Box Score


NEWARK, NJ—Visiting Wagner scored seven runs in the fourth inning and, after NJIT had come back to knot the score at 7-7, the Seahawks put up five more runs in the sixth inning en route to a 12-9 non-conference baseball win Tuesday night at Bears and Eagles Riverfront Stadium.
 
The win lifted Wagner to 20-23 on the season, while NJIT, which played its final non-conference contest of the year, drops to 14-25.
 
Both teams used a load of pitchers—five for the victorious Seahawks and six for the Highlanders—with many of the pitchers working on predetermined innings and/or pitch counts, a common practice for non-conference games at this point in the season.
 
Most of the scoring did not take place until the middle three innings. Indeed, the game was scoreless heading into the bottom of the third inning, when NJIT scored twice for a 2-0 lead.
 
Then the entire tone changed, as the NJIT starter, freshman LHP Ian Bentley, exited after a pre-determined three innings of two-hit shutout ball. Getting into the Highlander bullpen, Wagner exploded for seven runs against two relievers in the top of the fourth inning, to take a 7-2 lead that NJIT would completely erase with a five-run bottom of the fourth.
 
Order was restored in the fifth inning, when neither team scored, but the Seahawks took the lead for good with five runs in the top of the sixth inning. NJIT got two runs back in the bottom of the frame, but that was it, as neither team scored in the final three innings.
 
The win went to the third Wagner pitcher, sophomore RHP Max Schmardel (1-1), who actually gave up the last two NJIT runs and finished with a line of 2.1 innings pitched, two hits, two runs, a walk and a strikeout.
 
Senior RHP Nick Alfano closed out the last two innings for the winners, notching his first save of the season on two innings of scoreless pitching that included a hit and two walks. Alfano and sophomore RHP Steven Bloodworth, who preceded Alfano on the mound and allowed one hit in 1.2 innings, were the only Wagner pitchers to avoid allowing a run.
 
The loss went to NJIT's fourth pitcher, sophomore RHP Bill VanMeerbeke (2-5), who pitched a 1-2-3 fifth inning, but then allowed five runs on three hits, a walk and two hit batters in the decisive top of the sixth inning.
 
All 12 Wagner runs came against the second through fourth NJIT pitchers, who combined to allow the 12 runs on seven hits, four walks, and three hits batters in three innings. The last two NJIT pitchers, sophomore RHP Zach Emmett and senior RHP Kyle Burdi, combined for three shutout innings, although Emmett walked five in 2.1 innings.
 
Wagner, with 10 hits, nine walks, and three batters hit by pitch, was sparked at the top of the order by junior CF Ian Miller's 4-for-6. Second in the nation in stolen bases per game, Miller swiped his 36th bag of the year, which was one of eight successful steals on the night for the Seahawks, who were paced on this day by three steals for senior LF Jayson Keel, who raised his season total to 16.
 
In addition to Miller's four hits, Wagner got two each from 3B Nick Dini and DH Ben Ruta. One of Dini's hits was a home run and he finished with a game-best five runs batted in.
 
NJIT, which had 10 hits, five walks and two batters hit by pitch, got a 3-for-5 at the top of the order from LF Teddy Bickert, who hit his sixth and seventh doubles of the year. C Stephan Halibej and 1B Jeff Peterson each went 2-for-5 and designated hitter Scott Brosman's one hit was a grand slam that keyed NJIT's five-run bottom of the fourth inning. It was both Brosman's second home run and his second grand slam of the 2013 season and he finished the game with the four RBI on that one swing of the bat.
 
NJIT took a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the third inning, as Peterson opened with a double and after two were out, Bickert doubled to bring home the first run. Bickert later advanced on a wild pitch and scored on a single up the middle for 3B Matt Weckerle.
 
The first two NJIT relievers, junior RHP's Frank Shivers and Joe Fasano, were roughed up for a combined seven runs on four hits in the fourth inning. There was also an error, a walk, a hit-by-pitch and four stolen bases in the mix. Dini hit his three-run homer, 1B Tom Mazurkiewicz singled home two runs, and Miller drove in one run with a single, while another scored on an error following on NJIT error on a successful steal play.
 
Suddenly down 7-2, NJIT got all five runs back in the bottom of the fourth inning. The first run scored on a bases-loaded hit-by-pitch for 2B Jake Stern, followed by Brosman's shot with the bases juiced.
 
The 7-7 tie held through the fifth inning, but Wagner scored five runs in the top of the sixth and the Highlanders came back for two runs to trail, 12-9, after six, which is how the score ended.
 
The Seahawks got five runs on three hits in the top of the frame that included two-run singles for Dini and for Ruta, while SS Shaun Flynn added a sacrifice fly for the visitors. NJIT plated its runs in the bottom half on a sacrifice fly by Weckerle (1-for-3, 2 RBI) and a run-scoring double by CF Ed Charlton (1-for-4).
 
NJIT will play the remainder of its schedule in the Great West Conference, starting with a 6 pm game against Chicago State on Friday at Bears and Eagles Riverfront Stadium. That game begins a four-game conference series, with a 1pm doubleheader on Saturday and a single game at noon on Sunday.