Box score (game 1)
Box score (game 2)
NEWARK, NJ—NJIT's baseball fortunes, which had been filled with hard-luck losses recently, changed in a big way on Saturday, as the Highlanders swept a doubleheader from visiting Hartford, walking off with extra-inning victories twice at Bears and Eagles Riverfront Stadium.
The Highlanders won the first game, scheduled for seven innings, 3-2 in eight innings and then won a thriller in the nightcap, also scheduled for seven, 7-6, in nine innings.
The final score told only part of the story in the second game. The score was 3-3 after eight innings, but Hartford scored three times in the top of the ninth, only to have NJIT answer with four runs in the bottom of the frame to score the walkoff victory and complete the sweep.
NJIT (4-13 at the end of the day) had lost 10 in a row, including seven since March 20. On that day, the Highlanders lost by a run in 11 innings to Fordham and then by 2-1 in a regulation-length game against Seton Hall. After a pair of decisive losses at Lehigh, the Highlanders came home and lost to the same Lehigh team, 9-8 and 7-5 on March 27. The run of hard-luck defeats continued with a 3-1 loss in 13 innings against Lafayette on March 30.
At last, on Saturday, the close decisions went NJIT's way.
The game-winning hit in the opener came off the bat of 3B Jeff Peterson, whose one-out chopper to the left side of the infield bounded fifteen feet in the air and came to rest in left field as Matt Weckerle scored from third base with the winning run.
The victory would not have been possible without the best start of the year for RHP Mark Leiter Jr. The sophomore, now 1-1, pitched a complete-game 8-inning 3-hitter, allowing just a pair of second-inning runs, while striking out four and walking three.
NJIT got seven hits in the game, led by Peterson's 2-for-4. Peterson, Weckerle, and DJ Roche accounted for the Highlander runs batted in, while Weckerle, Anthony Caiola, and Teddy Bickert scored the runs.
The losing pitcher was Hartford reliever Alex Gouin (0-1), a freshman from nearby West Orange, NJ. Gouin entered in the bottom of the seventh, recording a 1-2-3 inning before allowing a run on two hits and a hit batter in the eighth. He relieved starter Mike Thatcher, who pitched six innings, allowing two runs on five hits, with five strikeouts and two walks.
Hartford (1-19-1 with eight straight losses by day's end) plated both of its runs in the opener in the second inning. Andy Drexel led off for the Hawks with a single and Matt Walker followed him with a double for the first run of the game. Walker advanced to third on a sacrifice bunt, the first of four in the game and six on the day by Hartford. Walker then scored the second run on a sacrifice fly by Rodger Wilmot.
That would be all the Hawks could muster against Leiter, who allowed just one hit over the next six innings.
Meanwhile, NJIT tied the game with two runs of its own in the bottom of the third inning. Caiola led off with an infield single and Bickert followed him with another single. Matt Tomczyk moved up both runners with a sacrifice bunt and Weckerle delivered the first Highlander run on a sacrifice fly. With two outs, Roche hit a deep double to score Bickert with the tying run.
Neither team did much again until the bottom of the eighth inning, when Weckerle opened with a single and Roche, squaring to bunt, was hit by Gouin's pitch. Bryan Bleakley dropped down a sac bunt and then Peterson's high chopper cleared the infield, sending home the winning run.
The walkoff dramatics in game one were routine compared to what happened in the ninth inning of game two, however.
Pitching for both sides was less of a factor in the second game than it had been in the first, with each teams using three pitchers. Both starters kept their teams in the game, but the middle relievers, Hunter Englehart for Hartford and Kyle Burdi for NJIT, were the most effective pitchers for their respective teams, but neither got a decision and both saw their ERAs grow when the next pitcher allowed inherited runners to score. The decision went to the third, and final, pitchers for each team.
