NEWARK, NJ—Lafayette came back from a 4-1 deficit to defeat NJIT, 8-4, in a baseball game that was called due to rain in the top of the seventh inning Wednesday evening at Bears and Eagles Riverfront Stadium.

Lafayette opened the game, which began in a light, intermittent drizzle that got increasingly steady and harder as the game progressed, by scoring a run in the top of the first inning.

However, the Highlanders scored twice in the bottom of the first and added two more runs in the third to build a 4-1 advantage with senior LHP Matt Melody, one of the two best pitchers on the NJIT roster, on the mound.

Melody, who has pitched without much hitting support all season, put up three straight zeroes heading into the top of the fifth and was looking to maintain the 4-1 lead with enough innings to make the game official with the weather and field conditions rapidly deteriorating.

However, Lafayette scored three runs in the top of the fifth, tying the score helped along by some sloppy play. The Highlanders committed an error, two passed balls, a wild pitch, and a hit batsman, all of which was poisonous combined with Lafayette's two hits, three stolen bases and sacrifice fly in the frame.

The Leopards came up with the winning run in the sixth inning against NJIT reliever Chris Parenti, who was greeted with a leadoff triple by DH Brad Weiss, followed by an RBI single for substitute C AJ Miller in his first at-bat of the game.

Lafayette added another run later in the sixth as NJIT turned a double play, one of three in the game by the Highlanders, for the first two outs of the inning and then two more runs with one out in the seventh inning before the game was called due to rain after a run-scoring triple by RF Matt Hall.

Parenti, the second of three NJIT pitchers, took the loss in his first decision of the season. He allowed two runs and three hits in his one inning.

Melody, the starter, pitched five innings and allowed four runs on five hits and five walks, plus a hit batsman. He struck out one. Steven Ace, making his first relief appearance of the year, was charged with two runs in a third of an inning before the game was called.

Three Lafayette pitchers worked two innings apiece, with the third, freshman RHP Jeff Snell, upping his record to 2-0 by holding NJIT without a run on one hit. He was preceded by starter Ryan Hanna and then Ethan Perro, with the duo combining to allow four runs on seven hits.

The Leopards hitting leaders, with two each, were Weiss and the leadoff man, CF Rob Froio.

For NJIT 3B John Berner continued his hot hitting, going 3-for-3, including a pair of doubles. He drove in two runs. The other five hits for the Highlanders were divided among five different players, including DH Dan Moreno, who doubled in his only official at-bat and was hit by a pitch and walked in his other two plate appearances.

Lafayette got its run in the top of the first inning on a two-out double by 1B Jeff Butler, but NJIT responded with two runs in the bottom of the frame, as Berner doubled with two out to send home 1B PJ Saporito, who had walked, and SS Vincent Del Vecchio, who had reached on a fielder's choice.

The Highlanders got their third and fourth runs in the bottom of the third inning, when Moreno led off with a double, followed by a Berner single and the two later scored, with runs batted in going to C Bryan Bleakley on a single and LF Thomas Farina on a ground out.

Lafayette tied the game with three runs in the top of the fifth, but only one involved an RBI, which came on a sacrifice fly for 3B Justin Shepherd. The Leopards' two hits in the inning were a one-out double by Froio and a single for 2B AJ Pisarri.

The Highlanders are scheduled for a quick turnaround, hosting Marist at 7:30 on Thursday at Bears and Eagles Riverfront Stadium.