NEWARK, NJ—NJIT reached its season high for runs in a 12-6 victory over visiting Iona in a non-conference baseball game called due to rain with two out in the bottom of the seventh inning Tuesday afternoon at Bears and Eagles Riverfront Stadium.

The final winning margin of six runs was also the biggest of the year for NJIT, now 6-19 on the season. Iona (11-19) had won two in a row and three of its last four before coming to Newark.

The winning pitcher for the Highlanders was freshman RHP Matt Coughlin, who earned his first college victory with 2.1 innings of one-hit shutout relief. He struck out two and did not walk a batter.

Coughlin relieved classmate Joe Fasano, who started and made his longest appearance of the year, but fell one out short of qualifying for the win. Fasano pitched 4.2 innings and allowed 8 hits and 6 runs (4 earned, with 3 scoring in the fifth inning before Coughlin came on with two out). Fasano struck out six, but was hurt by eight walks and a hit-by-pitch.

The losing pitcher for Iona was the starter, freshman RHP Stephen Bianchi, who pitched the first inning and faced four batters, all of whom got hits, in the second. Bianchi (0-2) was charged with 7 runs (6 earned) on 6 hits, 2 walks and a hit-by-pitch. Iona used three relievers, only one of whom, sophomore Conan Leon, escaped without allowing a run. He pitched two-thirds of an inning in the sixth and struck out two and walked one.

Six of the first seven men in the NJIT batting order got at least two hits apiece. 3B Jeff Peterson and 1B Bryan Bleakley led the way with three hits apiece. Peterson was 3-for-5 with 3 runs batted in, while Bleakley was 3-for-3, including his third home run of the season, a solo shot over the right field fence leading off the bottom of the fourth inning.

Matt Tomczyk, Teddy Bickert, Matt Weckerle, and DJ Roche all collected two hits each.

Roche drove in three runs, raising his team leading RBI total to 21. Two of the runs came home on his second-inning triple.

Tomczyk extended his consecutive-game hitting streak to 12 and raised his team-leading batting average to .347. He is 22-for-46 (.478) in the streak and has 9 walks and 5 hit-by-pitch, with a .590 on-base percentage in the 12 games. He scored two runs and drove in two on Tuesday.

The top hitter for the Gaels was freshman LF Joe Torres who was 3-for-3, getting a single, double, and triple, plus a walk, in four plate appearances. The speedy Torres, who drove in two runs, also stole his 19th base of the season. SS Eric Capowski was 2-for-3, as well.

The Highlanders who had gone to extra innings in each of their previous three games, all Great West Conference losses to Utah Valley, jumped on Iona early, scoring three runs in the opening inning and then seven in the second to take a commanding 10-2 lead through two innings.

The Highlanders had two hits in the opening inning, but scored three runs, one of which was unearned. The key blow was Peterson's two-run single which followed Roche's bases-loaded single that opened the scoring.

Iona got two runs back in the second inning, the first scoring on a wild pitch and the second scoring on a two-out double for Torres.

NJIT took command with the 7-run second inning that saw the Highlanders pile up eight hits and send 12 batters to the plate.

Tomczyk opened with a single and then stole second before Bickert doubled. Weckerle then singled home a run ahead of Roche's two-run triple into the right center field gap.

Bianchi, the Iona starter then gave way to Jordan Gilruth and Peterson greeted Gilruth with a run-scoring single. After an out, NJIT got two more hits and another run scored on an error. After a hit-by-pitch, Tomczyk, batting for the second time in the inning, stroked a two-run double, driving in the sixth and seventh runs of the frame.

The teams traded single runs in the fourth, including Bleakley's homer for the Highlanders. Iona then picked up three runs in the top of the fifth, as Capowski drove in a run with a single, while Torres walked with the bases loaded and Chris Burke was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded to force home the other two runs.

With the rain coming down harder and the field conditions become increasingly difficult, NJIT got a run in the bottom of the seventh that was aided by the weather. Weckerle walked leading off, stole second and then move up to third and subsequently scored on a pair of wild pitches. With the ball now impossible for the pitcher to grip, the umpires pulled the teams off the field and ultimately called the game over with two out.

The Highlanders will return to Great West Conference play, visiting Texas-Pan American in Edinburg for a four-game series beginning on Friday with a single game set for 6 pm (CDT).

Last year, the teams got in three of the scheduled four games in Newark and UTPA won two. The Broncs also defeated the Highlanders in what was NJIT's final game of 2010, eliminating the Highlanders with a 14-1 win in the Great West postseason tournament, which was also played in Edinburg.

Texas-Pan American opened conference play last week with a four-game sweep of Chicago State. NJIT went 0-4, losing in a sweep to defending champion Utah Valley. The first game was decided on two UVU runs in the ninth inning and the next three were extra-inning wins for the Wolverines.