When: May 22 to May 26 (double elimination)
NJIT's first-round matchup: May 22 vs. #6 North Dakota at 9 am MDT (11 am EDT)
Where: Brent Brown Ballpark, Orem, UT, on the campus of Utah Valley University
 
Key coverage links:

Tournament central (live video and live stats)

Tournament bracket and schedule
 
Live video
 
OREM, UT—NJIT, fresh from a four-game weekend sweep of NYIT that propelled the Highlanders into a second-place tie in the final Great West Conference standings, will join North Dakota as the first teams to take the field in the 2012 GWC Tournament Tuesday morning at 9 am (Mountain; 11 am Eastern).
 
The Highlanders, who tied Texas-Pan American in the standings with a 16-12 conference record, drew the third seed in the tournament on the basis of having lost their head-to-head regular season series against UTPA, three games to one. All four games were exceptionally low scoring, but the Broncs came out on top in a two-run win and a pair of one-run wins, while NJIT's lone win in the series was a 4-3 victory in 18 innings, the longest game in conference history and the longest for the Highlanders in their Division I era (since 2007).
 
North Dakota, a young team that earned better results as the season progressed, defeated Chicago State on the last day of the regular season to claim sixth place in the Great West, leading to Tuesday's opening matchup against the Highlanders.
 
The tournament format is double elimination, meaning teams are eliminated as soon as they lose two games.
 
The winner of Tuesday's game between the Highlanders and Fighting Sioux will play on Wednesday at 12:15 pm (Mountain) against the winner of the game between Texas-Pan American and Chicago State. Likewise, the loser of the NJIT-North Dakota game will face the loser of the UTPA-Chicago State game in a loser's bracket game on Wednesday at 9 am (Mountain). (Note: all times except the first game of the day—9 am on Tuesday and Wednesday—are approximate).
 
All games are being played at beautiful Brent Brown Ballpark in Orem on the campus of Utah Valley University. Brent Brown Ballpark is a 5,000-seat facility opened in 2005 that UVU shares with the minor league Orem Owlz of the Pioneer League. Orem, located about 40 miles south of Salt Lake City, has an elevation of 4,756 feet above sea level, not quite as high as Denver (5,130 to 5,680 feet), but certainly enough to have an impact on the way the game is played in the thin mountain air.
 
Utah Valley, which was selected as the host team in advance is the overwhelming favorite to win the tournament, a fact that is only enhanced by the fact that it is hosting on a field where it posted a 23-2 record this year.
 
Overall, the Wolverines are 43-12, including a 32-game winning streak that was the longest in Division I this year and tied for the fourth-longest in the history of Division I baseball. The 32-game streak began on March 23 and ended on an 11-10 loss to Utah on May 15.
 
The Wolverines, who are ranked in the Top 30 in multiple national Division I polls, ran through the Great West Conference this year a perfect 28-0, giving them their third crown in the three years Great West baseball has existed. Their combined three-year conference regular season mark is 76-4 and they are a combined 8-0 in their two previous GWC tournamenst, giving them an 84-4 mark vs. conference teams since 2010.
 
NJIT, which has 25 overall wins, the most for the program since it began Division I competition in 2007, had its best finish in three years of Great West play. In 2010, NJIT went 9-18 in conference play and then went 0-3 in the postseason tournament, which had a pool play format that year.
 
Last year, the Highlanders improved to 12-16 in the Great West and were eliminated in the double elimination tournament with a 1-2 record. Overall, they were 20-35 in 2011, a record that stood as the program's best Division I finish until this season.
 
This season, NJIT began Great West play at 9-2 before hitting a rough patch that saw the Highlanders lose the fourth game of their home series vs. North Dakota, then get swept at Utah Valley, and then drop the three close home games vs. Texas-Pan American. Next, NJIT split at Chicago State, meaning they followed the 9-2 start with a 3-10 skid to drop to 12-12. However, the Highlanders fought their way to a season-closing series sweep of NYIT and a 16-12 mark in the Great West.
 
