter.
DH PJ Saporito then grounded out, sending Del Vecchio across the plate. Tomczyk walked and then Moreno stroked a two-run double to left field. He went to third on another wild pitch and then scored the fourth run on Bouck's single.
Ace, who allowed one earned run in four innings against Rutgers in his previous start on Wednesday, blanked Northeastern through the first four innings on Sunday. However, Berg walked leading off the fifth and CF David Gustafson doubled in front of Tamsin, the senior third baseman, who then singled to plate the Huskies' first two runs. Ace walked the next batter, but escaped further damage with a strike out and fly out that stranded two runners.
Inducing timely outs would be a recurring theme for the NJIT pitchers throughout, as Northeastern finished the 14-inning marathon with 21 men left on base.
Ace stepped aside for Parenti in the bottom of the sixth and Northeastern tied the score with a pair of unearned runs. The first two Huskies reached base against Parenti in the seventh, but he got the first out on a batted ball that bounced straight up off the plate and then a perfect 6-4-3 double play grounder to get out of the inning.
The later innings provided plenty of drama.
The Highlanders got runners on second and third with one out in the top of the eighth, but senior RHP Russ Lloyd, the third NU pitcher, came on to get the next two batters to silence the NJIT threat.
Next, Moreno, who had allowed 10 earned runs in his first four college innings, moved from first base to the mound and allowed no hits and a walk in a strong opening frame in the eighth.
The Highlanders again got two men on base with one out in the top of the ninth, but failed to score after Zehr, who would end up as the winning pitcher, came in. The first batter he faced, Binkiewicz, scorched the ball to left field, but Seton Hall's Owen T. Carroll Field is extra spacious (405 feet to the left and right center field gaps) and the ball was hit directly at the left fielder. The threat ended when a pitch squirted away at the plate, but not far enough away, it turned out. C Tucker Roeder came up throwing and nailed the NJIT runner making an ill-advised attempt to advance to third base.
Northeastern got a leadoff double in the bottom of the inning, but Moreno retired the next three men, including a huge pop up to shallow center field with the entire NJIT outfield drawn in with one out and the potential winning run on third base.
After a quiet 10th inning for both teams, NJIT's 11th inning was exciting, as Moreno led off with a single. After two outs were recorded, Bermudez doubled into the right field corner, but Moreno was out at the plate attempting to score the go-ahead run.
Tamsin led off the bottom of the inning with a double and after an out, NJIT issued an intentional walk before Moreno got the next two outs to keep the game going.
Del Vecchio led off the 12th with a single, but was wiped off the bases when Northeastern turned a one-out double play.
It was NJIT's turn to throw out a man at home in the bottom of the 12th. Stokes led off with a single and Berg followed with a double to right field. Bermudez hustled onto the play and made a terrific throw to the relay man, Binkiewicz, who threw perfectly to get Stokes out at home.
Two subsequent walks, one intentional, loaded the bases for Tamsin, who hit a sharp grounder right at Binkiewicz, who threw home for a force and the second out. Moreno then got another ground out to end the threat, leaving all three runners on base.
Moreno finished his day having more than doubled the innings pitched total for his young career, going from 3.2 innings to 8.2 and allowing no runs against a quality Northeastern team after his difficult earlier appearances.
The Highlanders went out 1-2-3 in the 13th and Okita, the freshman right-hander from Hawaii, took the ball as NJIT's fourth pitcher in the bottom half, allowing a pair of singles sandwiched among three outs.
As a result of the various in-game maneuvers, NJIT's pitchers were now part of the batting order, so Highlander coach Brian Callahan opted to pinch hit for Okita, due up second in the top of the 14th inning, limiting him to one inning of relief pitching.
Tomczyk moved to pitcher to face top of the Northeastern batting order in the 14th inning and the speedy Miller led off with a single. Gustafson then bunted Miller over to second and he scored the winning run easily when Tamsin drove the ball into the gap.
The Highlanders will fly to Florida on Monday, as they begin their annual Spring Break trip in the Palm Beach Challenge in Lantana. NJIT will open play with a 2 pm game Tuesday against Long Island University. The Highlanders are slated to play UMBC on Thursday and then North Dakota State for one game each on Friday and Saturday.
