Box score

DOVER, DE—DJ Miller led off the bottom of the 10th inning with an infield single, moved up one base each on a sacrifice bunt and a wild pitch and then scored the winning run on a walk-off single for Scott Davis, as Delaware State pulled off a 3-2 10-inning win over visiting NJIT Friday afternoon in the opener of a non-conference weekend baseball series.
 
The win at Delaware State's Soldier Field was the fourth in a row for the Hornets (6-4), while NJIT drops to 2-2 with the defeat in a game where all the scoring took place from the bottom of the seventh inning on.
 
Highlander junior LHP Tripp Davis and Delaware State senior RHP Jordan Elliott were locked in a scoreless game heading to the bottom of the seventh inning, when the home team broke through for a run against Davis in the final frame for the standout lefty.
 
NJIT got Davis off the hook and positioned him to become the winning pitcher with two runs in the top of the eighth for a 2-1 lead that held up until there were two outs in the bottom of the ninth inning. However, the Hornets rallied to tie the score in the ninth and then got the winning run with one out in the 10th.
 
The pitching decision went to relievers on both sides, as sophomore RHP Tommy Dill, who relieved Elliott and actually gave up the lead, was credited for the win, allowing two runs (one earned) in three innings work. Dill (1-1), who allowed two hits in the eighth inning and one in the ninth, allowed just a walk to James D'Aloia, while striking out two Highlanders in the 10th. Dill's total allowed was 3 hits, 2 runs (one earned), 2 walks and 2 strikeouts in 3 innings.
 
The loss went to NJIT sophomore RHP Jake Porcello (0-1), who worked 2.1 innings, allowing 4 hits and 2 runs. He did not walk a batter, but he hit two, one of whom scored the tying run in the ninth inning. Porcello registered one strikeout.
 
The Highlanders finished with five hits, two of which came from freshman 2B Mike Rampone. Jeff Pizzi and Tom Bouck each doubled for the Highlanders, with Bouck's one-out double in the eighth knotting the score at 1-1.
 
Delaware State had six hits, five of which were singles to go along with a fourth-inning double for C Cameron Cecil.
 
NJIT finished the tight contest with 10 men left on base, while DSU stranded seven.
 
Both starting pitchers controlled the game from the outset, as NJIT managed just two hits and no runs in seven innings against Delaware State's Elliott, who struck out seven and walked two, while NJIT's Davis allowed one hit through the first six innings and finished with 7 innings pitched, 2 hits, 1 run, 6 strikeouts and 3 walks.
 
Delaware State finally snapped the scoreless tie in the bottom of the seventh innings as Scott Davis and Cecil walked to open the inning and 1B Ryan Haas singled to drive in the game's first run. Staring more trouble in the eye, with runners on first and third and no one out, Tripp Davis, a first-team all-Great West Conference pitcher for NJIT in 2011, showed his mettle, retiring three straight batters to keep the scoring at one run.
 
Elliott, the Delaware State ace then gave way to Dill, 5-2 last year, mostly in relief. Dill got an out, but 3B Matt Weckerle singled and then moved up on a wild pitch before scoring from second on Bouck's double.
 
Freshman Andrew Benjamin pinch ran for Bouck and moved to third when D'Aloia got on base on an infield error. DH Bryan Bleakley then drove in the go-ahead run on a sacrifice fly to right field.
 
Porcello, the sophomore transfer, took over on the mound for the Highlanders and walked the leadoff man in the bottom of the eighth. But he got back-to-back fielder's choice ground outs and struck out Scott Davis to preserve the 2-1 NJIT lead through eight.
 
The Highlanders got a one-out walk in the top of the ninth inning, but the runner was picked off just ahead of Pizzi's double and then Dill got a ground out, denying the Highlanders an insurance run.
 
Porcello hit Cecil to open the bottom of the ninth, but Haas grounded into a 4-6-3 double play, putting the Highlanders an out away from a win with no one on base. Darien Percell then reached base on the second HBP of the frame and RF Joey Babuca singled, sending Percell on to third base. 2B JP Frey then found a hole for a single through the right side of the NJIT infield to drive home Percell with the tying run before Porcello picked up the third out of the inning a batter later.
 
The Highlanders, who had reached Dill for three hits in his first two innings, couldn't do much in the 10th, as the first two NJIT batters made out, D'Aloia walked, and then Dill retired the next batter.
 
The Hornets won the game in the bottom half of the inning, as Miller, the ninth man in the batting order, opened with a single to second base. Troy Drummond's sacrifice bunt sent Miller to second and a wild pitch moved him on to third with one out. Davis, who had scored his team's first run in the seventh inning, then drove in the game-winner on a single up the middle.
 
With heavy rain in the forecast for Saturday, the teams will take the day off and then resume the series with a doubleheader slated to start at noon on Sunday.