Box score Game 1
Box score Game 2
HOUSTON—NJIT scored the last five runs, fighting back from a 5-2 deficit for a 7-5 win in the second game of Saturday's Great West Conference baseball doubleheader, thus earning a split after Houston Baptist had won the first game comfortably.
Houston Baptist, which had come from behind itself for a 7-6 win over the Highlanders in the series opener on Friday afternoon, had won Saturday's seven-inning first game easily, 14-3. And the Huskies appeared poised to make it three in a row, building a 5-2 lead after five innings of Saturday's nightcap.
But the visiting Highlanders came back with one run in the top of the sixth inning and then pulled into the lead with three runs in the top of the eighth inning, before adding an insurance run in the top of the ninth in what became the 7-5 win.
Freshman LHP Tripp Davis, who started and pitched into the eighth inning, was credited with NJIT's first-ever Great West baseball win and raised his season record to 2-3. Davis pitched 7.1 innings and allowed 10 hits and five runs, while walking two and striking out one.
Freshman RHP DJ Roche, making his 13th appearance, earned his first college save, getting the last five outs and allowing one hit and no runs. Roche, who lowered his team-best earned run average to 2.41, has not allowed a run in any of his last four appearances, which take in six innings.
NJIT, which totaled 12 hits in the win, got two hits each from four different players—LF Matt Petrone ; 1B Teddy Bickert; C Bryan Bleakley; and, DH Marc Prager.
Seven different Highlanders recorded runs batted in, including 2B Matt Tomczyk, who hit his first home run of the season leading off the fateful eighth inning. CF James D'Aloia also had an RBI in the eighth, driving in the tying run with a single, and Prager singled home the go-ahead run with two outs in the eighth.
In the ninth inning, Petrone singled with two outs, stole second and scored on a single by Bickert, a freshman who is batting .362 at the end of action on Saturday. Petrone, another freshman, is batting .298 and has scored a team-leading 19 runs.
Houston Baptist (12-15, 2-1 GWC) got 11 hits in the nightcap, paced by SS Zeke Zikeli (3-for-5) and 1B Beau Warren (3-for-4). One of Zikeli's hits was a triple and he and Warren each scored two runs.
The losing pitcher in the nightcap was junior LHP Jamie Storey (2-4), who went 7.1 innings and allowed seven hits and six runs (four earned). Tyler McCarty, the first of two HBU relievers, allowed five hits and a run in 1.1 innings.
The Huskies got single runs in the second and third innings, respectively. Warren led off the second with a single and later scored and Zikeli tripled to open the third and scored later in the inning.
Down, 2-0, NJIT evened the score with two runs in the fifth inning, as D'Aloia reached on an error leading off, Prager singled and SS Vincent Del Vecchio doubled to bring home D'Aloia before Prager came home on a ground out by RF Jeffrey Pizzi, who returned to action in Saturday's opening game for the first time since sustaining a concussion running into the outfield fence in pursuit of a fly ball eight days earlier.
The tie was short-lived, however, as Houston Baptist struck for three runs and a 5-2 lead in the bottom of the frame. The Huskies collected four hits in the inning, including a double by RF Kolby Arnst (2-for-3), who drove home his team's fifth run.
The Highlanders scored their third run of the game in the sixth inning, as Petrone led off with a single, went to second base on a passed ball and scored on Bleakley's single. A sophomore, Bleakley leads NJIT with 16 RBI.
NJIT (5-22, 1-2 GWC) surged into the lead in the eighth, starting with Tomczyk's leadoff homer and then back-to-back one-out singles for Bickert and Bleakley. McCarty, the first HBU reliever, came on to allow the tying single to D'Aloia and Prager followed with a single back to the pitcher that brought home the sixth Highlanders run.
Petrone and Bickert then combined for the insurance run in the top of the ninth inning and Roche, the freshman NJIT bullpen ace, closed out the save with a scoreless one-hit bottom half.
Houston Baptist, which never trailed in the opening game, pounded out 18 hits against five NJIT pitchers in a 14-3 win.
The Huskies, who scored in their first five innings at bat, got a run in the first inning, before NJIT tied it with a run in the top of the second inning. Houston Baptist went ahead to stay in the bottom of the second with a four-run outburst that made it 5-1, HBU.
NJIT scored two in the top of the third to cut the gap to 5-3, but the Huskies scored four more runs in the bottom half of the inning and pulled away with a run in the fourth and four more in the fifth.
Junior RHP Michael Schulle (2-3) posted a complete-game win for the home team, allowing seven hits and three runs, while striking out four and walking one.
The NJIT starter, freshman RHP Mark Leiter Jr., went to 1-5 after taking the loss. He was charged with six earned runs (nine total) in three innings, allowing nine hits.
Everyone in the Houston Baptist batting order got a hit, led by DH Robbie Buller, who was 4-for-4, including a double. Six other Huskies got two hits apiece, including Arnst, who hit his first home run and finished with three runs batted in. C Johnathon Moore drove in four runs, while Zikeli and CF Paul Prestera had two RBI apiece.
The Highlanders had seven hits. 3B John Berner, who is back in action this weekend for the first time since an injury sidelined him in late March, was 2-for-2 in the game, with a double and an RBI. Prager was 2-for-3.
Prager, one of many freshmen on the Highlanders, did not see a lot of action early and was batting .150 in 20 at-bats heading into April. In 15 at-bats this month, 14 in four games as a starter, he has eight hits. His .533 average in April has raised his season mark to .314 and he has seven RBI on his 11 hits this season. He also has five walks, giving him a .400 on-base percentage.
NJIT and Houston Baptist are scheduled to wrap up the four-game GWC series with a single game on Sunday at 1 pm (CDT).
