NEWARK, NJ—Mark Leiter Jr set a new NJIT Division I record with 14 strikeouts in seven innings of scoreless two-hit pitching, but after he departed, visiting Chicago State scored four times in the last two innings and NJIT had to hang on for a 6-4 win Thursday at Bears and Eagles Riverfront Stadium.

The win in the opener of a four-game Great West Conference series was NJIT's sixth victory in its last eight games (all in Great West Conference play). The Highlandersw are 10-15 in the GWC and 17-32 overall. The 10 conference wins pass NJIT's total in 2009, when it finished 9-18 in the inaugural Great West baseball season. Chicago State is 3-17 in the Great West and 8-37 overall.

Leiter, the right-handed sophomore, was dominant, allowing just four total baserunners on two singles and two walks and posting at least one strikeout in each of his seven innings as his season won-lost record moved to 5-2. He retired the last six batters he faced, striking out five of them and notched at least two strikeouts in six of his seven innings.

However the Great West Conference postseason tournament is looming next Tuesday (May 24). Leiter, who has been working with a week between starts, but will have two days fewer rest before the tournament, was lifted after seven innings on Thursday in order to limit his pitch count.

The visiting Cougars got an unearned run with two outs in the eighth inning and then scored three two-out runs and got the potential tying run in scoring position with two outs before sophomore RHP Kyle Burdi came in to record the final out and notch his second save of the season.

Leiter's 14 strikeouts broke the old school DI record of 13 set earlier this season both by Leiter (in eight innings vs. Utah Valley on April 8) and matched two days later by Tripp Davis (also against Utah Valley in eight innings).

NJIT's second pitcher in Thursday's game against Chicago State, freshman RHP Joe Fasano, allowed four hits and four runs (three earned) in 1.2 innings, but four of his five outs came by way of strikeout, giving the NJIT pitchers 18 strikeouts on the day.

The losing pitcher for Chicago State was the starter, freshman RHP Dylan Sterrett (2-6), who went the first six innings and allowed all six NJIT runs on five hits and two walks, while striking out four.

Sterrett allowed all six of his runs and all five of his hits and on walk in the second inning, but was nearly flawless outside of that one bad frame.

He hit his first batter of the game, but then got a double play and wound up facing just three batters in the opening inning.

The Chicago State starter had the rocky second inning, allowing all his runs and hits, but then he retired 10 Highlanders in a row from the start of the third inning before finally allowing a walk with one out in the sixth inning.

Sterrett got another out in the sixth before a batter reached on his team's only error, but the freshman got the third out. So, after allowing NJIT to bat around and score six runs in the second inning, he pitched four more innings, allowing only one walk and no more hits.

Reliever Caleb Fialka pitched the last two innings for the Cougars and allowed an eighth-inning single to Jeff Peterson for NJIT's only hit after the second, plus two walks in the eighth. But Fialka kept the Highlanders from scoring any more runs.

Each team finished with six hits in the game and Chicago State's Jeremy Ratajczyk (2-2) was the only player for either team to get more than one hit. He singled off of Leiter in the fifth inning; singled and scored a run in the eighth; and walked and scored a run in the ninth inning.

CF Albert Carpen added a two-run, two-out double in Chicago State's ninth-inning rally for the only extra-base hit of the day for the Cougars. William Hill had the visitors' third RBI on a bases-loaded walk in the ninth inning.

NJIT's six hits came from six different men. Bryan Bleakley's run-scoring double was the only extra-base hit for the Highlanders and Matt Weckerle drove in a pair of runs with a single. Anthony Caiola and Vincent Del Vecchio also drove in runs for NJIT.

NJIT batted around the in the second inning, pushing six runs across the plate. DJ Roche opened with a single, advanced to second base on a wild pitch, and scored the first run of the game on Bleakley's double over the center fielder's head.

Bleakley scored himself when the next batter, Caiola hit a sharp single. Caiola then stole second and would score on a two-out single by Del Vecchio. Walks to the next two Highlanders loaded the bases and Weckerle drove in two with a single to right field. NJIT got its sixth run on a runners-on-first-and-third steal play that resulted in the third out on a rundown between first and second base, but not before the runner at third, Teddy Bickert, crossed the plate.

Chicago State finally got on the board in the eighth inning with an unearned run crossing the plate on NJIT's first error of the day, a two-out miscue on a routine infield grounder. Fasano, who earlier had allowed back-to-back one-out singles to Ratajczyk and Hill, avoided further damage by notching his second strikeout for the third out of the inning.

The Cougars mounted their three-run ninth-inning rally with two outs. Fasano struck out the first two batters of the inning, but loaded the bases with two walks sandwiched around a single. Hill walked to force in the first run of the inning and after a coaching visit to the mound, Albert Carpen, who had struck out his previous three at-bats, laced a double to left center field, driving in two runs and trimming NJIT's lead to 6-4.

Burdi came in with runners on second and third and induced his only batter, Jonathan Carpen, to fly out to center field, securing the win and Burdi's second save of the year.

The teams are scheduled to continue the series with a doubleheader on Friday beginning at 1 pm at Bears and Eagles Riverfront Stadium.