NEWARK, NJ—Visiting Saint Peter's edged NJIT twice, 6-4 and 6-5, Wednesday in a non-conference baseball doubleheader at Bears and Eagles Riverfront Stadium.

Both games of Wednesday's doubleheader were seven innings. Both followed a similar pattern, with Saint Peter's, which never trailed in either game, building early leads that would prove to be insurmountable, followed by late NJIT rallies that fell short.

The Peacocks, who were playing their fourth and fifth games since Monday afternoon, have won three in a row and are 14-23 on the season. NJIT, which defeated Saint Peter's on March 5, 7-6, drops to 11-25.

Anthony DeLeo, a junior right-hander, picked up saves for Saint Peter's in both games, doubling his season total in that category to four.

The winning pitchers in the two games were the Saint Peter's starters, each of whom got his first win of the season. They each also pitched four innings, which is all that is needed for a starter to get the win in a college game of eight innings, or less.

The winner in the first game was sophomore RHP Brian Schroeder (1-0), who allowed two hits and an unearned run in his first start of the season. He walked one and struck out three.

The second SPC pitcher in game one was Matt Mancini, who pitched 1.2 innings and allowed two hits and three unearned runs. DeLeo got the save with 1.1 innings of one-hit shutout relief.

The game two winner was junior RHP Russell Stupienski (1-2), who allowed two hits and two runs (one earned), while fanning eight Highlanders with no walks. Michael Pearson allowed an unearned run in one inning and DeLeo finished up with his second save despite allowing five hits and two runs in two innings. 

Saint Peter's was a 6-4 winner in the sloppy opening game that included eight total errors—five by NJIT—with only four of the game's 10 runs being earned.

The Peacocks, who had played three Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference games the preceding two days, scored all six of their runs in the first three innings of Wednesday's opener, highlighted by a four-run second inning.

NJIT got a single run in the bottom of the third inning and then made things interesting with three unearned runs in the bottom of the sixth.

The NJIT starter, freshman RHP Matt Coughlin, took the loss, but pitched better than his line of 4 innings, 7 hits, 6 runs (4 earned), 2 walks, and 2 strikeouts. All five errors took place with him on the mound, and some of the SPC hits that put Coughlin in jams were more well-placed than hard-hit. He also had difficulty closing the door in the second inning, as all four Peacock runs came on two-out hits.

Senior RHP John Prestano went the rest of the way for the Highlanders and his strong effort gave his team a chance to made a comeback. Prestano tossed three scoreless innings of one-hit ball.

Saint Peter's got eight hits, with seven singles, plus a double for LF Matt Speckmann. 2B Michael Scicutella and CF Preston Aldridge each collected two hits. Aldridge drove in three runs and Scicutella sent home a pair.

NJIT got five hits combined from five different players. The only extra-base hit was a double for freshman LF Tyler Kapp. Only two of the four Highlander runs were credited as runs batted in, with one going to Bryan Bleakley and one to John Bouck.

Saint Peter's took advantage of two NJIT errors to score the first run of the day. Cody Haack, leading off the game for the Peacocks, reached on an infield error and moved to second when a throw over from the pitcher got away at first base. Haack moved to third base on the first out and then scored on a single by Chris Grimes.

The Peacocks added four more runs in the second inning, the first two on a two-out, bases-loaded single to center field by Scicutella and the next two on another two-out hit, a single for Aldridge.

Saint Peter's tacked on a single run in the third inning without benefit of a hit. Stupienski drew a one-out walk and went to second when Brian Koster reached base on an error. Stupienski stole third base and scored on a ground out by Speckmann.

The Highlanders, who did not score an earned run in game one, got on the board in the third inning. Kapp led off with his double and later advanced to third base on a passed ball and then scored on another passed ball that came on ball four to Matt Tomczyk.

The score remained 6-1 for Saint Peter's until the bottom of the sixth, when NJIT combined two hits with two Peacock errors to score three runs. DJ Roche and John Bouck got the hits, with Bouck getting a run batted in on his hit and Bleakley adding an RBI on a ground out.

The second game, a 6-5 Saint Peter's win, ended with the potential tying run on third base and the potential winning run on third base for NJIT in the bottom of the seventh inning after the Highlanders had already scored twice to pull within a run.

Freshman RHP Joe Fasano  (0-4) started for the Highlanders and was tagged with the loss after allowing three runs and four hits in one inning of work. The next NJIT pitcher, senior RHP Steven Ace, allowed two runs, but Kyle Burdi came on and tossed two shutout innings and Frank Shivers allowed one unearned run in two innings.

The Peacocks got going quickly in the second game, sending eight men to the plate and scoring three times in the opening inning. Scicutella was hit by a pitch leading off and came around on Aldridge's double deep into the gap in left center field. Aldridge scored himself when the next batter, Schroeder, appearing as the DH in the game two lineup after pitching in game one, singled to center. He scored the third Saint Peter's run on a two-out single for C James Smith.

NJIT got two runs back in the bottom of the second inning, as Roche singled leading off and Jeff Peterson followed with a double inside the third base bag and into the left field corner. After a strikeout, Anthony Caiola's ground ball up the middle went through the shortstop, with Roche and Peterson both scoring on the play.

After a scoreless third inning for both teams, Saint Peter's pushed across two more runs in the fourth. Ace, working his third inning, ran into quick trouble with a walk and his third hit batter of the game to open the frame. Grimes got a single to drive in the first run and Mancini picked up an RBI with a one-out sacrifice fly off of Burdi, who came in for Ace and quieted the rally, allowing Mancini's fly plus two strikeouts and a walk.

The Highlanders picked up their third run of the game in the bottom of the sixth inning, as Tomczyk led off with a single went to second base on a passed ball and scored on a two-out bloop single to right field for Roche.

Saint Peter's answered with an unearned run in the top of the seventh against Shivers for a 6-3 lead.

NJIT had its best inning of the game in the bottom of the seventh, scoring twice, but leaving two big runners on base, including the potential tying run 90 feet away.

Bleakley led off for NJIT with his team-leading fourth home run of the season, an opposite field shot over the left field fence. Caiola then legged out an infield single and after an out, Kapp singled to right field.

The Highlanders made their second out of the inning and then Teddy Bickert's flare landed just fair inside the right field line and just beyond the reach of SPC's diving right fielder Mancini. Caiola came around to score and Kapp held up at third on what turned out to be a double for Bickert. DeLeo, the Peacock closer, then induced a game-ending ground out to nail down his second save of the day.

Each team had eight hits in the second game, with Aldridge and Mike LaCava hitting doubles for Saint Peter's, which got its eight hits from eight different players. In another quirk, six different Peacocks scored a run each and six players had one RBI apiece. Aldridge, a junior center fielder, finished the day 3-for-7 and drove in four runs in the two games.

NJIT's eight hits included the Bleakley homer and the doubles for Peterson and Bickert. Roche (2-for-3) was the only Highlander with more than one hit in the second game and he was 3-for-6 in the doubleheader.

NJIT will resume Great West Conference play on Friday at Northern Colorado in Greeley. The teams are scheduled to play a four-game series beginning with a single game on Friday at 2 pm (MDT).