Box Score Game One
Box Score Game Two
NEWARK, NJ--Vincent Del Vecchio doubled to bring home the winning run in the bottom of the ninth inning of game two, capping the best day of baseball for NJIT in 2010--a 4-2 and 8-7 Great West Conference doubleheader sweep against North Dakota Friday morning and afternoon at Bears and Eagles Riverfront Stadium.
Del Vecchio's double down the right field line for the walk-off 8-7 win capped a monumental comeback for NJIT, which trailed 7-1 heading into the bottom of the seventh inning.
NJIT won the opener, 4-2, with a strong combined pitching effort of two freshman left-handers, starter and winner Tripp Davis (3-6) and reliever Austin McAuliffe, who nailed down his team-leading third save.
Friday's results raised NJIT to 9-17 in the Great West Conference, while North Dakota is 12-15, with one regular season game remaining.
Davis went 5.1 innings and allowed two runs on seven hits in winning game one, with eight strikeouts and three walks. His eight strikeouts matched the second-best total of his fine first college season. He struck out nine in a big win over Bradley on March 17 in Florida and fanned eight against Great West foe Texas-Pan American on April 23.
Sam Anderson, who started for North Dakota and got two outs before departing in the first inning, took the opening-game loss to go 4-5 on the season. He allowed two runs in his brief stint.
Kris Kwak backed up Anderson with five solid innings of relief that saw him allow two more runs on seven hits and Jameson Benson got the last out of the game in relief of Kwak.
Relievers figured in the game two decision for both teams. The winner for NJIT was Steven Ace, the fourth Highlander pitcher in the game, who upped his record to 2-3 with two innings of one-hit shutout ball.
Brandon Baumgartner, the North Dakota saves leader for the season and the third pitcher in game two for the Fighting Sioux, took the loss after allowing two runs (one earned) in two innings. His record is 2-4.
Game two was a pitchers' duel most of the way, as North Dakota starter Derek Biermaier and NJIT's Mark Leiter Jr. locked in a 1-1 tie through the first five innings.
The Fighting Sioux broke on top with two runs in the top of the sixth inning. And when they added four more against a tiring Leiter and two relievers in the top of the seventh inning for a 7-1 lead, it looked as if the Highlanders would have to settle for a doubleheader split.
But NJIT came right back in the bottom of the seventh, combining four hits, four walks and North Dakota's only two errors in the first three games of the series for a six-run outburst that knotted the score at 7-7, setting the stage for the dramatic ninth-inning win.
James D'Aloia led off the ninth for the Highlanders with a single through the right side of the infield. Bryan Bleakley, who had two doubles earlier in the game, attempted two sacrifice bunts that didn't work and finally struck out swinging on a pitch in the dirt that got away for a wild pitch, enabling D'Aloia to reach second base.
North Dakota walked the next batter, Matt Tomczyk, intentionally, and Del Vecchio followed, hitting the ball hard over the first base bag and down the line, bringing home D'Aloia, who slid in safely ahead of UND's throw to the plate with the game-winning run.
NJIT had nine hits in game two, as Bleakley, Tomczyk, and Del Vecchio, the 4-5-6 men in the batting order, all contributed two hits apiece.
As noted, Bleakley's two hits were doubles, raising his season total to a team-best 16. He was 4-for-5 in the doubleheader and has moved into the team batting average lead at .324. He drove in a run and scored two in game two.
Del Vecchio's game-winning hit was his 13th double of the season. He had two RBI in game two and the other five Highlanders' runs batted in came from five different players.
North Dakota had 11 hits in game two, led by Jake Magner and Craig Dolmage, who each went 3-for-5. Dolmage drove in three runs, two on a double that keyed his team's four-run seventh inning. Kris Kwak also doubled for the visitors.
In game one, the Highlanders got untracked early, scoring twice in a first inning that included a one-out double by Teddy Bickert and a two-run, two-out triple by Tomczyk.
NJIT added a run in the second inning when Anthony Caiola singled leading off, beat the throw at second base when North Dakota tried to get him out on a sacrifice bunt by Kyle McCarthy, and then scored on a one-out single by Matt Petrone.
Meanwhile, Davis, the freshman southpaw, was cruising on the mound for the Highlanders, blanking North Dakota through four innings, striking out seven and allowing just two hits.
Playing at midday on one of the first truly warm days of the college season, the pitchers' stamina was tested by the temperatures in the high 80s.
