Box Score
 
NEWARK, NJ—Visiting Fairfield pounded NJIT's first four pitchers for 19 runs and 20 hits in the opening seven innings en route to a 19-4 win over the Highlanders Monday night at Bears and Eagles Riverfront Stadium in the  final non-conference game of the season for both teams.
 
The Stags (25-25) did not score in the opening inning, but they put up at least two runs in each of the succeeding six innings, with a high of seven runs in the third inning, before finally being held off the board in the eighth inning and ninth inning. Monday's win gave Fairfield, which stands third in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference, five wins in its last six games. NJIT dropped to 21-25 with the loss.
 
In a common practice for weekday non-conference college games, each team used a lot of pitchers.

Fairfield's freshman right-hander Jeremy Soule  pitched the first four innings, allowing one hit, an unearned run, and two walks, while striking out one in his 11th start of the season. After that, the Stags used one reliever for each of the final five innings. The NJIT starter, junior RHP Kyle Burdi (0-2) pitched the first two innings and was tagged with the loss due to Fairfield's three second-inning runs that gave the visitors a lead they never came close to relinquishing.
 
After Burdi departed, NJIT used five relievers, and the first three, all freshmen, were hit hard, combining to yield 16 runs on 16 hits over the ensuing five innings.
 
Joe Fasano, a right-handed sophomore, finally brought some order to the mound for NJIT in the eighth inning, retiring Fairfield 1-2-3 in his only inning. And Austin McAuliffe, a junior left-hander, retired all three Stags he faced in the ninth inning.
 
With 20 hits, including five doubles, a triple, and two home runs, plus five walks, Fairfield had a large number of hitting stars. Leading the way were junior first baseman Anthony Hajjar, who was 4-for-5, including two doubles and a triple, with five runs batted in. Sophomore designated hitter Rob LoPinto, who came into the game with 18 at-bats and one run batted in for the season, started and batted 4-for-6, including two doubles, with four runs scored and four batted.
 
Four other Stags had two hits apiece. The Fairfield home runs were hit by LF Ryan Plourde, his fourth of the year, and 2B Dean Sadik, his first. In addition to the two doubles each for Hajjar and LoPinto, Fairfield also got a two-bagger from SS Larry Cornelia.
 
NJIT managed five hits and three of them came from sophomore third baseman Matt Weckerle, who finished 3-for-4, including a double and a triple. Jeff Peterson hit a double for NJIT's only other extra-base hit and Bryan Bleakley and Tom Bouck joined Weckerle as Highlanders with one run batted in apiece.
 
Fairfield's scoring breakdown was three runs in the second inning, seven in the third, two each in the fourth and fifth, three more in the sixth, and two in the seventh.
 
NJIT got on the board with an unearned run in the fourth, picked up a pair of tallies in the sixth and then one in the eighth.
 
After a scoreless first inning, Fairfield broke on top with a three-run top of the second inning that included an RBI single for LoPinto, a run scored on a wild pitch and a sacrifice fly for Cornelia.
 
The Stags poured across seven more runs in the top of the third. The first six batters in the inning reached base in the inning and three different Stags produced two-run hits in the inning, as Mike Bennett drove in a pair with a single, LoPinto hit a two-run double and Hajjar tripled to drive in two more. The seventh Fairfield run came in on a two-out error, NJIT's only fielding miscue of the night.
 
Fairfield added two more runs in the fourth, as LoPinto drove in a run with a two-out double and then scored on a double to right field for Cornelia.
 
NJIT finally scored its unearned run in the bottom of the fourth inning. With one out, Mike Rampone walked and Weckerle singled for the first Highlander hit of the night. After another out, Peterson hit a ball to shortstop for what looked like a fielder's choice force out, but the shoulder-high throw glanced off the Fairfield second baseman's glove for an error, eliminating the out and allowing Rampone to score.
 
Fairfield put up two more runs before it made an out in the fifth inning, as Hajjar got on base leading off and Plourde lined a home run into the visitors' bullpen in left field.
 
The top of the sixth inning saw the Stags throw up three more runs, with a two-run double for Hajjar and a run-scoring pinch-hit single for Nick Piccirillo.
 
The Highlanders got their first earned runs in the bottom of the half of the inning when Weckerle hit a one-out triple into the right center field gap and then scored on a shallow fly out to right by Bleakley. Peterson followed with a two-out double to the same spot as Weckerle's earlier triple and Bouck drove him in on a single.
 
Fairfield added two more runs in the top of the seventh, with one coming in on a long solo homer for Dean Sadik leading off the inning and the second scoring on a ground rule double to the deepest part of the field by Hajjar.
 
NJIT scored the last run of the night in the bottom of the eighth, as Weckerle doubled to right center field, driving in Rampone, who had walked leading off the half-inning.
 
The Highlanders will close out the regular season later this week with a Great West Conference series against New York Institute of Technology. The series begins at NYIT on Thursday afternoon with a single game at 3 pm. The same two teams will play a doubleheader Friday afternoon on Long Island and then wrap up with a single game at 1 pm on Saturday in Newark.