Box score
OLD WESTBURY, NY—New York Institute of Technology scored 13 runs in the first five innings Friday afternoon, but visiting NJIT kept plugging and actually got the tying runs on base in the ninth inning before falling, 14-11, in the first game of a scheduled four-game Great West Conference set between the teams.
The win left the high-scoring Bears with a 9-4 Great West record, which is good for third place. The Highlanders, who are in fourth place, are 6-6 in the GWC.
Friday's result marked the fourth time NJIT has reached double-figures in runs. But it was the first time in 2010 that the Highlanders have done so and lost the game.
The Bears, whose only Division I sport is baseball and who are an associate member of the Great West for the sport, make a habit of playing high-scoring games. They have reached double-figure scoring in 12 games, including six of the last seven. Including Friday's game against the Highlanders, NYIT has played eight games where both teams scored in double figures.
Among the Bears' football-like scores in addition to the latest 14-11 win over the Highlanders--two 12-12 ties, one vs. Hofstra and one vs. Seton Hall; a 20-19 loss to North Dakota; a 22-11 loss to Hofstra; a 13-10 loss to Yale; a 21-14 loss to Siena; and, a 12-10 win over Hofstra.
The Bears, 17-16-2 overall, have scored 265 runs in their 35 games for an average of 7.57 runs per game. They have allowed 264 runs.
Things began well for the visiting Highlanders, who built a 4-1 lead heading into the bottom of the second inning. But NYIT went ahead to stay with a seven-run second and then added four more runs over the next two innings. NJIT had picked up a pair of runs in the top of the fifth frame, so the Bears' lead through five stood at 13-6.
The sixth inning was the only one in the game where neither team scored and the Highlanders went back to work with a three-run seventh inning, climbing back to within four runs of the lead, 13-9.
The Bears scored their final run in the bottom of the seventh and the Highlanders plated single runs in the eighth and ninth innings. Trailing, 14-11, NJIT had the bases loaded with two out in the top of the ninth, but couldn't push across any more tallies.
The Highlanders, who feature an exceptional number of young players—three of their four conference starting pitchers are freshmen, as are their top two late-game relievers; and their nine-man batting order on Friday included three freshmen, three sophomores, and three juniors—have fought back from sizeable early deficits in each of their last three games.
Last Sunday, they trailed 6-2 after an inning-and-a-half and still trailed 9-7 before scoring three runs in the bottom of the ninth for a 10-9 walkoff win over Texas-Pan American. On Wednesday at Saint Peter's, they trailed 10-0 after three innings, but made things more interesting with five straight runs before falling, 11-5. And finally, on Friday, they turned a 13-6 deficit into a situation where potential tying run was on base in the final inning.
Friday's winning pitcher for NYIT was staff ace, junior RHP Preston Wasmund, who is 5-1 after slogging through six innings. He allowed eight hits, four walks and three hit batsmen for nine runs (eight earned). He struck out three. He actually faced four batters in the seventh inning, but could not get an out before departing.
Three NYIT relievers combined to pitch the last three innings, allowing two runs (one earned).
The losing pitcher for NJIT was freshman LHP Tripp Davis, who is 2-4 after his roughest appearance. His four innings pitched matched his second-shortest outing of the season and he was charged with 12 runs—four more than he had allowed in any previous game.
Relievers Steven Ace and Frank Shivers did a fine job holding down the hard-hitting Bears so that the Highlander bats could make their comeback. Ace gave up one earned run (two total) in three innings and Shivers pitched a scoreless eighth inning.
NYIT had 14 hits, including three home runs, a triple, and two doubles. SS Brian Smith was 3-for-5, including his team-leading ninth home run, a solo shot in the first inning.
LF Sebastian Grazziani, who had two hits, blasted his seventh home run, a grand slam that keyed the Bears' seven-run second inning. His four RBI were game-high. The third NYIT home run came off the bat of 1B Christian Dienna, who also homered in the big sixth inning and added a double and finished with three runs batted in.
The Highlanders collected 10 hits, including doubles for James D'Aloia and Matt Petrone, plus the first college home run for freshman DH Marc Prager. His homer was a three-run shot in the seventh inning.
Three NJIT batters drove two hits apiece, including D'Aloia, Bryan Bleakley, and Vincent Del Vecchio. D'Aloia, who hit well in high school, but who struggled at the plate his first two years in college, has found his stroke as a junior and is now batting .319, second on the Highlanders behind freshman Teddy Bickert, who is at .326.
Bleakley, too, is having a breakout year with the bat. Injured his whole freshman year, the sophomore is batting .316. Del Vecchio, who was batting .202 in the middle of a doubleheader on April 17, has upped his season average to .277 with five multiple-hit games in the eight ensuing contests.
NJIT got three runs in the first inning on Friday with just one hit, a two-run, two-out single by Jeffrey Pizzi, whose three RBI shared the Highlanders' lead with Prager, who also scored three times, as did Bleakley.
The same two teams are scheduled to play a Great West Conference doubleheader on Saturday starting at noon on Long Island. The fourth and final game of the series is slated for 1 pm on Sunday in Newark at Bears and Eagles Riverfront Stadium.