The winning pitcher for NJIT, John Prestano got two outs and wasn't charged with a run, but he allowed two of the runners he inherited from Burdi to score and was fortunate to avoid another run. Prestano allowed two hits and had a wild pitch. He and NJIT caught a break when a Hawk baserunner tried to steal and was thrown out at third base for the second out, a few pitches before he would have scored easily on James Alfonso's deep double to the wall in center field. Prestano is 1-0.
As it was, the Hawks scored three times for a 6-3 lead heading into the bottom of the ninth inning. But the three-run lead would not be enough.
The second Hartford pitcher, Englehart, had pitched well in relief of Gouin, who started the second game after taking the loss as a reliever in the opener. Gouin worked five innings and allowed three runs in the nightcap.
Englehart, who entered to begin the bottom of the sixth, put up three zeros, but walked Bleakley to open the ninth inning. NJIT's Peterson then doubled into the left field corner, sending Bleakley to third base. Vincent Del Vecchio, then reached on an error at second base, as both Bleakley and Peterson came around to bring the Highlanders to within a run at 6-5.
Hartford coach Jeff Calcaterra then called on sophomore RHP Brian Rice to relieve and he got the next two outs. However, Bickert, who had tripled earlier in the game, unloaded a double deep into the left center field gap, scoring Tyler Kapp from first base with the tying run.
Bickert then scored the game-winner when Tomczyk, the senior shortstop, who earlier made some terrific defensive plays to preserve the 3-3 tie, singled sharply to center field for the second walkoff celebration of the day for the Highlanders.
Englehart's line showed 2.2 innings, one hit, three runs (one earned), but three walks and two strikeouts. Rice got two outs and allowed two hits and was charged with an unearned run.
For Bickert, the sophomore center fielder, Saturday's doubleheader produced by far his best results of 2011. He was 1-for-2 with a run scored in the opener and 2-for-4, with the triple and double and two RBI and two runs scored, including the winner, in the nightcap.
As a freshman in 2010, he led the team with a .322 average and drove in 20 runs, while setting school record for games played and started (56). This year, before Saturday, had been a struggle, as he had five hits in his first 50 at-bats through 14 games, 10 of which had been hitless. He is four for his last 11, raising his average 54 percentage points in the process.
The unsung pitching hero for NJIT in the nightcap was the sophomore Burd, who entered the game in the fifth inning and pitched four straight scoreless innings. In the ninth, he allowed a leadoff walk and that runner was sacrificed to second base. In what could have been a turning point, Hartford's Wilmot took an extremely close pitch with two strikes that was called a ball and drew enough dissent from the NJIT dugout that the umpire issued a formal warning.
As often seems to happen in similar situations, Wilmot took advantage of the controversial reprieve and lined a double into the left field corner, driving in the tie-breaking run. Burdi faced one more batter and gave up a perfect bunt single by Hartford's Brian Estevez.
Prestano threw a wild pitch to his first batter, allowing the second Hartford run of the inning to cross the plate and Simon Kudernatsch then singled home the third run of the inning.
As a result, Burdi was left with this deceptive pitching line—4.1 innings, 4 hits, 3 runs, 2 walks, and 3 strikeouts.
Hartford outhit NJIT in the game, 10-6, as Alfonso, Andy Drexel, Wilmot and Estevez all collected two hits apiece. Bickert was the only Highlander with multiple hits in the game.
The Hawks scored the first three runs of the game in the third inning against NJIT starter Austin McAuliffe. Two of the runs were unearned, as the Highlanders committed both of their errors for the game in the frame. Alfonso had an RBI on a sacrifice fly and Kudernatsch drove in a run on a squeeze bunt sacrifice in the inning.
NJIT got a run in the bottom of the inning when, with two outs, Tomczyk was hit by a pitch and then scored on a double by Weckerle.
The Highlanders tied the score in the fifth inning when Caiola had an infield single and scored ahead of Bickert's triple. Bickert soon scored the tying run on Tomczyk's sacrifice fly. The score stayed at 3-3 until the raucous ninth inning.
NJIT will travel to West Hartford, CT, for a 1 pm doubleheader on Sunday at Hartford.
