Game One Box Score
Game Two Box Score
NEWARK, NJ—NJIT got back on the winning side in Great West Conference baseball, sweeping a doubleheader against visiting NYIT, 2-0 and 10-9, Saturday at Bears and Eagles Riverfront Stadium.
The Highlanders, who had lost six straight conference games through their 7-6 10-inning defeat against NYIT on Friday, bounced back on Saturday behind the first career shutout for sophomore RHP DJ Roche in the 2-0 seven-inning opener and then solid hitting and a fine relief effort by sophomore RHP Kyle Burdi in winning the nine-inning second game, 10-9. Burdi earned his first save of the year with 3.2 innings of scoreless, one-hit pitching in relief of sophomore LHP Tripp Davis (4-5).
The win lifts NJIT to 6-13 in the Great West Conference, while the Bears fall to 7-9 in the Great West. The Highlanders are 13-30 overall, while NYIT is 11-26.
Game One recap
Roche (1-4), who plays multiple positions, had his best college pitching game in winning the opener and he also drove in one of the runs to raise his team-leading RBI total to 30. On the mound, he blanked NYIT on five hits in seven innings, walking one and striking out a career-high 10, including the last two with the bases loaded to finish the game.
At the plate, Roche beat out an infield single with two outs in the third inning to drive in a run. He was one of eight different Highlanders to get one hit each in the game. The only extra-base hit for either team was a double for Bryan Bleakley that helped build NJIT's first run in the second inning.
NYIT had five hits, two in the seventh inning, when the Bears posed their most serious scoring threat, loading the bases with one out before Roche reached back for the two big strikeouts. Effrey Valdez and Rob Cafiero each registered two hits for the visitors.
The losing pitcher, NYIT freshman RHP Marcos Perez (2-4), was solid in defeat, allowing just the two runs in six innings on eight hits. He had four strikeouts without a walk and hit one batter.
NJIT scored runs in the second and third innings. With one out in the second inning, Jeff Peterson singled up the middle, advanced to third on Bleakley's double before coming home on a sacrifice fly to right field off the bat of Anthony Caiola.
The Highlanders put together three singles to score their third-inning run. Matt Tomczyk singled with one out and advanced on singles by Matt Weckerle and Roche, who legged out a two-out infield single to drive home the run.
Meanwhile, Roche retired 12 of the first 13 batters he faced, including six strikeouts, with the only blemish in the first four innings being a two-out first-inning single by Valdez.
Cafiero led off the fifth inning with a single for the Bears and got as far as third base, where he was stranded.
The only trouble for Roche came in the last inning, when Valdez and Cafiero each singled around an out to open the frame. Steve McNamara walked to fill the bases, but Roche responded with two swinging strikeouts to secure the victory.
Game Two recap
Having won the first game, NJIT turned to sophomore LHP Tripp Davis, who has been the team's most reliable pitcher all year, coming in with a 2.96 earned run average and not having allowed more than four earned runs in any of his 11 starts.
However, Davis, who had pitched brilliantly in some earlier losses and no-decisions, had his most difficult outing of the year, allowing nine runs in 5.1 innings. But his teammates picked him up and gave him the win with a 10-run attack and the excellent relief work of Burdi.
The first eight men in the NJIT batting order got hits, paced by the leadoff man, Tomczyk, who was 3-for-5 and drove in two runs. Teddy Bickert, Weckerle, and Bleakley all added two hits apiece, and Weckerle and Peterson joined Tomczyk as Highlanders with two RBI each. Peterson's two runs batted in came on his first college home run in the fourth inning.
The losing pitcher for NYIT was actually the most effective of the three Bears pitchers. Junior RHP JC Costa (0-2), the second reliever, took the loss when he gave up two runs in the fifth inning to break an 8-8 tie, but he did not allow another run and finished with four innings, allowing one hit, the two runs, and three walks, while striking out five.
The NYIT starter, sophomore RHP Jose Checo, allowed five runs in two innings and the first reliever, freshman LHP Nick Arevalo, was tagged for three runs in two innings.
The hitting star for the Bears in Game Two was Cafiero, who played catcher, after playing third base the first two games of the series. The freshman, who came into the day with 11 runs batted in, drove in six in Saturday's nightcap on a grand slam in the third inning and a long two-run double in the fifth inning. He was 2-for-4 in the game.
NYIT DH Ali Rodriguez was 3-for-5, while CF Jerry Smith was 2-for-3 and LF Dan Lackner, making his first start of the series, was 2-for-4.
The score seesawed, with NJIT breaking out for five runs in the bottom of the second, but NYIT coming right back for four runs of its own in the top of the third on Cafiero's grand slam.
The Highlanders put three more runs on the board for an 8-4 lead through four innings, but NYIT tied the score with a four-run top of the fifth inning.
However, NJIT pulled ahead for good in the bottom of the fifth inning, scoring twice to go up, 10-8. The Bears added one more run against Davis in the sixth, but then the two last relievers, Burdi for NJIT and Costa for NYIT, put up zeros the rest of the way and the Highlanders finished off the sweep.
NJIT loading the bases in the second inning before making an out. The first run was scored by Jeff Peterson, who came in from third on a passed ball. After a shallow fly out, Vincent Del Vecchio's ground out brought home the second run. Then the Highlanders strung together three straight two-out hits, as Tomczyk hit an RBI single, Bickert doubled, and Weckerle drove in Tomczyk and Bickert with a two-run hit to right field.
The Bears came right back when Cafiero hit an 0-2 pitch over the left field fence for a two-out grand slam, his second home run of the season. It was also the first homer allowed by Davis this season, who was pitching his 82nd inning when the string was broken.
Aside from the grand slam, Davis, who normally has excellent control, was hurt by back-to-back walks that preceded Cafiero's blast. The NJJT sophomore came into the inning having allowed just 16 walks in 81 innings.
NJIT tacked three runs onto its 5-4 lead with a two-out rally in the fourth inning. Roche singled up the middle to score Bickert, and Peterson followed with his first college home run, a two-run shot to left field, extending NJIT's advantage to 8-4.
Cafiero struck again for the Bears in the fifth inning, driving a two-run double off the left field fence and trimming the gap to 8-6. Cafiero was driven home on a double down the left field line by the next batter, 2B Michael Iglesias, who, in turn, scored the tying run on a single for Lackner.
The Highlanders broke the 8-8 tie with two runs in the bottom of the fifth against NYIT's Costa, on another run-scoring single for Tomczyk and an RBI ground out by Bickert.
The Bears answered with a run in the top of the sixth inning. Rodriguez, the last batter Davis would face, doubled off the fence in right center field and eventually scored as the result of two wild pitches by NJIT's Burdi, who also got the last two outs of the sixth inning.
Burdi walked two in the seventh inning, but escaped damage. He allowed his only hit--to Rodriguez leading off the eighth—and added another walk, but he struck out Cafiero to strand the two runners in scoring position.
In the ninth inning, Lackner reach second on a two-base outfield error with one out, but Burdi got the second out on a fly ball and the game ended when Bleakley, the NJIT catcher, picked off Lackner, who had strayed too far off second base.
The teams are scheduled to conclude the series with a single game on Sunday at 1 pm. The game will be played on the NYIT campus in Old Westbury on Long Island.
