Box score

GREELEY, CO—Northern Colorado scored five runs in the first two innings and cruised to a 12-2 win over visiting NJIT Sunday in a baseball game shortened to seven innings by the Great West Conference run rule.

 

Sunday's win completed a four-game sweep of the weekend series, as the Bears extended their conference winning streak to eight games and won for the ninth time in their last 10 games overall. Northern Colorado is 12-4 in the Great West and 16-27 overall.

 

NJIT, which was swept in series against the top two teams in the conference (Northern Colorado and Utah Valley) and split its other two GWC series against Texas-Pan American and Houston Baptist, drops to 4-12 in the conference and 11-29 overall.

 

It didn't take long to remove most doubt about Sunday's outcome, aside from the final score. UNC scored one run in the first inning and four in the second before NJIT was able to get a hit. The Bears added two more runs in the third inning for 7-0 lead, before being kept off the board for two innings. They struck for three more runs in the sixth and two in the seventh when the conference run rule was invoked (10-run lead after the trailing team has made 21 outs). NJIT scored once in the top of the fifth inning and once in the seventh.

 

Northern Colorado's winning pitcher, Chris Carlberg, raised his season record to 3-2 with seven innings of five-hit ball. He allowed one earned run (two total) and struck out five, without a walk.

 

NJIT used three pitchers and the starter, sophomore LHP Austin McAuliffe (0-5), took the loss. He pitched 1.2 innings and allowed five runs (one earned), on five hits.

 

Senior RHP John Prestano, the next NJIT pitcher, was on the mound for the two scoreless innings, but he allowed two in his first full inning of work and then ran into trouble in the sixth inning and was charged with three more runs. He finished with 3.1 innings and five runs allowed on seven hits. Senior RHP Steven Ace finished up and was on the mound when the game ended. He allowed two runs in 1.2 innings.

 

Northern Colorado banged out 15 hits, led by C Matt Jones (4-for-4), 2B TJ Berge (4-for-5), and LF Jarod Berggren (3-for-5, 5 RBI). Berggren had two doubles and a triple, while Jones had a double and a triple. DH Casey Coy (2-for-4) also hit a double, as the Bears numbered four doubles and two triples among their 15 knocks.

 

NJIT finished with five hits, all singles, which came from five different players. DH John Bouck had the only run batted in for the Highlanders, while the runs were scored by C Bryan Bleakley and LF Anthony Caiola, each of whom had a hit. Caiola extended his hitting streak to five straight games and was 6-for-14 in the four-game series at Northern Colorado.

 

The first run of the game for Northern Colorado was unearned in the first inning and three of the four second-inning runs were unearned as a result of fielding miscues by NJIT. However, the Bears also got four hits in the four-run second inning, including a leadoff double for Coy and a two-run double with two outs by Berggren.

 

Berge, Coy, and Berggren each drove in a run when the Bears scored three times in the sixth inning and Berggren's two-run triple with two outs in the seventh inning triggered the game-ending run rule.

 

NJIT got its first run in the fifth inning when the first two batters, Bleakley and Caiola, singled back-to-back. The next batter, Bouck, was out, but Bleakley scored on the play and Caiola advanced to second.

 

The second Highlander run was unearned. Caiola, batting second in the seventh inning, reached second on an error and moved to third base on a single by Bouck. They each then moved up a base on balk, with Caiola crossing the plate.

 

Next up for the Highlanders is the final scheduled non-conference game of the season. NJIT will travel to Staten Island on Wednesday for a 3 pm game hosted by Wagner, which plays its home games off campus at the Richmond County Bank Ballpark adjacent to the Staten Island Ferry terminal.