Box score (Game 1)

Box score (Game 2)


NEWARK, NJ—NJIT and Saint Peter's split a non-conference baseball doubleheader Friday night at Bears and Eagles Riverfront Stadium, with the Highlanders combining a 15-hit offense with a dominant start from junior LHP Tripp Davis for an 11-0 win in the opener and the Peacocks earning the split, 5-4, on a walk-off solo home run in the 10th inning of the second game.
 
Although the games were played at NJIT's home field, the Highlanders were the home team for the first game, a nine-inning contest, and the designated “away” team for the nightcap, which was scheduled for seven innings, but went an extra three to reach the final decision.
 
Friday's doubleheader split left NJIT's season record at 5-9, while Saint Peter's is 6-17.
 
Game 1 recap
The Highlanders pounded out 11 runs on 15 hits in the opener, with a three-run first inning, two more in the third and then six in the eighth to put the contest completely out of reach.
 
But NJIT didn't need anywhere near that much offense for Davis (1-1), who was at his economical best, scattering  three hits and three walks in eight innings, while striking out five in a game where he had the Peacock batters off stride throughout. Sophomore RHP Joe Fasano worked a scoreless ninth to finish off the win for the Highlanders.
 
The losing pitcher was Saint Peter's sophomore RHP Zack Hopf (1-4), who came in with a tidy 2.45 earned run average, but was touched up for five runs on nine hits in six innings in his sixth start of the year.
 
SPC's first reliever, Edward Mejias did not allow a run, but the Highlanders plated six runs against two Peacock relievers in the eighth.
 
NJIT 3B Jeff Peterson went 3-for-5 in Game One and five other Highlanders knocked out two hits apiece, including C Bryan Bleakley, who had two double and drove in four runs. RF DJ Roche also got two hits, including a two-out three-run homer in the opening inning that gave Davis more than enough offense to win the game. The homer was the first of the year for Roche, who hit four as a sophomore in 2011.
 
Saint Peter's managed four singles in the opening game, two of which came from its leadoff hitter, senior SS Justyn Carter, who opened the game with a hit and later singled with two out in the eighth.
 
The Highlanders took control early against Hopf, when Roche lined a two-out, 2-2 pitch over the left field fence for a three-run homer. NJIT picked up two more runs with two outs in the bottom of the third, as Bleakley doubled down the right field line to bring home James D'Aloia with a run and Bleakley scored on Peterson's single to left.
 
NJIT piled on six extra runs in the eighth, highlighted by Bleakley's bases-loaded double that cleared the bases with two outs. Matt Weckerle (2-for-4) singled home the first run of the inning and D'Aloia (2-for-3, 2 runs) got an RBI with a bases-loaded walk.
 
Game 2 recap
Scheduled for seven innings with Saint Peter's designated as the home team, the nightcap took 10 innings to decide, after the Peacocks built a 4-0 lead in the opening two innings.
 
NJIT worked its way back and eventually tied the score on a run in the top of the seventh inning. But senior 1B Chris Grimes homered to left field with one out in the bottom of the 10th, giving the Peacocks the walk-off victory, their third win in the last four games, including a 3-1 upset Tuesday at defending Big East champion Seton Hall.
 
Senior Dom Macaluso, the third Peacock pitcher, earned the win, his first of the year in five decisions, with 4.1 strong innings of relief. He allowed three hits and one run, striking out three and walking one. The win was the 15th of Macaluso's career.
 
The losing pitcher, in his first college decision, was NJIT freshman RHP Bill VanMeerbeke, who had pitched 4.1 innings of two-hit shutout relief before delivering the pitch that turned into Grimes' walk-off homer. VanMeerbeke struck out two and walked one. The rookie right-hander lowered his season ERA to 2.77 and has allowed just eight hits in 13 innings spread over five appearance, with 13 strikeouts and only two walks.
 
