NEWARK, NJ—Visiting North Dakota scored five times in the second inning and added three more runs and solid pitching for an 8-2 win over NJIT in the final regular season baseball game of 2010 for both teams Saturday at Bears and Eagles Riverfront Stadium.

Both squads will rest for a few days before heading south to Edinburg, TX, and the Great West Conference Tournament, hosted by Texas-Pan American May 26 to 29. Complete seedings and pairings for the tournament will be determined at the end of regular season play this weekend.

North Dakota (13-15 in the Great West and 18-33 overall) will be the fifth-seeded team, while NJIT (9-18 Great West, 13-41 overall) tied Texas-Pan Am for sixth place in the eight-team loop.

On Saturday, North Dakota took control with a five-run second inning, added a run in the fifth inning on the 19th home run of the season for junior 1B Jake Magner, and then put up a pair of runs in the seventh inning.

NJIT, which actually edged North Dakota in total hits (12-11), managed only single runs in the fourth and eighth inning, respectively.

North Dakota freshman C Ridge Halenar was the hits leader for his team, finishing the game 3-for-4, with two runs scored. Andrew Gudmunson and Jabby Bakhit each collected a pair of hits and Bakhit, batting in the ninth spot, shared the team RBI lead, with two. Josh Nelson also drove in two runs with a bases-loaded doubled in the big second inning.

Sophomore RHP David Lind was solid as the North Dakota starter, scattering seven hits over seven innings, while allowing just one run. He struck out three and walked none. He and reliever David Spies, who pitched the last two innings and allowed one run, did not issue any walks between them, which contrasted with the eight free passes issued by the NJIT pitchers.

The win on Saturday raised Lind's won-lost record to 4-3.

NJIT's 12 hits were all singles and five different players had two hits apiece. They were: Matt Petrone; Teddy Bickert; Matt Tomczyk; Vincent Del Vecchio; and, Marc Prager.

The two hits for the freshman Bickert raised his season total to 61, which is a new school record. The old mark record of 59 was set by Chris Schwartz in 2004, NJIT's next-to-last year competing in Division II. Bickert's sophomore teammate, Bryan Bleakley , has 59 hits as they prepare for the remaining 2010 games at the Great West Tournament.
 

The Highlanders, who rallied from a 7-1 deficit with six runs in the seventh inning and then another in the ninth inning for an 8-7 win in the second game of Friday's doubleheader, had a run in with the bases loaded and no one out in the bottom of the eighth inning on Saturday. But there was no more magic for NJIT, as North Dakota's reliever, Spies, escaped the jam with a strikeout and inning-ending double play.

The starter and losing pitcher for NJIT was freshman RHP Kyle Burdi (0-8). Although his final line (4.1 IP, 7 H, 6 R, 3 BB, 1 K) did not look great, Burdi had one of his better outings.

Nearly all of Burdi's trouble was isolated in the one bad inning, when he allowed five runs on four hits and two walks.

He opened the game with a 1-2-3 first inning against the top of the Fighting Sioux batting order. The second inning was another story, as the first five men Burdi faced reached base.

Josh Ray singled, Gudmunson walked, and Halenar singled to load the bases. Next, Nelson hit his two-run double and Andrew Sadler walked to reload the bases. Bakhit followed with a chopper toward first base. NJIT's first baseman Kyle McCarthy, playing his final career home game, made a nice charging play to glove the ball, but Bakhit was able to beat the throw to first for a single that kept the bases loaded and brought in another run.

With the North Dakota batting order flipped back to the top, Burdi retired the same three batters he had gotten out in the first inning, but one out was a sacrifice fly for Craig Dolmage and the Fighting Sioux had five runs.  

Burdi rebounded for a scoreless fourth inning, before allowing his sixth run on the Magner home run leading off the fifth.

The first two NJIT relievers, Steven Ace and Frank Shivers combined for two shutout innings and then DJ Roche finished up, allowing two runs in three innings. Both runs against Roche came in the seventh inning.

The Highlanders scored their first run in the fourth inning. With one out, Del Vecchio and Prager hit back-to-back singles and then moved up a base on a wild pitch. Del Vecchio later scored on an RBI ground out by John Bouck.

The second NJIT run, in the bottom of the eighth inning, was the result of three straight hits to open the frame. Petrone led off with an infield hit; Bickert followed with a single; and, Bleakley's single up the middle drove home Petrone from second base. Tomczyk added a single to the bases, but the rally died there.

NJIT and North Dakota split the four-game conference series. The visitors took the single games on Thursday and Saturday, respectively, while NJIT won both games in Friday's doubleheader.

In pre-game ceremonies, NJIT recognized the five seniors on the North Dakota team and honored the lone Highlander senior, Kyle McCarthy, who was accompanied by family and friends. McCarthy, the first baseball player in school history to play his entire four-year career against Division I competition, started the game at first base.