Box score

AMHERST, MA—The University of Massachusetts used a pair of five-run innings to defeat visiting NJIT, 10-4, Friday in the first game of a three-game non-conference weekend baseball series.
 
UMass broke a 10-game slide, as the Minutemen won their 2013 home opener after playing the first 13 games away from home. Their record is 2-12, while NJIT, with three losses in a row, is 6-13. The teams are scheduled to conclude the series on Saturday with a doubleheader starting at noon.
 
NJIT scored the first two runs of the game, putting up single tallies in the first and fifth innings, before UMass surged ahead for good with a five-run bottom of the fifth inning against the NJIT starting pitcher, senior left-hander Tripp Davis, who took the loss for his fourth defeat in as many decisions. Davis was charged with eight hits and five runs, with an uncharacteristic three walks, plus two strikeouts in seven innings.
 
Davis pitched scoreless ball in the sixth and seventh innings, allowing his team to close the gap to 5-4 when they put up single scores in the seventh and eighth innings. However. UMass put the game far out of reach with five runs in the bottom of the eighth.
 
Junior RHP Joe Fasano relieved Davis and pitched one inning, allowing five runs (all unearned), but five hits and a walk. He recorded three strikeouts in a frame that saw the Highlanders commit all three of their errors for the game.
 
The winning pitcher for Massachusetts was junior RHP DJ Jauss (1-3), who worked the first 6.2 innings, allowing just two hits and one earned run (three total), while striking out seven and walking five. Junior LHP Aaron Plunkett recorded his first save of the season for the Minutemen, with 2.1 innings, one hit, one run, one walk, and one strikeout.
 
UMass pounded out 11 hits, including two doubles and a triple and the Minutemen also used their legs to put pressure on the Highlanders, with six steals in six attempts. Four UMass batters produced two hits apiece. They were: 1B Nick Campero. 3B Paul Yanakopulos, C John Jennings, and SS Vinny Sciffo. Yanakopulos, Jennings, and Scifo, the numbers seven, eight, and nine batters in the UMass order combined to go 6-for-12. Yanakopulos and Scifo hit doubles, while Ryan Cusick (1-for-3) hit a triple and drove in two runs. He also scored two runs, as did DH Rob McLam, Yanakoulos, and Jennings.
 
NJIT managed just three hits—two singles for C Zack Renna and a double for 3B Matt Weckerle. However, the Highlanders drew six walks and they also got an extraordinary five baserunners via hit-by-pitch.
 
Hit batsmen played a big role in NJIT's first-inning run. CF Ed Charlton was plunked leadfing off and the stole second with one out. Weckerle then walked before 1B Stephan Halibej was hit by a pitch, loading the bases. 2B Mike Rampone then hit into a fielder's choice for an RBI, as Charlton scored from third on the play.
 
The Highlanders made it 2-0 in the top of the fifth, with Weckerle's double to right center field setting the table. He advanced to third on a ground out and came in on the play when the throw over to first base got away for an error and an unearned run.
 
UMass, held to no runs on one hit through the first four innings by Davis, exploded for five runs on five hits in the fifth inning. CF Kellen Pagel led off with a walk and then stole second. Yanakopulo doubled, but Pagel did not score, instead moving up just one base to third. However, the next batter, Jennings, singled, driving in the first run. After an out, Cusick drove a two-run triple to center field and UMass had a 3=2 lead. Davis then got a ground out and Cusick held at third base. However, the third out of the frame proved elusive, with McLam singling home the fourth run and then stealing second base. A walk put another man on base and RF Adam Picard singled to chase home McLam with the fifth UMass run.
 
The Highlanders got back runs in the seventh and eighth innings. The seventh inning run was scored by SS Nick Swim, who had opened the inning by reaching base on an error and later scored on a double-play ground out. NJIT's run in the eighth inning was helped along by a UMass balk. Jake Stern, a pinch hitter, walked to lead off and Renna followed with a single, his team-leading second hit of the day. The two freshmen then moved up on the balk and Stern scored on a ground out, with RF Andrew Benjamin getting credit for the RBI.
 
Having clawed back into contention, down a run, NJIT let it slip away. UMass collected five more runs in the bottom of the eighth inning on five hits, with three stolen bases, combined with three NJIT errors, plus a passed ball. Four of the runs in the inning scored after two were out. What should have been the third out came when NJIT's Fasano fanned LF Rich Graef, but Graef reached first base safely on an error, enabling UMass to add four runs to their 6-4 advantage.