Box score (game 1)
Box score (game 2)
GRAND FORKS, ND—NJIT won Saturday's opening game at North Dakota, 11-5, but the Highlanders came up short in their bid for a second straight conference doubleheader sweep, dropping the nightcap 6-3 in Great West Conference baseball action.
The Highlanders, who swept a home conference doubleheader last Saturday against NYIT, are 8-15 in the Great West and 15-32 overall, with the overall wins total of 15 matching the program's best at the Division I level. The Highlanders, who had been ECAC champion in 2006 (final year of Division II competition), finished 15-28 in 2007 (first year as a Division I Independent).
North Dakota is 5-14 in the Great West and 7-30 overall. The 6-3 win for the Fighting Sioux in Saturday's Game Two not only broke a seven-game losing streak, but UND had allowed its opponents at least 11 runs in all seven defeats, including the first two games of the series with NJIT.
NJIT won the first game, a seven-inning contest, with 11 runs on 13 hits, including three home runs, two doubles, and a triple. The Highlanders added on 11 more hits and collected five walks in the second game, but managed just the three runs while leaving 11 runners on base. Included was the eighth inning, when NJIT left the bases loaded without scoring when trailing, 5-3.
For the Highlanders, DJ Roche was the winning pitcher in Game One, raising his record to 2-4 with six innings of work. Senior RHP Sam Anderson (1-6), the first of three North Dakota pitchers in the game, took the loss.
Senior LHP David Spies (2-3) picked up the win in the nightcap, navigating 7.2 innings and limiting NJIT to just 3 runs (2 earned), despite allowing 11 hits and issuing 4 walks. Junior RHP Cory Baker, who entered with the bases loaded and two out in the eighth, earned his second save with 1.1 hitless innings.
NJIT's sophomore LHP Tripp Davis dropped to 4-6 on the season, taking the loss in Game Two with an eight-inning complete game. He was touched for 6 runs on 8 hits and 4 walks, while striking out 3.
Game One recap
The Highlanders took the first game, 11-5, led by the hitting of senior shortstop Matt Tomczyk and Roche, the sophomore pitcher, who plays catcher and in the outfield when he doesn't pitch and is the team's top run-producing hitter.
Tomczyk was 3-for-5 including his third and fourth home runs of the year, with three runs batted in and three runs scored. He also homered in NJIT's 12-5 win on Friday afternoon after hitting one home run in the preceding 44 games this year.
Roche, who is the current Great West Conference Pitcher of the Week for his 10-strikeout, complete-game shutout against NYIT last Satuday, was also the winning pitcher Saturday against North Dakota.
But Roche's batting was more prominent on this day. The sophomore was 3-for-4 in the opener, with two doubles and his third home run of the year. He finished with four runs batted in and now has 36 for the year.
Sophomore CF Teddy Bickert also had a three-hit game, going 3-for-5 and scoring three runs.
With Tomczyk leading off, Bickert batting second, Matt Weckerle (1-for-3, a triple) batting third, and Roche batting fourth, the Highlanders got a combined 10-for-17 (.588), two doubles, a triple, three home runs, a walk, nine runs scored and 10 runs batted in from the first four men in their order.
On the mound, Roche picked up his second straight conference win. He pitched the first 6 innings of the seven-inning game and allowed 5 runs on 6 hits. He struck out 5, but was plagued by 6 walks and 2 wild pitches. Four of the walks came in North Dakota's four-run third inning. Freshman RHP Matt Coughlin finished off the final inning for the Highlanders, holding North Dakota scoreless on one hit.
Anderson started on the mound for the Fighting Sioux and allowed 6 runs (5 earned) in 3 innings. Junior LHP Kevin Auth gave up 4 runs in 2.1 innings and freshman LHP Zach Ransom pitched the last 1.2 innings, with the only blemish being Tomczyk's solo home run in the top of the seventh.
North Dakota had seven hits, five of which were singles. Andy Sadler and Zack Trygstad each had doubles and they were the two Fighting Sioux players with two hits. Trygstad and Josh Ray each drove in a pair of runs.
NJIT, which never trailed Game One, scored two in the first inning and three in the second, before North Dakota climbed back into contention with a four-run third inning. However, the Highlanders continued to extend their lead, getting three runs in the fourth inning and two more in the top of the sixth for a 10-4 lead. The Fighting Sioux scored a run in the sixth and Tomczyk capped the scoring with a solo homer in the top of the seventh.
