Box score (game 1)
Box score (game 2)
BETHLEHEM, PA—Lehigh took both ends of Saturday's non-conference baseball doubleheader with an 8-1 and 6-2 sweep of visiting NJIT, as the teams began a four-game weekend series that will continue in Newark on Sunday.
Lehigh (11-8 after the sweep) never trailed in either game, putting up crooked numbers in the opening inning of each contest.
In game one, an 8-1 Mountain Hawk win, they scored three runs in the opening inning, added one in the third, one in the fourth and then pulled away with a three-run fifth inning. NJIT's only run came in the second inning.
Game two was closer through most of the way, but Lehigh opened with a two spot in the first inning. The Highlanders (2-10 at day's end) made it 2-1 with a run in the top of the fifth inning and the teams traded single runs, but Lehigh broke away in the bottom of the seventh inning, turning a 3-2 lead into 6-2, which ended as the final score.
Lehigh freshman RHP Jayme Edwards upped his college record to 2-0 with five innings of one-run ball as the opening game starter. He allowed six hits and four walks, but NJIT cashed just the one run. Relievers Dan Ciccone and Nick Cassell each tossed a scoreless inning to close out the seven-inning game one victory.
Sophomore RHP Kyle Burdi started and took his second loss in three decisions for the Highlanders. He was charged with 5 runs in 3.1 innings. Two relievers followed for NJIT, combining to allow three runs.
Lehigh had just six hits in the first game, but added numerous baserunners on five walks and four hit-by-pitch. Senior SS Brendan McGaheran, batting in the leadoff spot, was the only Mountain Hawk with multiple hits in the opener. He was 2-for-3 with 3 RBI. He had a run-scoring double in the fourth inning and a two-run single in the fifth.
NJIT collected seven hits in the opener, with three going to sophomore LF DJ Roche (3-4) and two to senior 2B Vincent Del Vecchio (2-3). Roche scored the Highlander run when he led off the second with a double, advanced to third base on a balk by Lehigh's Edwards and scored on a ground out by sophomore 3B Jeff Peterson.
Senior RHP Mike Lebo (1-2) started and won the nine-inning nightcap for Lehigh, going the first five innings and allowing one run on four hits and two walks. Thomas O'Malley pitched a scoreless sixth inning for the winners and Ciccone, the junior right-hander who had worked a scoreless inning in the opener, earned the save in the second game, pitching the last three innings and allowing one run on three hits.
Sophomore LHP Austin McAuliffe (0-2) pitched the first six innings for NJIT, allowing six hits and three runs. Freshman RHP Joe Fasano worked the last two innings, allowing just one hit and an earned run. Two unearned runs scored, as well.
The hits were even at seven apiece, with Lehigh senior 1B Austin Borden going 3-for-4 and junior 3B Ryan Gajdos going 2-for-4 batting in the ninth spot in the Mountain Hawks order. Senior SS Matt Tomczyk and Peterson each collected a pair of hits for NJIT.
Tomczyk led off the game with a double, but the scoring chance died when the next three Highlanders went down. Lehigh broke through for two runs in the bottom of the frame on Borden's two-out, bases-loaded single.
The score stayed at 2-0 until the top of the fifth, when the Highlanders got a run back on a sacrifice fly by Anthony Caiola, which scored Peterson, who had led off with a single.
Lehigh manufactured a run in the bottom of the sixth inning. Borden singled with one out and then stole second base. Jeff Wiand singled to advance Borden to third and then the two tried a double steal, with Borden crossing the plate while Wiand was in a rundown between first and second base.
Down 3-1, the Highlanders pulled back within a run when Matt Weckerle singled with two outs in the seventh inning and Bryan Bleakley drove him home with a double.
NJIT's hopes were dashed in the bottom of the frame, when, with one out, Gajdos tripled and McGaheran was hit by a pitch. Both men scored on the next play courtesy of a Highlander error and the final run of the game came home on Andrew Russell's sacrifice fly later in the inning.
The same two teams are slated to meet in a doubleheader Sunday at 1 pm, with Lehigh visiting the Highlanders in Newark at Bears and Eagles Riverfront Stadium.
