Box score (Game 1)

Box score (Game 2)


WEST HARTFORD, CT—Twice in Friday's non-conference baseball doubleheader between NJIT and Hartford, the visiting Highlanders took a lead into the bottom of the final scheduled inning and twice the Hawks produced the runs they needed for walk-off victories, sweeping the twin bill, 3-2 and 11-10.
 
In the first game, scheduled for seven innings, Hartford, which managed just four hits in the game and which had scored once in six innings, pulled out the 3-2 win with a pair of runs in the seventh inning.
 
The second game was at least as painful for NJIT. Trailing 7-1 after six innings and 7-4 heading into the top of the ninth, the Highlanders broke out for six runs and a 10-7 lead. But Hartford answered with four runs in the bottom of the frame against four Highlander relievers who managed to get just one out before RF Pat Knauth delivered the walk-off single for the Hawks in an 11-10 victory.
 
Friday afternoon's doubleheader sweep lifted Hartford's season record to 7-17, while NJIT falls to 5-12. The Hawks are 6-3 in their last nine games. Since beating Saint Peter's 11-0 in the opening game of a doubleheader last Friday, NJIT has lost four in a row and the decisive runs in all four losses came in the opposition's last at-bat. Exactly half of NJIT's 12 losses on the season have been by one run.
 
A year ago, NJIT took three of four from Hartford and all three Highlander wins were by one-run margins. On Friday, the Hawks turned the tables.
 
Game 1 recap
NJIT got on the board first with what would be its only runs of the seven-inning opener, scoring a pair in the top of the third. Hartford got a run back in the fourth, but the Highlanders nursed the 2-1 lead into the bottom of the seventh with their starter Mark Leiter, Jr. pitching a two-hitter through the first six innings.
 
The Hawks got a leadoff single in the seventh, followed by a sacrifice bunt. Then came a walk and a passed ball, putting runners on second and third with one out. Leiter followed with a strikeout, but the batter 2B Brady Sheetz reached base as the result of a wild pitch on the third strike and the tying run scored from third. DH James Alfonso then singled, driving in the winning run with one out.
 
Leiter (2-4) took the loss, going 6.1 innings, allowing four hits and three runs, with six strikeouts, four walks, a hit batsman and the one crucial wild pitch that tied the game.
 
Freshman LHP Freddy Andujar, pitching in relief for Hartford, picked up his first college win after having blanked the Highlanders in the top of the seventh.
 
The Hartford starter, sophomore RHP Alex Gouin, did not figure in the decision after pitching six innings and allowing seven hits and two runs, with four strikeouts and two walks.
 
NJIT finished with seven hits, six of which were singles, plus a double for DH DJ Roche. The only Highlander with more than one hit was sophomore SS Matt Weckerle (2-for-3).
 
For Hartford, Alonso finished 2-for-4, including a leadoff double that turned into Hartford's first run in the fourth inning and then the game-winning single in the seventh.
 
The Highlanders got both of their runs in the third inning, but probably could have done more in the frame. After an out, LF Jeff Pizzi walked and CF Ed Charlton singled, moving Pizzi to third base. 2B Mike Rampone walked to load the bases. Weckerle followed with a single for the first run and James D'Aloia singled behind him, bringing home the second run, as five straight batters reached base for NJIT. However, Hartford's Gouin avoided further trouble by inducing an inning-ending double play ground out.
 
NJIT got runners on first and third with one out in the next inning, but again Gouin threw a double play ball to escape that jam.
 
Hartford got on the scoreboard in the bottom of the fourth, as Alonso got the Hawks' first hit, a double leading off and then he advanced to third on a ground out. 1B Brian Hunter followed with a sacrifice fly to right field, scoring Alonso.
 
NJIT had a chance to add to its slim 2-1 lead in the top of the sixth, when, after an out, Roche reached base and went all the way to second on a Hartford error. After a second out, Jeff Peterson was hit by a pitch and Pizzi singled to left field, but Roche was out on a play at the plate, as Hartford LF Andy Drexel was credited with an outfield assist.
 
Hartford got two baserunners in the bottom of the sixth, but Leiter held fast, keeping the 2-1 lead.
 
NJIT had an uneventful seventh, leading to Hartford's big finish in the bottom half. 3B Simon Kudernatsch, who has the unusual baseball background of hailing from the Czech Republic, led off with a single. He was bunted to second on a sacrifice and CF Rob Meerman walked. A passed ball moved the runners up a base each to second and third.
 
Then came the strikeout-wild pitch to Sheetz, bringing home Kudernatsch with the tying run and after a walk that loaded the bases, Alonso singled to left center field for the game-winner.
 
Game 2 recap
The nightcap was low-scoring through five-and-a-half innings, with the Hawks holding a 2-1 lead. However, they scored five times in the bottom of the sixth for a 7-1 lead, before the Highlanders answered with three in the top of the seventh, making the score 7-4.
 
NJIT surged into the lead with a six-run top of the ninth, but it wasn't good enough, as Hartford put four runs of its own on the board in the bottom of the ninth to score the 11-10 win.
 
The last pitchers for each team ended as the pitchers of record. Andujar, the game one winner in relief, got the game two win, as well, despite surrendering three hits and two runs in two-thirds of an inning. He is 2-1.
 
