Box score

WEST HARTFORD, CT—NJIT broke a 5-5 tie with four runs in the top of the ninth inning and the visiting Highlanders went on to a 9-6 win in the third and final game of a non-conference weekend baseball series at Hartford Saturday afternoon.
 
The late rally in which they scored the deciding runs in their last at-bat of the day had a redemptive quality for the Highlanders (6-12). NJIT came into Saturday's contest having lost four in a row and in each of the losses, the opposition scored the deciding runs in its last at-bats. Three of the losses were of the one-run walk-off variety, including both games of Friday's doubleheader won by Hartford, 3-2 and 11-10. Saturday's loss drops the Hawks, who had won six of the previous nine games, to 7-18 on the season.
 
The winner for NJIT was its third pitcher on the day, junior LHP Austin McAuliffe (1-0), who came in with two outs in a bottom of the eighth inning that saw Hartford tie the score with an unearned run. McAuliffe got a strikeout to leave the bases loaded and then was the beneficiary of his team's four-run top of the ninth. He grabbed the win by pitching a one-run bottom of the ninth.
 
The losing pitcher was Hartford sophomore LHP Zach Ferris (0-2), who pitched the last three innings for his team, allowing four ninth-inning tallies after blanking the Highlanders in the seventh and eighth innings.
 
Making his first career start for NJIT was freshman RHP Bill VanMeerbeke, who had posted a 2.77 earned run average with 13 strikeouts and just two walks in 13 innings over five relief appearances.
 
The rookie acquitted himself well on Saturday, overcoming a three-run, four-hit first inning to log seven innings, with eight hits (four over his last six innings) and four runs (one over the last six innings), while striking out three and walking two.
 
Sophomore RHP Joe Fasano got two outs in the eighth inning and left two runners on for McAuliffe, whose two-out error allowed one of the inherited runners to score, unearned, tying the score.
 
Fasano was credited with two-thirds of an inning, one hit, one run (unearned) and a walk. McAuliffe pitched 1.1 innings, allowing two hits, a walk, and one run, with two strikeouts.
 
Hartford's starting pitcher, freshman LHP Sean Newcomb, worked six innings and allowed seven hits and five runs (three earned), with four walks and four strikeouts. Ferris, the Hawk reliever, pitched three innings and gave up five hits and four runs (two earned), with three strikeouts. He did not issue a walk, but hit two Highlander batters.
 
NJIT finished with 12 hits, which came from five men—two with three hits each and three with two hits each. LF DJ Roche and CF Ed Charlton, batting fourth and fifth, respectively, each went 3-for-4 with two runs scored and one run batted in. RF James D'Aloia, 1B Tom Bouck, and DH Anthony Caiola all added two hits each.
 
Bouck drove in two runs, while Roche, Charlton, Caiola, and C Bryan Bleakley all had one RBI. Caiola's double leading off the third inning was the only extra-base hot for the Highlanders.
 
Hartford, with 11 hits, got two each from SS Trey Stover, LF Andy Drexel, 3B Simon Kudernatsch, and 1B Brady Sheetz. Drexel led the Hawks with two runs batted in, while he and CF Rob Meerman (1-for-4) hit doubles.
 
The day began well for Hartford, as Newcomb set down the Highlanders in order in the top of the first inning and the Hawks reached VanMeerbeke for three runs in the bottom half. Drexel, Kudernatsch, and Sheets all had run-scoring singles in the frame.
 
NJIT got two hits in the second inning and Caiola's leadoff double in the third, but couldn't make a dent in the Hawk 3-0 lead until breaking through with three runs in the top of the fourth.
 
D'Aloia led off with a walk and Roche singled ahead of a sacrifice by Charlton that Hartford misplayed, allowing D'Aloia to score and Charlton to reach first base. Bouck then singled, driving home two runs and tying the score at 3-3.
 
Hartford got its fourth run off of VanMeerbeke in the bottom of the inning, as Sheetz led off with a single, moved to second and then third on two wild pitches and then scored on a one-out sacrifice fly by 2B Brian Estevez.
 
The seesaw stayed in effect the next half-inning, as NJIT, down 4-3 through four, claimed a 5-4 lead with two runs in the top of the fifth inning.
 
SS Matt Weckerle walked for the Highlanders leading off and D'Aloia singled. Hartford then misplayed another sacrifice by NJIT, this one by Roche, loading the bases with no one out. Charlton followed with a single for his team's fourth run and, after an out, Bleakley walked with the bases loaded, forcing in the go-ahead score. The threat ended on a bases-loaded double play, pitcher-to-catcher-to-first base.
 
Van Meerbeke wrapped up his day with three scoreless innings, retiring 10 of the last 11 batters he faced and handing a 5-4 lead to the Highlander bullpen.
 
Fasano came on and allowed a leadoff walk to Drexel and then got an out. Kudernatsch then singled and reached second base on the throw from the outfield, as Drexel went all the way to third base. Fasano then got Sheetz to ground out before handing the ball to McAuliffe.
 
The junior left-hander walked his first batter to load the bases and his error on a ball hit by Estevez saw Hartford tie the game before McAuliffe struck out Meerman to leave the bases loaded and send the game to the ninth inning with a 5-5 tie.
 
NJIT's four-run ninth inning began with Ferris, the Hartford reliever, hitting Weckerle. D'Aloia's sacrifice to the third base side moved Weckerle all the way to third base with the go-ahead run. Roche then singled to drive in Weckerle, breaking yet another tie.
 
Charlton followed with another single and, after a strikeout, Ferris plunked Bleakley to load the bases. Caiola followed with a single to center field and an error on the play by the center fielder, Meerman, emptied the bases for three runs, as Caiola pulled into second base.
 
Leading 9-5, McAuliffe did not have an easy bottom of the ninth inning, but he got through, never facing the tying the run. He got the first out before C Alex Bulger singled and Drexel followed with an RBI double. Drexel moved to third base on a wild pitch, but McAuliffe avoided further harm by striking out DH Brian Hunter and getting Kudernatsch on a ground out to end the game.
 
Next up for the Highlanders is a single non-conference game before they begin a string of 12 straight games in the Great West Conference.
 
The next contest is Tuesday at 3:30 pm against Rider in Lawrenceville, NJ.
 
GWC play begins on Thursday with a 6 pm home game against Northern Colorado at Bears and Eagles Riverfront Stadium. The four-game series is beginning a day earlier than the usual Friday opener due to Easter weekend.