Box score (game 1)
Box score (game 2)
WEST HARTFORD, CT—NJIT and Hartford split their non-conference baseball doubleheader Sunday afternoon, with the Highlanders coming out on top in game one, 4-3, before the Hawks took a 12-8 win in the nightcap to salvage their only win in the four-game two-day series.
NJIT, which won both Saturday games played in Newark in extra innings (3-2 in 8 innings and 7-6 in 9 innings) is 5-14 at the end of the weekend, while Hartford is 2-20-1.
The Highlanders, who fell behind in both Saturday games, including by three-run margins twice in the nightcap (rallied for four runs in their last at-bat to win Saturday's game two), fell behind early in both Sunday games, as well.
Hartford took a 2-0 lead in the opener on Sunday, but NJIT scored the next four runs and held on for a 4-3 seven-inning win behind the complete-game pitching of sophomore LHP Tripp Davis (2-4).
In the next game, the Highlanders got a run in the top of the first inning, but Hartford exploded for seven runs in the bottom of the inning and led the rest of the way en route to a 12-8 nine-inning victory.
Davis, who has seven starts, has three complete games and has gone at least six innings in five of the starts. He has not allowed more than three earned runs in any of those games.
Against Hartford, Davis allowed six hits and three runs, striking out six with one walk. His excellent season strikeout-to-walk ratio of 35-to-11 is one of the keys to his success.
NJIT managed just six hits of its own, but two were doubles and two were home runs. The doubles came from SS Matt Tomczyk and DH John Bouck, while the homers were hit by C DJ Roche and RF Matt Weckerle, each of whom have two home runs on the season. Roche, who was 2-for-3, also hit a sacrifice fly and drove in two runs.
The home runs for Weckerle and Roche were solo shots back-to-back with one out in the top of the seventh inning, breaking a 2-2 tie. Hartford got a run and had two men on base in the bottom of the inning before Davis closed the door with a game-ending strikeout.
James Alfonso, the Hartford catcher, led his team's hitters, going 2-for-4 and driving in a run. Ryan Lukach (0-1) was the starting pitcher and took the loss, going 6.1 innings and allowing six hits and four runs (three earned).
Hartford's two second-inning runs came with two outs. Rodger Wilmot doubled and scored on a single for Matt Walker, who went to second base after a hit-by-pitch and then scored on a double for Brian Hunter.
NJIT got one run in the next half-inning, which began with a single for Teddy Bickert. After a walk, Wecklerle sacrificed and was safe at first on an error to load the bases. Roche then got the run home with his sacrifice fly.
The Highlanders tied the game in the fourth with a two-out rally. Bouck doubled and then advanced to third base on a wild pitch before scoring an unearned run when Bickert was safe at first on another Hartford error.
The score remained 2-2 until the back-to-back homers by Weckerle and Roche for NJIT in the top of the seventh inning.
Trailing 4-2, Hartford had a two-out rally of its own in the bottom of the seventh, beginning with a hit-by-pitch and a walk, ahead of Alfonso's run scoring single. Davis stranded the two runners with his game-ending strikeout of Hartford's Andy Drexel.
NJIT needed six pitchers to get through eight innings of the 12-8 second game and only two of the pitchers avoided allowing at least two runs. They were: senior Steven Ace, the fourth Highlander pitcher, who went 2.1 scoreless innings, and freshman Matt Coughlin, who pitched a 1-2-3 eighth inning.
Hartford used four pitchers and the second, Vincent Fiore (1-1), got the win after allowing two runs in 4.1 innings. The only Hartford pitcher with a completely clean line was the Anthony Mannuccia, who closed out the game with a perfect ninth inning that included two strikeouts.
The starting pitcher for the Highlanders was freshman Joe Fasano, who walked the first three batters and then yielded a grand slam to Hartford's Andy Drexel. Fasano, who was relieved by classmate Zach Emmett, was charged with the loss and is 0-3. NJIT needed another pitcher, Frank Shivers, before the seven-run first inning was over.
Down 7-1 after an inning, NJIT trailed the rest of the day, despite making several small dents in the Hartford lead.
The Highlanders scored three times in the second inning to close to 7-4, but Hartford answered with a run in the bottom half. NJIT picked up another run in the top of the third to trail 8-5, but again, Hartford got the run back and led 9-5 through three innings.
It stayed that way until the bottom of the seventh inning, when the Hawks added three more runs for a 12-5 lead. NJIT picked up three more runs in the eighth inning, but that was all the scoring for either team.
Victor Santana, who did not play in either game on Saturday and was 0-for-3 in Sunday's opener, led off for Hartford in the getaway game and went 3-for-4, with three runs scored and one batted in. Drexel, who had another RBI on top of his first-inning grand slam, was 2-for-5, as were Wilmot and Walker, as the Hawks banged out 13 hits as a team to go with 12 walks.
NJIT, which had 12 hits and collected four walks in the losing effort, got another strong game from Weckerle, who was 3-for-5 in game two and 4-for-6 on the day. Roche and Tyler Kapp each collected a pair of hits in the nightcap for the Highlanders. Weckerle and Roche had two doubles apiece.
Roche was 2-for-3 in each game, driving in a pair of runs in each game. He raised his batting average to a team-best .299 and he leads the Highlanders in runs batted in, with 14 (Bryan Bleakley, who hit a two-run homer, his second of the year, in the eighth inning, is second, with nine RBI).
NJIT is scheduled to play its next six games at home, beginning with a Wednesday afternoon contest at 4 pm against Rider in Bears and Eagles Riverfront Stadium.
Great West Conference play will open with a four-game series in Newark against Utah Valley, beginning on Friday afternoon.
