Game 1
Game 2
WEST HARTFORD, CT—The NJIT baseball team showed its resilience Saturday, rebounding from a disappointing 13-9 loss in the opener by claiming a 4-3 win in the nightcap for a doubleheader split behind the complete-game pitching of senior PJ Saporito at Hartford.
Both ends of the NJIT at Hartford doubleheader were seven-inning games.
The youthful Highlanders, who came from behind to defeat Rider in their previous game on Wednesday, have won two of their last three after braking a 13-game skid with the win over Rider.
NJIT positioned itself to build a two-game winning streak when it scored seven runs in the top of the fourth for an 8-1 lead in the opener. But Hartford answered with six runs in the bottom of the frame and then went ahead for good with six more runs in the bottom of the fifth en route to the 13-9 win.
If there was any lingering disappointment over the result of the opener, it didn't show on the field in the Highlanders' 4-3 nightcap win. Saporito (2-5) scattered 10 hits to earn his second complete-game victory of 2009. He now owns two of NJIT's three winning decisions, adding the W over Hartford to an earlier 2-1 win vs. Iona. The left-hander also saved NJIT's victory over Rider.
Weston Szymanski (0-4) pitched a complete game in taking the loss for Hartford. He allowed 12 hits and four runs.
DH Dan Moreno and SS Vincent Del Vecchio, both freshmen, led NJIT at the plate with three hits apiece. Senior Craig Binkiewicz, playing third base, and freshman RF Jeffrey Pizzi added two hits each for NJIT. All 12 Highlander hits were singles. Moreno drove in two runs, while Del Vecchio and 1B Kyle McCarthy each brought home a run.
Hartford, which totaled 10 hits in the nightcap, got two apiece from RF Rodger Wilmot and 3B Jason Freethey.
The Highlanders took a 3-0 lead in game two in the top of the third inning by opening with four straight hits, capped by Moreno's two-run single as the fourth hitter. After a walk and two outs, Del Vecchio singled home the third run.
Hartford managed a run in the bottom of the fifth, but NJIT got it right back in the next half inning, building the score on a one-out single by Del Vecchio, a sacrifice bunt by LF Thomas Farina and then McCarthy's run-scoring single.
The Hawks cut the deficit to 4-3 with a two-run sixth inning keyed by C Andy Drexel, who drove in the first run with a one-out triple and then scored himself.
Leading by a run, Saporito allowed a leadoff single in the bottom of the seventh, but the veteran crossed the finish line by setting down the next three Hartford batters.
The pitchers of record in the opener were both relievers. The winner for Hartford was RHP Steve Sobocinski, who relieved his brother, Ben, who had started. Steve allowed four runs (three earned) in 2.2 innings, but had the good fortune to be in the game when the Hawks scored 12 run of their 13 runs. Ben was tagged for five runs in a 3.1-inning start.
Freshman RHP Andrew Smith, entering the game with the bases loaded and no one out in the top of the seventh, earned his first college save for Hartford by escaping with one run allowed.
The losing pitcher for NJIT was freshman right-handed reliever Reid Okita (1-3). Okita, whose strong relief work was crucial in the midweek win over Rider, came on for starting LHP Matt Melody to open the bottom of the fifth. Melody, who allowed one run in the first three innings, yielded six in the fourth before giving way to Okita, who was greeted rudely by Hartford, which put up six runs in the fifth. Okita held the Hawks scoreless in the sixth.
NJIT rapped out 11 hits in the opener, with four different men—2B Matt Tomczyk, 3B John Berner, C Bryan Bleakley, and Del Vecchio, the shortstop--collecting two hits apiece. One of the hits for the freshman Bleakley was his first college home run, a solo shot leading off NJIT's seven-run fourth inning. Berner doubled and scored in the inning, as well. Binkiewicz and Tomczyk were the NJIT RBI leaders, with two each.
Hartford, with 14 hits, had five batters with two hits each. Drexel, playing left field in the opener, drove in three runs and hit a triple for the Hawks.
NJIT left a runner on base in each of the first three innings before breaking out with seven runs in the fourth to take its 8-1 lead. Bleakley led off with the home run to right center and the Highlanders got five more hits in the frame, including a run-scoring bunt single for Binkiewicz and a two-run single for Tomczyk.
The seemingly-comfortable lead was anything but. Hartford got back six runs on five hits in the bottom of the fourth, highlighted by two-run knocks for Wilmot and C Mike Amendola.
Okita took over from Melody with a slender 8-7 lead and the rookie retired the first two batters he faced in the fifth inning. But the final out was elusive, as the home team bunched six hits, including a triple and a double, plus a walk, before finally making the third out.
The tying run came home on a single by CF Andrew Siano and the go-ahead run scored on SS Brady Stouffer's single.
The Hawks took a 13-8 lead into the seventh inning, but they did not get the win without a bit of a scare. The Highlanders opened the inning by loading the bases on a hit-by-pitch, an error and a walk, prompting the call to the bullpen for the freshman Smith.
Smith's first batter, Binkiewicz drove a sacrifice fly to center field to plate NJIT's ninth run, but that was all for the Highanders, as Smith got a strikeout and a fly out to wrap up the Hartford win.
The teams are slated to wrap up the three-game set with a single game on Sunday at 1 pm on the University of Hartford campus.
