NEWARK, NJ—Rider scored six runs in the first five innings and then held on to defeat NJIT, 6-4, in non-conference baseball Wednesday afternoon at Bears and Eagles Riverfront Stadium.

In a game played in a steady cold drizzle from the second inning on, the Broncs (16-10) scored either one or two runs in four of their first five turns at bat, before the fourth NJIT pitcher, senior RHP John Prestano, was not charged with a run in five innings pitched.

NJIT (5-15) got a run in the bottom of the first and, trailing 6-1, added two more in the bottom of the fifth inning on the first home run of the season for sophomore CF Teddy Bickert. The Highlanders later left the bases loaded in the bottom of the eighth and added their fourth run in the ninth inning, but stranded two more runners.

The winning pitcher was the Rider starter, freshman RHP Kyle Kennett, who raised his record to 2-0 with 5 innings work, allowing 5 hits and 3 runs (2 earned). Two relievers held NJIT scoreless before sophomore closer Tyler Smith came on to pick up his sixth save of the season.

Smith, a left-hander, entered with two men on base and two out in the eighth inning and allowed a single to Anthony Caiola before recording a bases-loaded strikeout to end the inning without any runs crossing the plate. His final line showed 1.1 innings, 3 hits, 1 run, 1 walk, 2 strikeouts (both of which ended innings), and a wild pitch.

Matt Tomczyk led off the bottom of the ninth with his second double and fourth hit of the day and later scored on a two-out single by Jeff Peterson. But, facing the potential winning run at the plate, Rider's Smith got his second strikeout to end the game.

The losing pitcher for NJIT was the starter, Kyle Burdi, who pitched the first inning and allowed 2 runs on 2 hits and a walk. The Highlanders used two more pitchers in the next three innings and they combined to allow four more runs, before Prestano came on a shut down Rider.

Prestano, who is in his second season with NJIT after transferring from County College of Morris, did not go more than 2.2 innings in any of his 18 appearances in 2010 and his longest previous outing in 2011 was 2 innings a week ago against Lafayette.

Prestano's strong five innings against Rider, a team with six starters batting .300, or above, lowered the senior's season earned run average to 2.79, second on the NJIT pitching staff.

Each team rapped out 10 hits, with DH Steve Galella leading the way for the Broncs at 3-for-4. 1B Mason Heyne and RF Karl Johnston added two hits apiece. Heyne had a double and Johnston tripled to account for Rider's two extra-base hits. Six different men had one RBI each for the Broncs.

Aside from Tomczyk, who was 4-for-5, with the two doubles, Bickert was the only Highlander with more than one hit. He was 2-for-4 and now has a six-game hitting streak, during which he is 8-for-22 (.364), with a double, triple, and home run.

Tomczyk owns a seven-game hitting streak, going 12-for-25 (.480) with four doubles and raising his season batting average to a team-leading .311.

Rider scored twice in the first inning and never trailed. CF Brandon Cotten led off the game with a single and later scored on a one-out sacrifice fly by Heyne. AJ Albee, who had walked with one out, scored the second Rider run on a single by Galella.

NJIT picked up what would be its only run of the first four innings in the bottom of the first, as Tomczyk opened with a single and took second when his hit was bobbled in center field. He moved up to third base on a ground out and then came home on a sacrifice fly by DJ Roche--the team-leading 15th RBI of the year for the sophomore.

Johnston led off the second inning for Rider with a triple to center field and then scored on the next play, an infield ground out and RBI for C Mike O'Reilly, making it 3-1 for Rider. The run was the first allowed this year in five appearances for NJIT reliever Steven Ace, who pitched two innings on Wednesday and owns a team-best 1.17 ERA in 7.2 innings of relief.

Rider picked up two more runs (one earned) in the fourth inning against the third NJIT pitcher, freshman RHP Matt Coughlin. The Highlander rookielater allowed a leadoff double to Heyne in the fifth inning, before exiting in favor of Prestano. Galella singled off of Prestano for a first-and-third situation with no one out. Adam Wayman then bounced back to Prestano, whose bid to start a double play went awry when his throw to second base was wide as Heyne crossed the plate with his team's sixth run.

Prestano settled down from that point, getting three straight outs and limiting the fifth-inning damage to one run. After that, Prestano put up four straight zeros, allowing his team to get back in the game.

The Highlanders jumped back in when Caiola led off their half of the fifth with a soft line drive to shortstop that dropped for an error and then Bickert homered over the left field fence for his second career home run.

NJIT, which would leave seven men on base over the last three innings, managed one more run, the ninth-inning marker set up by Tomczyk's double and finished by Peterson's RBI single. The game ended with Bryan Bleakley, who had walked, on second base and Peterson on first.

Next for the Highlanders is their first Great West Conference series of 2011.

The opponent will be defending champion Utah Valley, which won the 2010 GWC crown with a 26-2 regular season conference record and was 42-17 overall, including a sweep of the conference postseason tournament. This season, the Wolverines are 7-17 overall heading into the opening GWC series in Newark.

The NJIT-UVU series, scheduled for four games, is slated to begin on Friday with a 3 pm doubleheader at Bears and Eagles Riverfront Stadium.