Box score
HOUSTON—NJIT got solid pitching and scored enough runs to lead at three separate points, but fielding mistakes undermined the Highlanders in a game that saw Houston Baptist came from behind for a 7-6 win Friday afternoon in the first-ever complete baseball game in Great West Conference history.
The Highlanders, who led 2-0 going to the bottom of the third inning, 4-3 going to the bottom of the fifth, and 6-4 going to the bottom of the sixth, were tagged with six errors in the game, which helped contribute to three unearned runs in the game against NJIT's starting pitcher, junior Bobby Wyrwa, who took the loss to go 1-3 on the season.
Houston Baptist took the lead for good with three runs in the bottom of the sixth inning, which began with NJIT holding a 6-4 lead. The fifth HBU run scored on a wild pitch, the tying run scored, unearned, on an error, and what proved to be the winning run was also unearned.
Wyrwa pitched six innings, allowing eight hits and all seven HBU runs (four earned), while striking out six and walking three. Freshman reliever DJ Roche pitched the last two innings and allowed no runs on one hit with a strikeout. The two scoreless innings trimmed Roche's earned run average to a team-best 2.65 in 12 appearances.
Friday's game was the eighth decided by one run for the Highlanders this season. They are 2-6 in such games, including the last three started by Wyrwa.
He was the hard-luck loser in a 2-1 defeat at the hands of LIU on March 20 in Florida and he defeated Lafayette, 3-2, on March 31. Both of those games were complete-game efforts and he allowed just two hits in the loss to LIU.
In fairness, even though NJIT had 10 hits in the game, the Highlanders also benefitted from scoring four unearned runs themselves, as they took advantage of two key errors by the home team. It is also worth noting that four of NJIT's six errors were committed by players in their respective first games back from extended injury stints that had kept them off the playing field since March.
Three Highlanders had two hits each, led by C Bryan Bleakley, who stroked two doubles in five at-bats and drove in a run. Leadoff man Matt Petrone was 2-for-4 with an RBI and SS Vincent Del Vecchio was 2-for-4 with two runs scored.
Houston Baptist, which had two doubles and a triple among its nine hits, got two hits from CF Paul Prestera, who batted in the leadoff spot for the Huskies, and two hits from LF Jake Gonzalez, who was HBU's ninth hitter. Gonzalez and 1B Chase Hernandez each hit doubles and SS Josh Gonzales tripled for his only hit of the day.
The game provided a bit of history as the first completed game in the first season Great West baseball play.. It started at the same time as another Great West Conference game, Chicago State at NYIT, but the contest in Houston was the first to go final.
Teams from the warmer regions of the United States generally dominate the top level of national competition in Division I. While Houston Baptist is not an elite national program, many of its games are against teams that qualify for that description and the Huskies have held their own this year, posting an overall record of 11-14.
Their non-conference slate has included a game at Oklahoma, three at Nebraska, and four at New Mexico State. And HBU comes into the GWC-opening series against NJIT off of a two-game sweep at Lamar, another Texas-based school that already has 17 wins.
The winning pitcher against NJIT, sophomore RHP Dalton Schafer (4-3), now leads the Huskies in wins and games started (8) and his 49 innings pitched are nearly 15 more than any of his teammates.
The Highlanders scored first with two unearned runs in a top of the third inning that began with a Houston Baptist error and later included a man reaching base on a sacrifice bunt that ended up as a fielder's choice when everyone was safe. And the first run scored on a bases-loaded double play ball. Bleakley's two-out RBI double scored NJIT's second run.
The Huskies came back with three runs in the bottom of the inning, as their first three batters singled and the first run scored on a fielder's choice. The second run scored on an NJIT error, but became earned when Hernandez followed with a two-out double that plated the third run of the inning.
NJIT reclaimed the lead, 4-3, with two runs on four hits in the top of the fourth inning, as DH Marc Prager and CF James D'Aloia each delivered run-scoring singles.
Houston Baptist knotted the score on an unearned run in the fifth inning, aided by two Highlander errors, before Wyrwa picked up a key strikeout to end the inning with the bases full of Huskies.
The Highlanders took their final lead with two unearned runs in the top of the sixth inning. Del Vecchio led off with an infield single and advanced to second base on a sacrifice bunt by RF Anthony Caiola. After a strikeout, NJIT 2B Matt Tomczyk reached base on a two-out throwing error and Del Vecchio moved up to third base, where Petrone drove him home on a single. Tomczyk later scored the second Highlander run on a wild pitch.
Trailing, 6-4, in the middle of the sixth inning, Houston Baptist rallied for three runs in the bottom of the frame. Gonzalez led off with a double and advanced to third on a fly out before scoring on a wild pitch.
2B Derek Smith then walked and C Jonathon Moore followed with an infield hit. Smith later scored the tying run on an outfield error, while Moore headed to third base on the play. He scored the go-ahead run on Hernandez' grounder to shortstop that became the second out of the inning.
No one scored after that, as NJIT's Roche blanked Houston Baptist for two innings and HBU's junior RHP Steven Nikonchik came out of the bullpen to shut down the Highlanders. He notched his first save with three scoreless, hitless innings, with two strikeouts and two walks. Nikonchik, who has 12 appearances (10 in relief) leads HBU with a 3.37 ERA.
The teams are scheduled to play a doubleheader on Saturday, starting at noon (CDT).
