Box score

HOUSTON—Visiting NJIT combined 15-hit batting with one-run pitching to down Houston Baptist, 9-1, Friday afternoon in the opening game of a four-game weekend Great West Conference baseball series between the teams.
 
NJIT, winner of six of its last seven games going back to a non-conference win at Hartford on March 31, got at least one hit from every spot in the batting order and a strong starting effort from junior RHP Mark Leiter, Jr. who raised his season record to 4-4 with seven innings in which he allowed five hits and one run, while striking out five and walking six. Freshman RHP Bill VanMeerbeke and junior LHP Austin McAuliffe each pitched an inning of one-hit scoreless relief to close out the win.
 
The Highlanders, who took three of four at home last weekend against Northern Colorado to open conference play, are now 4-1 in the Great West and 11-13 overall. Houston Baptist, which swept its opening GWC series from Chicago State last weekend, is 4-1 in conference play and 12-17 overall. The Huskies had won six in a row and eight of 10 before dropping a non-conference decision to Texas Southern two days ahead of Friday's game vs. NJIT.
 
The losing pitcher for HBU in the series opener was senior RHP Dalton Schafer (3-5), who lasted 8.1 innings and allowed 13 hits and six runs (five earned), with four strikeouts and a walk. Sophomore RHP Kobie Hajdik finished up, recording two outs and allowing two hits and three runs (one earned), with a walk and a strikeout.
 
Each team scored one run in the first inning and the score stayed that way until the Highlanders got a pair of runs in the fourth inning, one more in the sixth and then blew the game open with five ninth-inning runs.
 
Included among NJIT's 15 hits were a double and a triple by C Bryan Bleakley (2-for-4), and one double each by SS Matt Weckerle (3-for-6) and CF Ed Charlton (2-for-4). The only extra-base hit of the day for Houston Baptist came from its first batter, junior 2B Josh Foust, who led off the bottom of the first inning with a triple and scored when the next batter, senior C Asai Adame, singled. Adame (2-for-2) was the only Husky with more than one hit on the day.
 
In addition to Weckerle's three hits, and the two hits each for Bleakley and Charlton, NJIT got two-hit days from RF DJ Roche and 3B Jeff Peterson, who was 2-for-5 and drove in a game-best two runs. Other Highlander runs batted in came from Weckerle, Charlton, and Bleakley.
 
The Highlanders got their first run of the day on a no-outs, bases-loaded double play. The first three runners had reached base, as 2B Mike Rampone singled, Weckerle singled, and LF James D'Aloia was hit by a pitch. Roche then bounced into the 4-4-3 double play, with Rampone crossing the plate on the play, before Schafer induced another ground out to escape with one run allowed.
 
Houston Baptist drew even quickly on the Foust triple and Adame single, but that would be it for the home team against Leiter, VanMeerbeke, and McAuliffe.
 
Both starting pitchers put up zeros in the second and third innings until the Highlanders gained the upper hand with a pair of runs in the fourth inning. Roche led off with a single and came all the way around when Charlton followed, doubling to center field. 1B Tom Bouck walked and Bleakley put down a sacrifice bunt that was thrown away by Schafer, the HBU pitcher, allowing Charlton to score with an unearned run.
 
NJIT eventually left two men on base in the top of the fourth inning and Houston Baptist did the same in the bottom half. The Highlanders left two more on base in the top of the fifth and the Huskies left one in the bottom half, before NJIT finally added another run in the top of the sixth.
 
After an out, John Bouck, Tom's older brother, singled as a pinch hitter. Peterson followed with another single and Weckerle doubled down the right field line, scoring John Bouck with the fourth Highlander run.
 
NJIT stranded two more baserunners in the sixth and, after a 1-2-3 seventh, the Highlanders left two more on base in the eighth. HBU left the bases loaded in Leiter's final inning, the seventh, but could not manage any runs, keeping the score at 4-1, NJIT. The final left-on-base totals would show 12 for the Highlanders and eight for the Huskies, despite the fact that each team turned two double plays.
 
The Highlanders left two more men on base in the ninth inning, but they also scored five runs, making for a comfortable finish. With one out, Roche singled and was hit by a pitch, prompting a Houston Baptist pitching change, with Hajdik relieving Schafer.
 
Tom Bouck singled off of Hajdik, loading the bases. Bleakley then grounded out to shortstop, bringing home the fifth run for the visitors. Pinch hitter Scott Brosman was hit by another pitch, reloading the bases and Peterson followed with a two-run single, making it 7-1. A walk to Rampone loaded the bases again and Weckerle's ground ball to shortstop went through for an error, with two more runs coming in on the play.
 
VanMeerbeke, the NJIT freshman right-hander, has been terrific in relief, allowing only five runs out of the bullpen in seven appearances, with three of the runs coming in four innings at Wake Forest, ranked 24th in the nation at the time.
 
On Friday, VanMeerbeke took over in a high-leverage spot, with a three-run lead on the road, and allowed a leadoff single. But then he got a fly out and a double-play ground out to stamp out the threat. His earned run average, which includes a solid seven-inning start at Hartford, is a strong 3.42. Among his attributes is control, with an impressive 21 strikeouts and just five walks (one intentional) in 23.2 innings.
 
McAuliffe, who has had scoreless outings in four of his last five relief appearances, added to that on Friday with a strong ninth inning at Houston Baptist. He, too, allowed a leadoff single, but that runner was erased on a 4-6-3 double play and the game ended on a fly out.
 
NJIT and Houston Baptist are slated to meet in a doubleheader on Saturday, starting at noon (Central).
 
The Huskies came into this series with a 6-3 lead in the all-time baseball series between the schools, which began in 2010, along with the start of Great West Conference play.
 
Last year in Newark, the teams split the four-game regular season series. However, Houston Baptist ended NJIT's 2011 season, ousting the Highlanders from the Great West Conference Tournament, by routing NJIT, 17-3, for the Highlanders' second loss in the double-elimination tournament.
 
In 2010, the Huskies took three of four in a series played in Houston and they did not meet in the GWC postseason tournament.