Box score
GREELEY, CO—Northern Colorado built a 5-0 lead through the first six innings and finished with a 7-3 win over visiting NJIT Friday afternoon in the first game of a scheduled four-game weekend Great West Conference baseball series.
The Bears struck three times in the second inning, keyed by a two-run home run for 1B Casey Coy. They added single runs in the fourth and sixth innings before NJIT closed to within two, thanks to a three-run seventh inning for the Highlanders. Northern Colorado answered the threat with a pair of runs of its own in the bottom of the seventh to reach the final score of 7-3.
Northern Colorado, the second-place team in 2010 Great West Conference play with a 22-6 league record last year, is now 9-4 in 2011 GWC games. The Highlanders drop to 4-9 in the conference.
The Bears are 13-27 overall, but that includes a combined 0-6 vs. Nebraska and Kansas State of the powerful Big 12 Conference and 0-3 vs. long-time national power Arizona. NJIT is 11-26 overall.
Four pitchers combined to set a new Northern Colorado record, striking out 16 Highlanders on Friday. Ten of the strikeouts came from the starter, junior LHP Joe Willman, who raised his season record to 5-3 with six strong innings that saw him allow six hits and no runs, while walking four. Seven of his first nine outs were strikeouts.
Senior LHP Brendan Hall gave up all three NJIT runs and contributed one strikeout in one inning, while Kevin Willman, Joe's younger brother, struck out two Highlanders in one inning of work, and junior LHP Cameron Tallman finished up, striking out the side in the ninth inning.
NJIT's starter, sophomore RHP Mark Leiter Jr took the loss, dropping to 3-2.
Leiter, who came in with a 2-0 GWC record and a 2.52 earned run average three conference starts, was charged with his first loss since the second game of the season on February 26. He allowed 10 hits and 5 runs in five innings, while striking out 3 and walking 3. Frank Shivers allowed two runs (one earned) in 1.1 innings and Kyle Burdi finished up with 1.2 scoreless innings for the Highlanders.
Northern Colorado rapped out 12 hits, including two doubles, a triple, and Coy's home run, and also put 10 men on base with a combination of seven walks and three hit-by-pitch.
The UNC leadoff man, SS Adam Hilker, was 3-for-4, including a triple and a double, and drove in one runs with each of his hits, while the next two batters in the order, CF Bret Fanning and 2B TJ Berge, both went 2-for-5.
NJIT, which, despite the strikeouts, had plentiful baserunners of its own, collected 10 hits, four walks, and a hit-by-pitch.
Three Highlanders had multiple hit days, led by CF Teddy Bickert, who was 3-for-4, plus a walk. C DJ Roche was 2-for-5, including his team-leading 13th double of the season and freshman LF Tyler Kapp was 2-for-4. Kapp has six hits in 14 at-bats over the last four games.
Northern Colorado opened the scoring on Coy's second home run of the year, an opposite field shot to right field immediately after LF Jarod Berggren, the current GWC Player of the Week, had opened the bottom of the second with a single. The Bears added a third run in the inning when Fanning hit a two-out RBI single.
UNC picked up another run in the fourth on a two-out run-scoring triple for Hilker and then made it 5-0 in the sixth on an RBI double for Hilker, who redshirted in 2010 after starting every game as a freshman in 2009.
NJIT, which rallied late, but fell short twice in its most recent previous action, a non-conference doubleheader sweep at the hands of Saint Peter's on Wednesday, rallied again on Friday, scoring three times in the seventh inning against the first Northern Colorado reliever, Hall.
Bickert walked, Matt Weckerle was hit by a pitch, and Roche doubled home Bickert with the first NJIT run before Hall could record an out. Jeff Peterson grounded out, scoring Weckerle with the second NJIT run and Bryan Bleakley singled to bring in Roche.
The Bears picked up a pair of runs, one of which was earned, in the bottom of the seventh, including the third hit for Hilker, a single that drove in a run.
NJIT picked up back-to-back two-out singles by Bickert and Weckerle in the eighth inning, but they became the 12th and 13th runners left on base for the Highlanders.
The two teams are scheduled for a doubleheader on Saturday, beginning at 1 pm (MDT).
