Box score

NEWARK, NJ—Houston Baptist starting pitcher Tyler Hoelscher was perfect until NJIT's Ed Charlton singled on the first pitch in the bottom of the seventh inning. The HBU sophomore later gave up two runs in the frame, settling for seven strong innings and the win, as the Huskies topped the Highlanders, 5-2, Friday afternoon in Great West Conference baseball at Bears and Eagles Riverfront Stadium.
 
Hoelscher, a right-hander who retired all 18 batters he faced in the first six innings and who had still faced the minimum 20 batters through the second out of the seventh inning, moved into a tie for the Houston Baptist team lead for wins, as he upped his 2013 record to 7-5 with Friday's victory. Hoelscher's totals in seven full innings were: 3 hits, 2 unearned runs and 4 strikeouts without a walk. Junior RHP Kobie Hajdik recorded his fourth save with two scoreless, albeit suspenseful, relief innings for HBU.
 
HBU, a clear-cut contender to win next week's Great West Conference Tournament in Newark, is 16-10 in the Great West and 29-24-21 overall with one regular season game remaining. The Huskies have won eight of their last nine, with the only blemish coming in a 5-3 loss at NJIT in the second game of a series-opening doubleheader Thursday afternoon.
 
The Highlanders, who haven't won back-to-back since May 3 and 4 against Chicago State, drop to 11-15 in the GWC and 19-31 overall after Friday's loss.
 
Friday's loss went to the NJIT starter, junior RHP Matt Coughlin (4-5), who pitched the first six innings before giving way to junior right-handed relievers Frank Shivers (0.1 innings) and Joe Fasano (2.2 innings.
 
Coughlin, who has lost his last four decisions after going 4-1 in his first five decisions, struggled early on Friday, allowing three runs on four hits in the opening inning. But he settled down, yielding just two more hits and a run for the rest of his six-inning outing to finish with six hits, four runs, three walks and two strikeouts. Shivers was charged with a run allowed in a third of an inning and Fasano, who allowed an inherited runner to score, finished up with 2.2 innings and no runs charged to his record on two hits, two hits batters, and a strikeout.
 
HBU, with all the scoring it would need in the three-run opening inning, added single runs in the fourth and seventh innings, respectively, before the Highlanders scored their two runs on a two-out, two-run homer by 1B Tom Bouck in the bottom of the seventh inning. There was no more scoring after that, even though each team left the bases loaded in its half of the eighth inning.
 
The Huskies, with nine total hits, got two apiece from 3B Curtis Jones, RF Jordan McCoy, and DH Josh Martinez, while 2B Josh Foust (1-for-3) hit a double for HBU's only extra-base hit of the day. Five different Houston Baptist players drove in runs, with three runs batted in coming on sacrifice flies.
 
NJIT, which didn't get a runner until the seventh inning, finished with five hits over the last three innings. Charlton, the NJIT center fielder who broke up the perfect game in the seventh inning, finished 2-for-4.
 
Bouck, who hit his second home run in as many days after going homerless in his first 35 games of 2013, was also 2-for-4, with the Friday homer serving as NJIT's only extra-base hit against the HBU combo of Hoelscher and Hajdik.
 
Bouck's now-ended long-ball drought is hard to explain, since he hit six homers last year when he made significantly less frequent contact. In 2012, he batted .243. This year, his average is up nearly 100 points from a year ago to .336 overall and .412 in 22 conference games, but he had not left the park until Thursday.
 
Houston Baptist scored its first run on its first out of the day. SS CJ Jarvis began the game with a walk and Jones followed with a single to advance Jarvis to third base, setting up a sacrifice fly for LF Luke Clements. Back-to-back singles by McCoy and CF Jake Gonzalez put another run on the board and the Huskies got their third run of the frame on a sacrifice fly by 1B Bradley Brown.
 
The Huskies added one run on Foust's RBI double in the top of the fourth and another run in top of the seventh with McCoy's one-out sacrifice fly.
 
By then, however, the story was completely focused on Hoelscher, who set NJIT down 1-2-3 in each of the first six innings.
 
Hoelscher's bid for a perfect game ended when Charlton, hitting the ball where it was pitched, stroked a clean opposite-field single to right center on the first pitch of the seventh inning. Hoelscher responded by gathering himself to induce a 6-4-3 double play, meaning he still had 20 outs on 20 batters faced.
 
However, DH Stephan Halibej reached on a error, extending the inning for Bouck, who slugged the first pitch he saw over the right field wall, trimming the HBU lead to 5-2. LF Teddy Bickert followed Bouck with a single, NJIT's third hit of the inning, but Hoelscher got the final out to avoid further damage.
 
HBU loaded the bases with no one out in the top of the eighth inning, but NJIT's Fasano wiggled out of a jam he helped with back-to-back hit batters on with slow breaking balls than didn't break. Fasano's escape featured two pop outs and a fly out to end the threat.
 
No doubt with an eye on conserving Hoelscher's pitch count for next week's conference tournament, which begins on Tuesday, HBU coach Moon turned to Hajdik to come in from the Huskies bullpen for the  last two innings.
 
After two outs in the bottom of the eighth, Hajdik hit NJIT 2B Nick Rabasco with a pitch, Charlton singled, and SS Mike Rampone walked to load the bases. However, Halibej's routine fly out to left field ended the threat.
 
Houston Baptist got a leadoff single in the top of the ninth, but the runner was erased on a double play. Bouck led off the NJIT half of the inning with a single and he later went to second base when a pickoff attempt with two out went astray for the third Huskies error. However, Hajdek finished off the ninth inning as he had in the ninth, getting an inning-ending fly out to left field.
 
The teams will finish off the 2013 regular season with a single game on Saturday at Bears and Eagles Riverfront Stadium. First pitch is scheduled for noon, with Senior Day ceremonies set to begin at 11:45 am. NJIT will honor senior pitchers Kyle Burdi, Tripp Davis, and Mark Leiter, Jr. at that time.