Box score
GRAND FORKS, ND—NJIT stayed alive in the 2011 Great West Conference Baseball Tournament, defeating Chicago State 5-2 Wednesday morning in the first elimination game at the University of North Dakota's Kraft Memorial Field.
The next game for the Highlanders, 1-1 in the tournament, will be Thursday at 1 pm (CDT) against the loser of Wednesday's winners' bracket game between host North Dakota and Houston Baptist. During the regular season, NJIT took three of four from North Dakota and split a four-game set against Houston Baptist.
NJIT and Chicago State had both lost their opening-round games on Tuesday, placing each team on the brink of elimination, with Wednesday's winner continuing in the double-elimination tournament and the loser going home for the year.
The Highlanders struck three times in the bottom of the first inning, giving them all the runs they would ultimately need for the day.
Sophomore left-hander Tripp Davis took care of things on the defensive end, tossing a complete-game, five-hitter, with 10 strikeouts and two walks, raising his won-lost record to 6-6. Davis, a first-team all-Great West honoree, lowered his team-leading earned run average to 3.69 and his sixth complete game is a new NJIT Division I record, while his 107.1 innings pitched in 2011 is a new all-time school record.
Davis' six wins match the school Division I record for a season, as he joins PJ Saporito, who was 6-5 for the Highlanders in 2007, their first year of Division I competition.
As a team, NJIT reached the 20-win mark for the first time in its five years competing at the Division I level and for the ninth time in the history of a program that began in 1949. Starting with a 20-11 record in 1981, NJIT reached the 20-win circle five times when it was a Division III program under the late Gene Schmid, an NJIT Hall of Famer. The Highlanders later topped 20 wins in each of their last three seasons competing at the Division II level from 2004 to 2006 for coach Brian Callahan. The highest previous wins total for NJIT against Division I competition was 15 in 2007.
Another school season record fell on Wednesday when shortstop Matt Tomczyk singled in the fourth inning for his second hit of a 3-for-4 day. The senior now has 68 hits this season, breaking the old mark of 66, set in 2010 by Teddy Bickert.
In addition to Tomczyk, the Highlanders got a 2-for-4 day from junior catcher Bryan Bleakley among their eight hits. One of Bleakley's hits was a double, the only extra-base hit of the game for NJIT.
Five Highlanders drove in one run each and five scored on run each. The runs batted in came from Tomczyk, DJ Roche, Jeff Peterson, Bleakley, and Anthony Caiola. The run scorers were: Bickert, Matt Weckerle, Roche, Bleakley, and Tyler Kapp.
Chicago State (9-41) had five hits, paced by senior SS Michael Carpen, who was 2-for-4, including a triple that led off the sixth inning and later resulted in the first Cougar run.
The losing pitcher for the Cougars was the starter, freshman RHP Derek Borst (0-9), who lasted 6.1 innings and gave up all eight NJIT hits, plus three walks. He was charged with five runs (four earned). Junior RHP Andrew Watson pitched 1.2 innings of hitless, scoreless relief for CSU.
NJIT scored three runs on five hits in the first inning and added a run in the second for a 4-0 lead that stood until the top of the sixth, when Chicago State got its first run. The Highlanders answered with a run in the bottom of the sixth and the Cougars tacked on the final run of the game in the top of the eighth inning.
Tomczyk led off the Highlanders' half of the first inning with a single and after a force out, NJIT strung together four straight singles from Weckerle, Roche, Peterson, and Bleakley to send three runners across the plate.
The first two batters in NJIT's second inning walked and they both moved up on a wild pitch before Tomczyk's only out of the day, a ground out to shortstop, brought home Kapp with the fourth Highlander run.
Michael Carpen led off the sixth inning with a triple and a came home when the next batter, Weston Lewis, delivered a sacrifice fly to center field.
NJIT's Bleakley reached third base to open the bottom half, hitting a double and advancing a base on the play due to an outfield error. Caiola followed with a ground out to shortstop, bringing in Bleakley with the last Highlander tally.
Chicago State got the final run of the game in the eighth inning with all three of its Carpen brothers getting into the act. Albert Carpen led off with a walk and stole second base. Michael Carpen followed with a bunt single, putting runners on first and third. Davis then struck out Lewis before Jonathan Carpen grounded out to third base, bringing home his brother, Albert, with the second Cougar run.
There was no drama in the ninth inning, as Davis finished off Chicago State in order, including strikeouts of the last two Cougar batters.