Davis, apparently winding down, gave up his only two runs of the day in the fifth inning on four hits, including run-scoring singles by Magner and Josh Ray. Davis escaped further damage with a pop-up double play, as North Dakota's attempt at a hit-and-run play backfired.
With its lead down to 3-2, NJIT got a run back in the bottom of the fifth inning, as the freshman Bickert led off with his first college home run, a shot over the left field fence.
NJIT's Davis ran into more trouble in the top of the sixth, getting the first North Dakota batter out, but then allowing an infield single and a walk. That brought on McAuliffe from the NJIT bullpen and he induced a 4-6-3 ground ball double play to end the inning.
McAuliffe notched the save with a strong seventh inning, getting three outs around a walk, his only base runner allowed.
North Dakota had seven hits in the seven-inning game one. Magner hit two singles in the game and would go on to a 5-for-7 day batting third in the order in both games. Josh Nelson's one-out double in the fourth inning was his team's only extra-base hit in the opener.
Three Highlanders—Bickert, Bleakley, and Caiola—had two-hit efforts in game one. Bickert, with the double and home run, scored twice and drove in a run in game one, while Bleakley and Caiola each began solid days.
Bleakley was 4-for-5 in Friday's two games. Caiola, who came off the bench to go 1-for-2 in the second game, including a hit and later a run scored in NJIT's big six-run seventh inning, finished the day 3-for-5.
Tomczyk, who was 3-for-6 in the doubleheader, was 1-for-3 in the first game, but the one hit was his two-run triple in the opening inning of the day.
In game two, NJIT got on the board first, as Bleakley led off the second inning with a double and advanced to third on a fly out by Tomczyk. Del Vecchio, the ninth-inning hero, then drove in Bleakley on a single to right field.
North Dakota knotted the score with a run in the fourth, as Sadler hit a leadoff double and soon scored thanks to two wild pitches that let him go to third base and then home with the tying run.
Sadler (2-for-3) was in the thick of his team's two-run sixth inning, leading off with a single and coming all the way around on a single-plus-error combo by Magner, who later moved up to third base on an out and scored on Dolmage's single.
North Dakota picked up its four runs in the top of the seventh inning starting with a single, a hit-by-pitch, and a single that loaded the bases. Andrew Gudmunson then lofted a sacrifice fly that brought home the first run of the inning, but was also the second out. Dolmage followed the sac fly with his two-run double. The final run scored on a bases-loaded, two-out error, before NJIT's third pitcher of the inning, Frank Shivers, got the last out.
Down, 7-1, in the seventh inning, NJIT needed some clutch hitting and some breaks, and it got both.
Bleakley opened with a walk and Tomczyk dropped down a bunt single. After an out, Caiola singled to the pitcher and Bleakley came around with the first run of the comeback on a subsequent error on the play, as Tomczyk and Caiola also moved up a base.
John Bouck walked to load the bases, bringing up freshman DJ Roche, who has been a pitcher most of the year, but who started both games of Friday's doubleheader at catcher.
Roche, a catcher/pitcher in high school, was 0-for-12 to that point in the season, including going hitless in his first six at-bats of the doubleheader. But he delivered his first college hit, a single through the left side that drove in another run.
After a pitching change, Petrone's sharp one-out ground ball to third base was misplayed for an error, but he was credited with an RBI as another NJIT run scored. Bickert then grounded to shortstop, who flipped to second base for the force out on Petrone on what looked like the beginning of a double play. But Bickert hustled down the line and beat the relay throw, as the second baseman double-pumped making the exchange from his glove to his throwing hand, and another run crossed the plate.
Tomczyk singled into the shortstop hole bringing home Bickert with the tying run, unearned. Del Vecchio, with a chance to be the hero ahead of his ninth-inning hit, hit the ball well to center field with the bases loaded and two out, but it was caught, leaving the score at 7-7.
Friday's doubleheader sweep was the second this season for the Highlanders in Great West Conference play, following a 9-7 and 8-5 double at Chicago State on April 17.
The game two win on Friday also marked the second walk-off win for NJIT in the Great West. The Highlanders defeated Texas-Pan American, 10-9, in walk-off fashion on April 24, also in the second game of a doubleheader.
The teams will conclude the regular season on Saturday at Bears and Eagles Riverfront Stadium in a single game with first pitch scheduled for noon.
Before the game, NJIT will conduct Senior Day ceremonies, starting at 11:40 am. The Highlanders will recognize the North Dakota seniors and then honor the only senior on the NJIT squad, first baseman Kyle McCarthy, who becomes the first baseball player in school history to play an entire four-year career against NCAA Division I competition.
