Box Score
WINTER HAVEN, FL—North Dakota State scored an unearned run in the bottom of the ninth inning, pulling out an 8-7 win over NJIT in Spring Break baseball Friday afternoon and dealing the Highlanders their third one-run loss of the young season.
NJIT, which is 1-3 in games decided by one run, lost despite rapping out a season-high 15 hits and allowing just three earned runs.
The Highlanders committed three errors, not an especially high number. But one error opened the door for three unearned runs when North Dakota tied the score with four in the bottom of the fourth inning and the winning run was unearned, as well, aided by a couple of NJIT miscues on a failed pickoff attempt.
Junior Steven Ace, who two days earlier picked up his first college save, was tagged with the loss, allowing the decisive unearned run with one out in the ninth, his first inning of work.
He came on in relief of freshman RHP Mark Leiter, who started and went eight innings, allowing eight hits and three earned runs (seven overall), with six strikeouts and a walk.
Alex Chaput, the third of three North Dakota State pitchers, got the win after tossing 1.2 scoreless innings of relief. Starter Mark Hermes allowed five runs (three earned) on 11 hits in four innings and the second Bison pitcher, Anthony Kliniske, yielded two runs in 3.1 innings.
NJIT, which left 14 runners on base compared to just four for North Dakota State, collected four doubles among its 15 hits to go along with five bases-on-balls.
Six Highlanders had multiple-hit games, led by C Bryan Bleakley (3-for-6, with a double and four RBI) and RF Jeffrey Pizzi (3-for-5, including a double). DH Matt Petrone and 3B John Berner each had a double and collected two hits, as well. Petrone scored three runs batting leadoff.
Petrone has not gotten hot yet in the hits category, batting a deceptive .250. But the freshman has drawn eight walks and been hit by a pitch, lifting his on-base percentage to an excellent .400. He has scored a team-best 11 runs in 11 games played.
North Dakota State (6-8) had nine hits, led by two apiece for 1B Zach Wentz, 3B Jay Hartman, and SS Max Casper. Wentz and Hartman accounted for State's two doubles.
NJIT scored first, with three runs in the top of the third inning and the Highlanders had a 5-1 lead headed to the bottom of the fourth. However, the Bison scored four times in the fourth (one earned) to tie and then took a 7-5 lead with a pair of runs in the fifth.
The Highlanders came back to tie the score at 7-7 with two runs in the top of the eighth, before North Dakota State pulled out the 8-7 win on an unearned run in the ninth.
NJIT stranded a runner in each of the first two innings without scoring, but picked up three runs in the third, as Matt Tomczyk led off with a walk and Petrone followed with a double. After an out, Bleakley, the sophomore catcher, doubled home Tomczyk and Petrone and soon scored himself on Berner's two-out double.
North Dakota State picked up its first unearned run in the bottom of the third, but NJIT extended its lead to 5-1 in the fourth on RBI singles by Petrone and Bleakley.
The Bison tied the game at 5-5 in bottom of the frame, as Wentz doubled leading off, followed by a walk and an out before a wild pitch put runners on second and third. With one out, Bison CF Nic Obey hit a fly ball that was deep enough to score Wentz from third. However, the situation got stickier than necessary when Obey's fly dropped for an error, putting runners on first and second with one out instead of a runner on first with two outs.
NJIT's Leiter got what would have been the third out, retiring DH Tyler Steen on a comebacker. But with the door cracked open by the earlier error, the final out proved elusive. Hartman doubled for two unearned runs and Casper singled for a third unearned run and the game was tied.
The Bison surged ahead, 7-5, with two earned runs on a single by LF Eric Nutzhorn in the bottom of the fifth and the score stayed there until NJIT rallied to tie in the eighth inning.
Petrone led off the eighth with a walk, CF James D'Aloia singled and the two pulled off a double steal, moving into scoring position with no one out. Bleakley grounded out for his fourth run batted in and LF Teddy Bickert singled for another run to tie the score at 7-7. NJIT got more men on base, but none of them crossed the plate, as the Highlanders left the bases loaded.
Bleakley now leads NJIT with 10 runs batted in and he also has a team-best four home runs in 12 games. Healthy for the first time in his college career, Bleakley's totals already have eclipsed his output as a freshman in the entire 2009 season.
Rated a top recruit coming in, Bleakley was plagued by injuries, including one that severely hampered the range of motion in his right arm. As a freshman, he managed two homers and seven RBI in 26 games.
Leiter set down North Dakota State in order, fanning the last two men he faced in the eighth before the Highlanders got a baserunner on a two-out ND State error in the ninth, but couldn't do anything with it.
With NJIT's Ace on to face the Bison in the last of the ninth inning, Casper singled to center field leading off. Ace's throw to first on a pickoff attempt got away and the umpire ruled that Casper had been obstructed by the Highlanders at first base, advancing the winning run to third base with no one out. Pinch hitter Preston Ghizoni then hit a fly out to center field, enabling Casper to score the winning run from third base.
The Highlanders will wrap up their Florida trip on Saturday with a 9:30 am game against Long Island University.