The Highlanders got their first tally on a run-scoring triple by Weckerle and then a double by Roche that brought in Weckerle in the first inning. Tomczyk's two-run homer to left field was the highlight of NJIT's third inning, as the Highlanders plated three more runs.
Trailing 5-0, North Dakota combined two hits and four walks in a four-run third inning. Roche walked three of the first four batters he faced in the frame, loading the bases with one out. After another out, Ray delivered a two-run single. The fourth walk of the inning followed and Trygstad singled to send home two more runs.
However, NJIT answered quickly, with three more runs in the fourth inning, keyed by Roche's two-out, two-run homer, his third circuit blast and 21st extra-base hit of the year.
Two more Highlanders runs crossed the plate in the sixth inning, the first on a double for Roche and the second on a single for sophomore 3B Jeff Peterson.
With Roche pitching what would be his last inning, Trygstad led off the bottom of the sixth with a double and scored when the next batter, Kyle Bolander, singled. Tomczyk got the run back for NJIT with his solo home run in the seventh inning.
Game Two recap
NJIT got on the board first, with a run in the opening inning. But the Highlanders fell behind 4-1 before they scored two in the sixth inning, trimming the North Dakota lead to 4-3. The Fighting Sioux tacked on single runs in the sixth and eighth innings, while NJIT could not push across any more runs against the starting pitcher, Spies, or the reliever, Baker.
NJIT's 11 hits were spread throughout the batting order, as the first eight men accounted for at least one hit each and three—Tomczyk, Peterson, and junior C Bryan Bleakley--collected two hits apiece. Bleakley doubled, as did Tyler Kapp, with Kapp and Anthony Caiola (1-for-4) getting credit for runs batted in.
North Dakota had eight hits, but two went for doubles and a remarkable four were triples (all by different hitters), matching the total NJIT's Davis had allowed in his first 12 games combined.
CF Andy Sadler was 2-for-2, with two walks, batting in the leadoff spot for the Fighting Sioux and one of his hits was triple. Ray, the left fielder who had driven in two runs in the opener, was 2-for-4 in the second game, including a triple. The other triples came from 2B Kris Kwak (1-for-3) and DH Craig Dolmage (1-for-4). Bolander, the third baseman, was hitless in four at-bats, but he led UND with two RBI.
NJIT got on the board with a runners-on-first-and-third steal play with two outs in the first inning. After two outs, Weckerle and Roche hit back-to-back singles and Weckerle scored while Roche was in a rundown between first base and second on the steal play.
The Highlanders stayed at one run, despite loading the bases with two outs in the third inning.
Davis, meanwhile, blanked North Dakota on one hit through the first three innings, but the home team broke through for three runs in the bottom of the fourth. Ray led off with his triple and after a strikeout and walk, Bolander grounded into a force out at second base, while Ray scored the tying run. Dolmage followed with a triple to bring home the go-ahead run and then he scored the third run on a wild pitch.
The Fighting Sioux extended the lead to 4-1 in the fifth inning, as Sadler hit a leadoff triple and scored on another infield out.
The Highlanders, who trailed from the fourth inning on, picked up two runs in the sixth, closing the score to 4-3. With one out, Peterson singled and Bleakley walked, setting up an RBI single by Caiola. Bleakley later advanced to third base on an error and he scored on sacrifice fly for Kapp.
That was as close at NJIT got, however, as the Fighting Sioux tacked on a run in the sixth inning thanks to another leadoff triple, this one by Kwak, who scored on another Bolander ground out; and, a final run in the eighth inning, which saw a leadoff single for Ray, a ground out that moved him to second and a run-scoring double for Trygstad.
The top of the eighth inning was frustrating for the Highlanders. Peterson led off with a single, but he was thrown out attempting to stretch the hit into a double. Bleakley singled, but was erased on a fielder's choice. Kapp then hit a two-out double, becoming the potential tying run at second base. Vincent Del Vecchio then walked to load the bases and Baker was summoned to pitch for UND. Baker got the big out and then got around a leadoff walk in the ninth inning to secure the save.
NJIT and North Dakota are scheduled to wrap up the four-game conference series with a single game on Sunday with first pitch set for noon (CDT).
