Box Score

NEWARK, NJ—NJIT scored nine runs in its last four innings of at-bats to take an 11-4 win over New York Institute of Technology, completing a four-game Great West Conference baseball series sweep in the final regular season game of the season for both teams Saturday at Bears and Eagles Riverfront Stadium.
 
The victory on Saturday leaves the Highlanders with a final regular season conference record of 16-12, which is good for a share of second place in the Great West. However, they will be seeded third in the Great West Conference Tournament, which begins Tuesday in Orem, home of Utah Valley University.

Four teams entered the final day of the regular season Saturday tied for second place with 15-12 conference records. NJIT won its game and Texas-Pan American was an 11-1 run-rule winner in seven innings over Houston Baptist, leaving UTPA at 16-12 and HBU at 15-13. Texas-Pan American, having won three-of-four in its head-to-head series at NJIT May 4 to 6, earns the number two seed based on that tiebreaker.

The fourth team that entered Saturday with a 15-12 conference mark, Northern Colorado, lost at Utah Valley, 10-9, to finish 15-13. Utah Valley, which trailed 7-2 in the second inning, completed the conference schedule with a 28-0 record and will be the odds-on favorite to take its third GWC Tournament in three years. The Wolverines long ago clinched their third straight regular season title.

NJIT's first tournament opponent was determined in yet another game, as North Dakota crushed Chicago State, 20-8, to claim the sixth seed in the GWC Tournament, setting up a first-round tournament game vs. the Highlanders, who took 3-of-4 from the Fighting Sioux in Newark April 20 and 21.

The four-game sweep of NYIT for the Highlanders, their first of the season after winning three previous conference series 3-1, raised their overall record to 25-25. The defeat drops NYIT to 3-25 in the conference and 5-44 overall. The Bears, eighth in the GWC regular season, will take on host and runaway regular season champ Utah Valley on Tuesday.
 
Anthony Caiola, one of five Highlanders honored before the game in Senior Day ceremonies, had the best game of his career, going 4-for-4 and driving in five runs. His previous high for hits in a game was three, which he did twice in 3-for-3 games vs. Northern Colorado, once in 2010 and once in 2011. His previous RBI high was two, most recently at Chicago State last weekend.
 
The top two men in the Highlander batting order, leadoff man and center fielder Ed Charlton and second baseman Mike Rampone, each added three hits for NJIT. Charlton (3-for-5) hit two doubles, raising his season total to 15, while scoring a run and driving in a run. Rampone finished 3-for-4, plus a sacrifice fly and drove in a pair of runs.
 
In addition to Charlton's two doubles, the Highlanders got two-baggers from Caiola and 3B Matt Weckerle.
 
NYIT got two hits each from 1B Michael Fermin, 3B Sebastian Grazziani, and CF Robert Loftus. Both of Grazziani's hits were doubles and Fermin had one double for the Bears, who led twice in the game, taking a 2-0 lead in the top of the second inning and a 4-2 lead in the top of the fifth.
 
The Highlanders had quick responses each time the visitors went ahead. The 2-0 Bears lead stood until the bottom of the third, when NJIT scored twice. And then when NYIT took its 4-2 lead in top of the fifth, the Highlanders responded with five runs in the bottom half to go ahead for good. They added two runs each in the bottom of the sixth and the bottom of the eighth.
 
The winning pitcher for NJIT was sophomore RHP Matt Coughlin (4-3), who started and went five innings, allowing all four Bear runs (three earned) and eight hits, while walking one and striking out three.
 
Coughlin's fellow right-handed sophomore Joe Fasano took over and pitched three innings and allowed just two hits and walk, while striking out three in blanking the visitors.
 
Junior LHP Austin McAuliffe worked a 1-2-3 ninth inning for the Highlanders, extending his string of consecutive scoreless relief appearances to seven and lowering his team-best ERA to 2.37. McAuliffe has allowed one run since March.
 
The losing pitcher for NYIT was the starter, sophomore right-hander John Duggan (3-7), who went 4.2 innings and allowed eight hits and seven runs, with five walks and three strikeouts.
 
Junior lefty Dane Hardy pitched 1.1 innings, yielding two runs on a hit and two walks, with a strikeout. Another left-hander, freshman TR Waskiewicz, finished up for the Bears, going the last two innings and allowing two runs on four hits and two walks, with two strikeouts. In total, the NYIT pitchers allowed 13 hits and nine walks and hit three Highlander batters with pitches.
 
After going down in order on five pitches against Coughlin in the first inning, NYIT got on the board with a pair of runs in the second. Fermin led off with a double that kicked up chalk on the right field line and he scored when Grazziani doubled to left field at the end of a 12-pitch at-bat. The Bears eventually scored a second run (unearned) on a two-out, bases-loaded  NJIT error.
 
The Highlanders pulled even with a pair of runs in the bottom of the third inning. Caiola led off with a single and Charlton followed with his second double of the day. The next batter, Rampone, delivered a sacrifice fly for the first run and Weckerle followed with a ground-rule double that got stuck in the fence padding in right center field, driving in Charlton with the tying run.
 
NYIT reclaimed the lead with two runs in the top of the fifth inning. With one out, Ali Rodriguez was hit by a pitch on a 1-2 count. The 2011 Great West stolen base champ then swiped second base and later moved up to third base when Coughlin's pickoff attempt squirted into center field.
 
Fermin sliced a single to right field off the end of his bat, driving home Rodriguez. Grazziani followed with a double deep to left center field. Fermin tried to score all the way from first base on the play but Charlton, the NJIT center fielder got to the ball quickly and threw the ball to shortstop Jeff Peterson, whose on-target relay throw gunned down Fermin at home, with Grazziani going to third on the throw. Loftus drove in Grazziani with a low hard liner that skipped through the infield at second base for a single.
 
The Highlanders surged back on top with a five-run bottom half of the fifth. Rampone led off with a single and, after an out, Bryan Bleakley was hit by a pitch, setting up a run-scoring single through the left side by Peterson. After another out, John Bouck walked to load the bases and Andrew Benjamin followed with another walk, forcing home the tying run.
 
Caiola then singled to center field, driving in two runs. Charlton's third hit of the day, a single, brought home the fifth run of the inning for NJIT, which eventually reloaded the bases, but did not add any more runs in the frame.
 
Caiola delivered another two-out hit in the sixth inning, driving a screamer down the third base line, where NYIT's Grazziani got his glove on the ball with a backhanded dive, but it deflected into foul territory for a two-run double.
 
The Highlanders tacked on two more in the bottom of the eighth inning on a run-scoring single by Caiola and then a bases-loaded single for Rampone.
 
The five NJIT seniors honored in pregame ceremonies were: Caiola, Bleakley, John Bouck, James D'Aloia, and Reid Okita.