NEWARK, NJ—Defending Great West Conference baseball champion Utah Valley took its third exceptionally close win in less than 31 hours against NJIT, defeating the Highlanders 2-0 in 11 innings Saturday night at Bears and Eagles Riverfront Stadium.

The Wolverines (10-17 overall, 3-0 GWC) broke a scoreless tie when sophomore SS Kai Hatch homered over the left field fence with one man on and one out in the top of the 11th inning against NJIT reliever Matt Tomczyk (0-2). The Highlanders are 5-18 overall and 0-3 in the Great West.

On Friday night, Utah Valley swept a close doubleheader from NJIT, winning the first game 5-3 on two runs in the ninth inning and then completing the sweep with a 9-8 win in 14 innings of a game that saw the Highlanders battle back from deficits to tie the score in four separate innings, including three times in extra innings.

The winning pitcher for Utah Valley on Saturday was the starter, junior RHP Jeremy Gendlek (2-3), who pitched 10 shutout innings, scattering six hits, while striking out eight and walking three.

Junior RHP Craig Brimhall came on to begin the bottom of the 11th inning and preserved the win and the shutout to earn his first save of the season. He allowed one hit and stranded two runners in scoring position after an error kept the NJIT hopes alive.

Saturday night was the first time the Highlanders had been shut out since they were blanked in both ends of a season-opening doubleheader at North Carolina A&T on February 26.

NJIT's sophomore RHP DJ Roche was tremendous in his first college start, completing nine innings and facing two batters in the 10th. He did not allow a run and yielded only five hits, while striking out eight and walking three.

Normally the starting catcher for the Highlanders, Roche pitched three times in relief earlier this season and was a reliever in 25 games as a freshman in 2010. His longest previous pitching appearance was four innings, which he did twice last season.

Tomczyk, making his second pitching appearance of the year for the Highlanders, had moved to the mound from shortstop with two men on base and no one out in the 10th inning. Entering that tough spot without benefit of bullpen warmups, the senior retired all three batters he faced in the inning, striking out two.

Austin Heaps, who would finish the game 3-for-5 and is 8-for-16 in the series so far, led off the 11th inning for Utah Valley with a single through the right side of the infield. Goose Kallunki followed with a well-executed sacrifice bunt and Hatch followed with a no-doubt home run over the fence for the only scoring of the night.

Hatch, who had driven in the winning run in the 14th inning of Friday's second game, had been 0-for-4 on Saturday before hitting the home run. One of his outs came with the bases loaded and one out in the ninth inning, when he popped up to the infield after Zallunki had been intentionally walked to fill the bases in front of him. Roche then finished the inning by inducing Heaps to ground into a force for the third out.

Each team had seven hits, with Heaps getting his three hits and four different Wolverines getting one each. UVU had all the extra-base hits in the game—the home run for Hatch and a third-inning, two-out double for Kirk Doxey.

NJIT's hits were all singles, with Jeff Peterson leading the way at 2-for-4. The Highlanders got runners as far as third base three times—once in the first inning, once in the 10th, and finally in the 11th inning.

Saturday's result continued a trend of exceptionally close games for the Highlanders. It marked the 12th time in the 15 games since March 20 that the final margin was one or two runs. NJIT is 3-9 in those close games, including 2-3 in extra innings.

The series with Utah Valley is scheduled to conclude with a single game beginning at 11 o'clock Sunday morning at Bears and Eagles Riverfront Stadium.