Sophomore RHP Matt Coughlin, NJIT's sixth pitcher of the day and fourth of the ninth inning, took the loss in his first decision of the year. He faced four batters, allowing all of them to reach base on two hits, a walk and a hit by pitch.
 
NJIT's starter, junior LHP Tripp Davis, who pitched eight scoreless innings a week ago in an 11-0 win against Saint Peter's, lasted 5.1 innings against Hartford, allowing eight hits and seven runs (six earned). He struck out two and walked two, while also hitting a batter.
 
Junior RHP Kyle Burdi followed Davis with 2.2 innings of one-hit, one-walk shutout work, holding Hartford at seven runs through the end of the eighth inning.
 
The four relievers in the ninth inning for NJIT were: sophomore RHP Jake Porcello; Roche; junior LHP Austin McAuliffe; and then Coughlin. McAuliffe struck out the only batter he faced, while the other three did not get an out and combined to allow four hits, four runs, two walks and a hit by pitch. The bases were loaded with four runs in when the game ended.
 
Hartford's pitchers did not paint a pretty picture, either. The starter, sophomore RHP Hunter Englehart, went six innings and allowed four runs (three earned) on six hits, five walks and a hit by pitch (there were five hit batsmen in the game—three by the Hawks).
 
Freshman RHP Alex Fiste relieved Englehart in NJIT's three-run seventh inning and allowed two inherited runners to score. But Fiste also picked up three strikeouts in the frame while allowing a hit and a walk, and hitting a batter. He was not charged with a run allowed.
 
The next UofH reliever, freshman LHP Austin Barnes, went 1.1 innings and allowed four of NJIT six ninth-inning runs on a hit, two walks, and a hit-by-pitch. Two of the runs were earned. NJIT continued its rally against Andujar, but he finally staggered to the end of the inning with a 10-7 deficit.
 
NJIT finished the nightcap with 11 hits, which came from eight different players. Rampone, the freshman leadoff man and second baseman, was 2-for-5, with two runs scored and two batted in, while 1B Tom Bouck and Peterson, the third baseman, each went 2-for-4.
 
Weckerle, Roche, and C Bryan Bleakley all hit doubles in the nightcap for the Highlanders, who did not have any triples or home runs. They also collected eight walks and were hit by three pitches, while Hartford also committed three errors and four wild pitches.
 
The victorious Hawks had 13 hits, with four different men getting two hits apiece. Among the hits were a double by Andy Drexel, triples by SS Trey Stover and by Meerman, and a home run for Kundernatsch.
 
Hartford's players with two hits in game two were: Knauth (2-for-6, 2 RBI); Sheetz (2-for-4, 2 runs); Kudernatsch (2-for-5, 3 RBI); and, Stover (2-for-3, 3 runs).
 
The Hawks got two runs in the bottom of the third, opening with back-to-back triples by Stover and Meerman, followed by a sacrifice fly from 2B Brian Estevez.
 
That was the scoring until the top of the fifth, when NJIT took advantage of two Hartford errors for an unearned run.
 
Hartford then appeared to take control of the game with a five-run bottom of the sixth, highlighted by Kudernatsch's one-out, three-run homer, his second of the season. Knauth and Alfonso also had run-scoring singles in the frame.
 
NJIT picked up three runs of its own in the seventh inning, which began with walks to Weckerle and D'Aloia, ahead of an RBI double for Roche. D'Aloia later scored when Fiste threw a wild pitch to the first batter he faced. The third Highlander run of the inning scored on a two-out single for Peterson.
 
After a scoreless eighth inning for both teams, the Highlanders got to work in the top of the ninth, loading the bases with their first three batters. Peterson then reached on an error, bringing in the first two NJIT runs.
 
After a strikeout, Rampone singled to drive in two more runs for the Highlanders. Weckerle then doubled in one more run and D'Aloia singled for the sixth NJIT run of the frame. D'Aloia's RBI raised his team-leading total in that category to 20. The Highlanders could not tack on any more runs, however, as Hartford's Andujar retired the two batters after D'Aloia to end the half-inning.
 
Porcello relieved Burdi to open the bottom of the ninth and Drexel met him with a leadoff double for the Hawks. NJIT coach Mike Cole then called on Roche, who is 2-2 as a starter, for his second relief appearance of the season.
 
Hunter immediately singled, bringing home Drexel and trimming NJIT's lead to 10-8. A passed ball moved Hunter on to second base and Sheetz walked. McAuliffe came on to face Kundernatsch and after a double steal by Hartford, McAuliffe fanned the Hawk senior for what would be the only out of the bottom of the ninth.
 
That brought on Coughlin, who had allowed one run in his first five relief appearances of the year, which was good for an impressive 1.93 earned run average.
 
Coughlin walked Stover to load the bases and then pinch hitter Chris Suchy singled, cutting the NJIT lead to a lone run, 10-9. Chris Estevez then took a bases-loaded hit-by-pitch to tie the score and Knauth won the game on a one-out single through the left side.
 
Hartford and NJIT are scheduled to conclude their three-game series Saturday afternoon at 2 pm at Fiondella Field. The game, originally slated for a noon start time on the artificial surface, was pushed back due to concerns of inclement weather earlier in the day.