Box score
BETHLEHEM, PA—Winning pitcher Mike Lebo started and pitched seven scoreless innings, leading Lehigh to a 7-0 non-conference baseball win over visiting NJIT Wednesday afternoon.
A junior, Lebo (1-1) allowed just five singles and one walk, while striking out six Highlanders. Relievers Jordan Warncke and Cameron Phillips each put up zeros in their one inning apiece as the Mountain Hawks posted their second straight shutout victory.
Lehigh got the only run it would ultimately need in the bottom of the first inning against NJIT starter Austin McAuliffe, but added a pair of runs in fifth and then more insurance with two runs in the seventh and two more in the eighth.
McAuliffe, who worked the opening three innings for the Highlanders, was the first of six NJIT pitchers on the day. Five, including McAuliffe, are freshmen. He was charged with two hits and a run in his third start, as his record went to 1-3.
The only non-freshman NJIT pitcher on the day, junior Steven Ace, worked two innings and allowed no runs and one hit. Freshman Frank Shivers, the fifth Highlanders pitcher, retired the only batter he faced.
Lehigh got eight hits, paced by DH Sean Killeen (2-for-4), the only Mountain Hawk with more than one hit. CF Billy Goldman (1-for-3) drove in two runs.
NJIT got six hits and half of them came from freshman 2B Matt Petrone, who finished 3-for-4.
SS Brendan McGaheran led off the Lehigh half of the first inning with a double, went to third on a sacrifice bunt, and scored on a ground out to the pitcher by RF Andrew Russell.
The score stayed at 1-0 until the Lehigh fifth, when Killeen opened with a double and eventually scored on an error. The Highlanders made a second error later in the inning, allowing another run, unearned, to cross the plate.
The Mountain Hawks tacked on more in the seventh inning on Goldman's two-run double and then added two more unearned runs in the eighth to close the scoring.
Petrone, who led off the game for NJIT with a single and then stole second—the first of his two steals on the day—got as far as third base, but was stranded there. No other Highlander would get past second base until the eighth inning, when Anthony Caiola walked leading off and moved around. But he, too, was left 90 feet from home, as Lehigh preserved the shutout.
NJIT's next action comes on the weekend in Worcester, MA. The Highlanders will play a doubleheader on Saturday and another twinbill on Sunday against Holy Cross. The Saturday doubleheader will begin at 4 pm.