NJIT has dealt with a series of injuries, among them an elbow injury to 2011 all-conference pick DJ Roche and a torn left labrum to senior captain James D'Aloia.
 
Roche last had an official at-bat on May 1 and last pitched on April 27. He shut down with the highest batting average on the team (.329), plus 10 doubles, two homers and 24 RBI in 39 games. And he was a conference starting pitcher, posting a 2.42 ERA in four GWC starts. He also batted .403 in 16 conference starts in the batting order.
 
D'Aloia, who missed all of 2011 with a leg injury, was having a terrific comeback season, batting over .300 until his average dropped to .292 when he tried to play through an injury that causes his left shoulder to pop out of its socket regularly when he attempts baseball activity. He had a team-best .418 on-base percentage among the regulars in 34 games and is also an excellent defensive outfielder.
 
NJIT has regrouped with a balanced batting order that produced eight players with at least 20 runs batted in, led by 36 from senior catcher Bryan Bleakley, who also tops the squad in home runs (9) and shares the lead in doubles (15).
 
Freshman center fielder Ed Charlton shares the doubles lead with Bleakley and has 31 runs batted in while owning a .317 average, tied for best among the remaining healthy players. He shares the batting lead with sophomore third baseman Matt Weckerle, whose .317 average includes a team-best 63 hits, with 10 doubles, three triples, three homers and 33 RBI.
 
The NJIT pitching staff is headed by junior starters Tripp Davis, a left-hander, and Mark Leiter, Jr. a right hander. Both have all-conference and all-New Jersey credentials already on their resumes. Davis is 5-2 this year with a 2.96 ERA and was 4-1 with a 1.94 ERA in seven conference starts. Leiter (5-6, 3.78 ERA overall; 3-2 GWC) is coming off his best career start, when he shut out NYIT on one hit, with 11 strikeouts in an airtight 1-0 win.
 
The other two conference starters at season's end were freshman Bill VanMeerbeke (2-5, 3.81 ERA overall; 2-4 in conference) and sophomore Matt Coughlin (4-3, 4.08 ERA; 2-2 in GWC).
 
The top reliever for NJIT is junior Austin McAuliffe, a left-hander. He allowed one run over his last 11 appearances and finished 2-0 with two saves and a team-best 2.37 ERA in 17 appearances overall. His conference ERA was 0.79 and GWC opponents batted .147 against him.
 
The top right-handed reliever was sophomore Joe Fasano, who appeared in 14 games in relief (16 overall) and had a 3-1 record with a 3.82 ERA while holding opponents to a .212 average, the best overall mark on the team.
 
Game coverage links appear at the top of this page, with other links available on the Great West Conference website (www.greatwestconference.org) and at host Utah Valley's website (www.wolverinegreen.com). The live video of conference tournament games is being presented free, courtesy of Utah Valley athletics.
 
 
2012 Great West Conference Baseball Standings
 

		GWC		Overall
Place (Seed)	Team	Won	Lost	Won	Lost
1	Utah Valley	28	0	43	12
T2 (2)	Texas-Pan American	16	12	29	20
T2 (3)	NJIT	16	12	25	25
T4 (4)	Northern Colorado	15	13	25	31
T4 (5)	Houston Baptist	15	13	24	31
6	North Dakota	10	18	17	35
7	Chicago State	9	19	12	38
8	NYIT	3	25	5	44

 
NJIT vs. Great West teams in baseball
 

	2012		All-time *
Team	Won	Lost	Won	Lost
Chicago State	2	2	10	3
Houston Baptist	3	1	6	7
NYIT	4	0	8	12
North Dakota	3	1	8	4
Northern Colorado	3	1	4	11
Texas-Pan American	1	3	4	9
Utah Valley	0	4	0	13

 
*--since 2007, NJIT's first season of Division I competition; includes Great West Tournament (0-3 in 2010; 1-2 in 2011) and pre-Great West in 2007 and 2008 (no games vs. future GWC teams in 2009).