Saint Peter's, which lost the opener, 11-0, appeared ready to turn the tables on NJIT in the nightcap, collecting four runs on four hits in the first two innings against Roche, who was on the mound to start for the Highlanders.
 
However, he settled down and held Saint Peter's to two hits and no runs over the next three-plus innings, allowing NJIT to work its way back into contention. Roche's final line showed five innings, six hits, four hits, four runs, four walks and four strikeouts, before handing the ball to VanMeerbeke with one man on base and no one out in the sixth.
 
Senior RHP Matt Yuhas, the Saint Peter's starter, worked the first five innings for his team, allowing four hits and three runs (one earned), with four strikeouts and three walks. Freshman RHP Mark Wilson got one out in the sixth inning before handing the ball to Macaluso, who went the rest of the way for the Peacocks.
 
Each team got nine hits in the nightcap, with three players from each team collecting a pair of hits apiece. Grimes, the walk-off hero, was 2-for-3, while fellow senior Russ Stupienski, who began the game in left field and finished at catcher, was 2-for-4 with three runs batted in. 3B Brian Koster was also 2-for-4.
 
NJIT got three hits each from freshman 2B Mike Rampone, Bleakley, and Peterson, while D'Aloia drove in two runs for the Highlanders despite going 0-for-3. His sacrifice fly in the top of the seventh inning knotted the score at 4-4 and ultimately forced extra innings. Rampone had the other RBI for the Highlanders, who fought back with a run in the third inning, two in the fifth, and then the tying run in the seventh.
 
Saint Peter's scored its first run of the day in the first inning of the nightcap, as Stupienski rapped a two-out double in the left center field gap, driving home Grimes, who had walked earlier.
 
The Peacocks added another run on a two-out hit in the second inning, as DH Pat Farrell singled through the right side, scoring RF Matt Mancini who had singled two batters before. Saint Peter's then loaded the bases for Stupienski, whose bouncer up the middle snuck through on the second base side to send in two more runs and give the Peacocks a 4-0 lead.
 
NJIT picked up an unearned run in the top of the third inning, as CF Ed Charlton worked a leadoff walk and went all the way to third with one out, when SPC made one of its four errors on a fielder's choice ground ball off the bat of SS Matt Weckerle, who ended up at second base on the play. Charlton scored the first Highlander run on the first of two sac flies in the game for D'Aloia.
 
The Peacocks got a runner on third with no one out in the bottom half of the third, but the runner, Koster, was erased at home on a failed suicide squeeze play that went into the books as a caught stealing and the score stayed at 4-1.
 
NJIT scored twice in the top of the fifth inning and had runners on second and third with one out, but the rally ended when Tom Bouck hit a towering fly ball to the fence in right field where it was caught, back touching the wall, by the right fielder, who then threw in for a double play when the Highlander on third base, Rampone, was called out for leaving base early.
 
The Highlanders had another threat in the top of the sixth inning, when the first two batters reached base. However, the Peacocks turned a sacrifice bunt attempt into a force out at third and Macaluso entered and induced an inning-ending double play on the first pitch he threw.
 
NJIT drew even in the top of the seventh inning thanks to a one-out sacrifice fly to center field by James D'Aloia that scored Rampone from third base. The speedy Rampone had reached base on a one-out walk and motored to third on Matt Weckerle's single to right center field.
 
The Highlanders produced mild threats in the ninth and 10th innings, respectively, but could not break through for the go-ahead run. They got two men on base with two outs in the ninth, but the inning ended on an infield ground out. And Roche walked with one out in the 10th, and after an out, he was thrown out trying to reach third base on Peterson's single to left field that would have been a double if Roche had been safe on the bang-bang call at third.
 
The long evening finally ended in the bottom of the frame when Grimes sent the ball over the left field fence on a 1-0 count with one out.
 
The teams are scheduled to meet in a single game on Saturday at noon. The game will be played at SPC's Jaroschak Field in Jersey City.