Box score

NEWARK, NJ—Seniors Mike Fish and Mike Allen, combined for six hits, including a home run each, and eight runs batted in for visiting Siena in a non-conference 11-8 baseball win Wednesday afternoon in the 2013 home baseball opener for NJIT at Bears and Eagles Riverfront Stadium.
 
Allen, the Siena second baseman, went 3-for-5 and drove in five runs for the Saints (4-13), who snapped a five-game losing streak. Fish, the center fielder, was 3-for-4, adding a double to his home run, with three runs scored and three batted in. 1B Larry Balkwill, also a senior, was 2-for-5, with two doubles and two RBI. Junior LF Andres Ortiz (2-for-6) and sophomore 3B Brian Fay (1-for-5) each added doubles. In all, Siena pounded out 15 hits, which included six doubles and two home runs in a barrage against five Highlander pitchers.
 
There was at least one run scored between the two teams in every inning but the second, with a combined 19 runs, 24 hits, including seven doubles and three home runs, plus 10 walks and three batters hit by pitch.
 
Siena, which is located in Loudonville, NY, just outside of Albany, was playing its first game north of Virginia when it visited NJIT. Veteran coach Tony Rossi used nine different pitchers, seven of whom pitched one inning, one who pitched two innings and another who did not record an out. The use of multiple pitchers appeared to be pre-conceived, as six of them, including starter Bryan Goossens and the first reliever, Kyano Cummings, pitched scoreless ball in their one inning of work.
 
The win went to freshman RHP Carlos Cabrera, the sixth Saint pitcher, who blanked the Highlanders in the bottom of sixth inning and got the win when his team surged into a 10-7 lead with a four-run top of the seventh inning. Cabrera is 1-1 in his rookie season.
 
NJIT, which scored as many as eight runs for just the third time in its 15 games so far, got nine hits and six walks and was hit by pitch three times. Sophomore CF Ed Charlton had a big day at the top of the order for the Highlanders, going 3-for-4, including his and the team's second home run of the season, with three runs scored and two batted in. Freshman 1B Stephan Halibej went 2-for-5, with a double, and drove in a team-leading three runs. Sophomore 2B Mike Rampone also went 2-for-4.
 
Wednesday's game was atypical of NJIT's 2013 season to date. Often, the Highlanders have gotten strong pitching but scoring runs have been a chore. On this day, the hitting and scoring were there. But, for the most part, the pitching was not. Of the five NJIT pitchers, four gave up at least one run and the first two allowed a combined nine runs. Only senior LHP Austin McAuliffe, coming back from a sprained ankle, escaped without a run charged to his ledger. He pitched the ninth inning.
 
NJIT's starter, sophomore RHP Bill VanMeerbeke, who did not figure in the decision. He allowed three runs over the first three innings and was lifted after allowing a double to open the fourth inning. RHP Joe Fasano came in to keep Siena off the board in that inning, but he allowed one run in the fifth, two in the sixth and three of Siena's four runs in the decisive top of the seventh.
 
VanMeerbeeke was credited with three innings and allowed six hits and three runs, while striking out two and walking one. Fasano, who was tagged with the loss to go 0-1 on the season, was credited with three innings and allowed four hits and six runs, only four of which were earned, with two walks and two strikeouts. The next two NJIT pitchers, Ian Bentley and Tyler Kapp, each pitched an inning and allowed one run on two hits, with a strikeout and no walks, ahead of McAuliffe, who gave up a hit and a walk in his scoreless ninth inning.
 
Siena built an early 3-0 lead through its first three innings of at-bats, but NJIT rallied back with seven runs-five in the fourth and two in the fifth-for a 7-3 advantage halfway through. However, Siena would score at least one run in each of the next four innings. The Saints got a run in the fifth and two in the sixth to pull to within one of NJIT, 7-6, through six innings. Siena broke out for four runs in the seventh and one in the eighth, before the Highlanders picked up a two-out run in the bottom of the ninth for the 11-8 final in Siena's win.
 
 
Siena got going in the top of the first inning when DH Vinny Citro led off with a single and scored on Balkwill's first double of the day. The Saints rallied for two more runs on three straight doubles with two outs in the third inning. Ortiz doubled deep to center field, Fish followed with an RBI double over the left fielder's head and then Balkwill lined a carbon copy of the Fish double to drive in the second run of the frame.
 
NJIT went ahead with five runs in their half of the third inning. The first two batters, C Zach Renna and 3B Jake Stern, were hit by pitches and Charlton walked to load the bases. LF Nick Rabasco kept the line moving with a walk, forcing home the first Highlander run. After an out, Halibej laced a sharp single to left field, driving in two more runs. SS Nick Swim singled home another run and the Highlanders picked up their fifth run of the frame on a double steal, with Halibej scoring from third after Swim took off for second drawing a throw from the catcher to second base.
 
The Highlanders two more runs with one out in the fourth inning, when Charlton blasted his second home run of the year over the left field fence, scoring Renna, who had been plunked for his second hit by pitch in as many innings leading off.
 
Siena got a run back in the top of the fifth inning, making it 7-4 with a one-out solo home run for Fish, his fourth homer of the season. The Saints used another home run in the top of the sixth to score two runs and pull within one of the Highlanders, 7-6. C Kyle Baldani reached base on an NJIT error leafing off and the next batter, Allen, hit his first home run of the season, a two-run shot to left center field.
 
Siena surged into a 10-7 lead with a four-run top of the seventh inning, keyed by a three-run double down the left field line off the bat of Allen. The Saints picked up another run in the top of the eighth inning, when Ortiz led off with a single, advanced to second base on a wild pitch and scored on Fish's single to left field.
 
NJIT, scoreless for four straight innings, got its final tally with two outs in the bottom of the ninth inning. Charlton led off with a single and moved up one base at a time on two ground outs, before Halibej doubled to left center field to chase Charlton home with the last run of the day.
 
Having faced Saint Peter's and Siena of the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference since last Saturday, NJIT is slated to face another MAAC team in a three-game series this weekend. The Highlanders will head to the Trenton area Saturday for a noon doubleheader at Rider in Lawrenceville, NJ, and then the teams will close out the series with a single game on Sunday with a noon start in Newark at Bears and Eagles Riverfront Stadium.