Box score

GREELEY, CO—Northern Colorado, aided by NJIT's spotty defense in the fourth and fifth innings, did all of its scoring in those frames and then held off a late rally by the visiting Highlanders to defeat NJIT, 7-4, in the first of a scheduled four-game Great West Conference series played Friday afternoon at UNC's Jackson Field.
 
The Bears (7-2 Great West; 16-15 overall) scored four times in the bottom of the fourth inning to break what had been a scoreless tie and then tacked on three more runs in the fifth to build a 7-0 lead. NJIT (5-4 Great West; 13-19 overall) stayed scoreless until the seventh inning, when they plated a run, and then scored three runs in the top of the ninth, before leaving two men on base with the potential tying run at the plate.
 
Northern Colorado, which scored seven runs on eight hits, put up four runs (two earned) on three hits, aided by two NJIT errors in the fourth. The Bears' three-run fifth inning included two hits and one Highlander error that made two of the runs unearned. In UNC's six scoreless innings, the Bears managed three combined hits and the Highlanders made one error.
 
The win went to the Northern Colorado starter, 6-foot-5 junior RHP Josh Tinnon (4-1), who blanked NJIT through the first six innings on five hits and two walks, with four strikeouts. The first UNC reliever, junior RHP Lucas Corrick, pitched 2.1 innings and gave up all four NJIT runs on five hits and two walks, with three strikeouts before giving way to junior LHP Robert Hawkins, who got the last two outs, both on strikeouts, and one allowed one hit.
 
Tripp Davis, NJIT's left-handed ace, continued to be plagued by misfortune, falling to 1-6, after allowing seven runs (three earned) on six hits without a walk, while striking out eight. Junior RHP Frank Shivers continued to write an impressive comeback story, pitching the last three innings and holding the home team scoreless on two hits and two walks with three strikeouts.
 
Davis, a two-time all-Great West first-team honoree, has five games in which he has gone at least six innings and allowed less than two earned runs, but had either a no-decision or a loss. He has been betrayed by his defense on several occasions and Friday's four unearned runs means 11 of the 40 runs charged to him this season have been unearned.
 
Shivers, who has had an assortment of injuries in his college career, missed the entire 2012 season following surgery and did not appear in 2013 until the 26th game on April 7. In three relief appearances of three innings each, he has allowed a lone run for a sterling 1.00 earned run average in nine innings.
 
The hitting leader for Northern Colorado was senior DH Ben Packard, who finished 3-for-4, including two doubles. The other five hits came from five different players, with junior RF Nick Miller (1-for-4), junior 1B Colby Harrison (1-for-3) and senior C Harrison Lambert (1-for-4) doing the most damage with two runs batted in each. Miller, who hit one double, also scored a game-high two runs.
 
Although they did not get a win, the Highlanders regained the services of three players who had been sidelined by injury. CF Ed Charlton, the team's best position player, went 3-for-4 in his first action since pulling a hamstring muscle on April 6. RF Tyler Kapp, who injured a finger later in the same game that sidelined Charlton, was 1-for-2, with two walks, and 3B Matt Weckerle, who hadn't played since March 30 due to his own hamstring injury, was hitless in five at-bats in his return.
 
With 11 hits, all singles, NJIT had two men with two hits each to go with Charlton's three-hit day. Sophomore SS Mike Rampone was 2-for-5 with two runs batted in and 1B Tom Bouck was 2-for-3 with a walk.
 
With Davis allowing one hit through the first 3.1 innings and Tinnon blanking the Highlanders through four, Northern Colorado took control on four runs in the bottom of the fourth. With one out, Miller reached base on the first of what would be four NJIT errors in the game.
 
Packard and Harrison followed with back-to-back singles that brought in the first run (unearned). A hit by pitch loaded the bases and two more runs scored on Lambert's infield single. On a swinging strikeout, another unearned run scored on a double steal play that included a throwing error by the catcher on the steal attempt.
 
The bottom of the fifth began with another NJIT error that allowed 2B Landon Mosely to reach base leading off. CF Jensen Park followed with a single and Miller doubled to score two runs. Miller later scored an unearned run on Harrison's ground out.
 
Off the board through the first six innings, the Highlanders broke through in the seventh, as Bouck singled leading off and, after two strikeouts, Kapp drew a walk. LF Nick Rabasco then delivered a run-scoring single with two outs in Corrick's first inning of relief for UNC.
 
The Highlanders strung together a walk and two singles to load the bases with one out in the top of the ninth inning. After the second out, Rampone singled to drive in two runs and then Charlton was hit by a pitch, loading the bases again. A wild pitch allowed all the runners to move up, with Kapp scoring to pull the Highlanders within three runs with two men on base and two out. However, Northern Colorado's Hawkins finally closed the door with a game-ending strikeout.
 
The teams are scheduled to play a doubleheader on Saturday with first pitched scheduled for noon (Mountain Time). A single game is scheduled for Sunday at 11 am (Mountain).
 
In a week that saw the entire conference series between Utah Valley and North Dakota canceled due to snow in North Dakota and the major league Colorado Rockies and New York Mets have two games in Denver postponed by snow and a Thursday game played with temperatures in the 20s, Friday's game at Northern Colorado was played on a sunny day with temperatures in the 50s. Saturday's high for Greeley is forecast to be in the high 50s and Sunday calls for temps in the low 60s.