Box score (Game 1)

Box score (Game 2)

GRAND FORKS, ND—Visiting NJIT split a Great West Conference baseball doubleheader at North Dakota Saturday afternoon, with the Highlanders winning the seven-inning first game, 7-6, and the home team taking the nine-inning second game at Kraft Memorial Field, 6-4.
 
Both teams are in the tightly-bunched middle of the pack in the Great West, with UND holding a 9-10 conference record and NJIT sitting at 10-12 after Saturday's split. The reason for the different number of games is that UND had a whole series postponed due to snow and the Great West does not allow makeup games once the scheduled weekend has passed. Overall, North Dakota is 19-19-1 and NJIT is 18-28. North Dakota has won two of the three games in the series, with a single-game series finale slated for Sunday at noon (CDT).
 
Both Saturday games saw the team that ultimately won take an early lead and then hold off the other to close out the win. In the opener, NJIT built a 7-2 lead through the middle of the third inning, but didn't score over the final four innings. North Dakota then got to NJIT's two-time first-team All-GWC senior left-hander Tripp Davis for four two-out runs in the bottom of the fifth. But Davis bounced to pitch a scoreless sixth inning and freshman lefty Ian Bentley pitched a scoreless seventh, nailing down the win and earning his team-leading fifth save.
 
In the second game, North Dakota fell behind on an NJIT run in the first inning, but UND scored either one or two runs in the second through fifth innings, building a 6-1 advantage. The 6-1 bulge held until the Highlanders closed the gap with three runs in the top of the seventh, but as with NJIT in the first game, North Dakota had enough pitching to keep the Highlanders off the board the rest of the way and finish off a 6-4 win.
 
Game 1
NJIT, which had been buried under an avalanche of 25 North Dakota runs in the series opener on Friday afternoon, quickly served notice that it had turned the page, scoring four times in the opening half-inning Saturday. UND scored a run in its half of the first, but the Highlanders answered with two more in the second inning and another in the third. Although they failed to score the rest of the game, seven runs was enough for the Highlanders to even the series at a game apiece.
 
The win went to Davis (3-7), who lasted six innings and allowed six runs (four earned) on nine hits, with five strikeouts and one walk. Bentley allowed one hit in his inning for his fifth save, the second-highest single-season saves total for NJIT since 2007, its first Division I season, when then-junior Cory Kuzmik  saved seven.
 
The loss went to the North Dakota starter, sophomore RHP Tyler Ruemmele (1-6), who surrendered 11 hits and seven runs in four innings plus, while striking out four and walking one. Sophomore RHP Brock Johnson finished with three innings of scoreless two-hit relief, with two strikeouts, holding the fort so his team could get back within a run of the lead.
 
NJIT senior 2B Jeff Peterson went 3-for-4, including a double and his first home run of the season, with a run scored and two driven in. Classmate Teddy Bickert continued his hot hitting, going 2-for-5 in the leadoff spot, while scoring twice. Bickert, who missed most of the early part of the season with a wrist injury, is batting .409 in 20 games.
 
CF Ed Charlton and DH Stephan Halibej each went 2-for-4, with Halibej knocking in two runs on two doubles and Charlton driving in one run. Charlton was successful stealing twice and has been caught once in swiping a team-best 16 bags. 1B Tom Bouck, 1-for-2, drove in a pair of runs and is batting .327.
 
North Dakota, with 10 hits—nine singles and a double—got two hits each from 2B Patrick Vandoorne, DH Ryan Reese, and CF Jakob Threlkeld. DH/1B Jeff Campbell (1-for-3) hit the double. UND got one run batted in each from five different players.
 
NJIT's four-run first inning was keyed by Bouck's two-run double, a run-scoring double for Halibej, and an RBI double for Peterson. Charlton's single drove in Bickert, who had doubled, with NJIT's first run of the second inning and Halibej stroked his second double in as many innings to give the Highlanders a 6-1 lead in the second inning. Peterson led off the third inning with a home run, but that was all for the Highlanders, who finished with the 7-6 victory.
 
Having scored a run in each of the first two innings, UND trailed by five runs when it rallied for four two-out runs against NJIT's Davis in the bottom of the fifth. RF Zach Trygstad (1-for-3) singled to drive in the first run of the frame, the second scored on a passed ball, and Campbell later doubled in a run and 3B Tyler Follis (1-for-3) singled for another RBI before Davis got a fly out to end the inning. Four of the nine hits Davis allowed in the game and four of his six runs allowed came two out in the fifth inning.
 
The Highlanders got two men on base in each of the last two innings, but couldn't capitalize, leaving Bentley to preserve the one-run lead. He allowed a one-out single, but induced a foul out after the single and the game ended when NJIT catcher Scott Brosman caught UND's Patrick Riewer attempting to steal second base.
 
Game 2
NJIT jumped into the early lead for the third time in as many games in the series, scoring once in the top of the first inning. But UND answered with a run in the bottom of the second inning, two in the third, two more in the fourth and one in the fifth for a 6-1 lead. The Highlanders scored three in the seventh inning—two on Brosman's third homer of the year (his first non-grand slam)—but they got no closer, despite getting back-to-back singles to open the ninth inning.
 
The loss went to NJIT starter Bill VanMeerbeke (3-6), who gave up all six North Dakota runs on eight hits in six innings. He fanned six and did not walk a batter. Junior Joe Fasano worked the last three scoreless innings, allowing three hits and a walk.
 
The winning pitcher was UND starter Alex Twenge (6-1), who pitched eight innings and allowed four runs on six hits, a walk and six strikeouts. Reid Jungling got one out and Riewer, who was out trying to steal end the opener, atoned by getting the last two outs with the tying runs on base to notch his third save of the year.
 
The bottom two batters in the North Dakota order led the offense in the second game. LF Matt Wehrli, batting eighth, was 3-for-4, including his first two home runs of the season, with three runs batted in, and Reese added his first homer of the year. Threlkeld, the center fielder and ninth-place hitter, was 2-for-4 with a double. Six other North Dakota hitters got one hit each, including doubles for Vandoorne (1-for-4) and Campbell (1-for-4).
 
NJIT got a 2-for-4, including a double, from Bickert and a 2-for-3, including a double, from Nick Swim, who came into the game as a sub at third base. Brosman drove in two runs, both on his seventh-inning homer, and Charlton (0-for-4) and Peterson (1-for-3) each drove in a run in the nightcap. SS Mike Rampone (1-for-4) joined Bickert and Swim in the doubles column for the Highlanders.
 
Bickert opened the game for NJIT with a double and later scored on a ground out for Charlton. UND drew even in the bottom of the second when Reese hit an inside-the-park home run leading off. UND took the lead with two runs in the third inning on a home run for Wehrli to open the inning and a two-out single by Petersen that scored Threlkeld, who had doubled immediately after Wehlri's leadoff homer.
 
Wehrli's second home run, a two-run shot in the fourth, made it 5-1 and two wild pitches and a sacrifice fly brought home the sixth UND run after 3B Tyler Follis led off the bottom of the fifth inning with a single.
 
The 6-1 UND lead lasted into the seventh inning, when NJIT got back into contention with three runs. After two were out, Swim hit a double and Peterson drove him in with a single. Brosman homered to make it 6-4, but North Dakota's Twenge got the final out.
 
The Highlanders went down in order in the eighth and Jungling got the first out of the ninth before Riewer, who started in right field, took the mound looking for the last two outs. Halibej singled on Riewer's third pitch and Swim drove his fourth pitch for another single. However, Riewer finished off the inning and the win with a strikeout and a fielder's choice ground out, shortstop to second base for the game-ending force out.