Box score

NEWARK, NJ—Houston Baptist used a nine-run fifth inning to blow open what would become a 15-1 win shortened to seven innings by the Great West Conference 10-run rule in the regular season baseball finale for both teams Saturday afternoon at Bears and Eagles Riverfront Stadium.
 
The Huskies, who have won nine of their last 10 games, including 3-of-4 in the series against NJIT, finish the regular season with 17-10 record in the Great West and 30-24-1 overall. NJIT, which will host next week's Great West Conference Tournament, is 11-16 in the Great West and 19-32 overall.
 
Saturday's result means the Huskies and Highlanders will tussle again on Tuesday night in the opening round of the double-elimination GWC Tournament at Bears and Eagles Riverfront Stadium. The NJIT-HBU rematch, the fourth of four games scheduled for Tuesday in Newark, is slated to begin at 7 pm. Houston Baptist enters the tournament at the third seed, while NJIT is seeded sixth. Northern Colorado will come in as the 2013 regular season champion.
 
On Saturday, Houston Baptist pounded out 16 hits, including eight doubles, four of which were hit by senior center fielder Jake Gonzalez, plus the first home run of the year for sophomore catcher Samm Wiggins. The Huskies also drew six walks.
 
HBU scored a run in the top of the first inning, but NJIT drew even with a run in the bottom of the second inning. The tie held until top of the fourth, when 2B Josh Foust (2-for-4) hit a two-out double, breaking the tie and bringing home two of his game-high four runs batted in.
 
The visitors removed all doubt about who would win with their nine-run fifth inning that saw 13 men come to the plate—nine before NJIT could get an out. Already positioned to trigger the conference run rule with a 12-1 lead by the middle of the fifth inning, Houston Baptist added a run in the sixth inning and two more in the seventh, with the game ending once NJIT made its 21st out of the day to complete seven innings.
 
Four Houston Baptist pitchers combined to hold the Highlanders to one run on four hits, with the starter, sophomore RHP Ross Kennell (6-5), getting the win. Kennell, pitched only three innings, but was eligible for the win under NCAA scoring rules that allow a starter to get a win without completing five innings if he is on a pitch and/or innings count and the official scorer is notified in advance.
 
Although he got the win, Kennell actually gave up all four Highlander hits and their one run. Relievers Brandon Hammerly, with two innings, and Michael Hernandez and Dylan Zarosky, with an inning apiece, combined to hold NJIT hitless, with four walks, over the last four innings. Hammerly got four of his six outs via strikeout.
 
NJIT starter Bill VanMeerbeke (3-7) took the loss after pitching four complete innings, plus facing six batters without recording an out in the fateful fifth inning. His final line showed four innings pitched, nine hits, nine runs, five walks and two strikeouts.
 
VanMeerbeke gave way to LHP Ian Bentley, who allowed all three inherited runners to score, plus three of his own on three hits and a walk in one inning of work. Kyle Burdi, who was honored pregame as one of three NJIT seniors at their last regular season home game, pitched the final two innings and allowed three runs (one earned) on four hits.
 
Eight different Huskies got hits on Saturday and five of them got at least two hits, topped by the four doubles for Gonzalez. 1B Bradley Brown was 3-for-5, including a double, while 3B Curtis Jones, RF Jordan McCoy, and Foust all collected two hits apiece. In addition to Gonzalez, Brown, and Foust, who hit the tie-breaking double in the fourth inning, HBU got two-baggers from McCoy and LF Luke Clements, each of whom joined Gonzalez and Wiggins with two runs batted in on the day.
 
NJIT got its four hits, all singles, from four different players, with LF Teddy Bickert (1-for-3) scoring on a ground out by RF Tyler Kapp (0-for-2, walk) in the second inning.
 
The Huskies scored first, putting a run on the board in the opening frame with back-to-back two-out doubles by McCoy and Gonzalez, whose line drive into the left field corner on the first pitch he saw, scored McCoy easily.
 
The Highlanders knotted the score in the second inning with what would be their only run of the day. Bickert led off with a line single to left field and advanced a base when his hit was bobbled. One ground out pushed Bickert to third base and he came home on another ground out, this one by Kapp. NJIT followed with two singles and a walk that loaded the bases, but Kennell escaped the jam on an inning-ending fly out.
 
Houston Baptist reclaimed the lead for good in the third thanks to a two-out double into the left field corner by Foust that brought in Brown, who opened the frame with a single, and SS Josh Martinez, who had reached on a fielder's choice.
 
The Huskies blew the game open an inning later, with six runs charged to VanMeerbeke, who departed with three runs in and the bases loaded, and three more tacked onto Bentley's account.
 
The first two runs scored on RBI singles by McCoy and Brown and the third scored on a bases-loaded walk to DH Mike Chamberlain. Martinez, Bentley's first batter, walked to force home another run and then Foust singled up the middle for two more runs. Clements doubled down the right field line to drive in a pair and McCoy plated the ninth run of the inning on a ground out.
 
HBU tacked on another run in the sixth inning thanks to a leadoff homer by Wiggins, the sophomore catcher, and two more scored in the top of the seventh inning, the first on the fourth double of the game for Gonzalez and the second on a Wiggins sacrifice fly.
 
NJIT's pre-game senior ceremonies honored Burdi, along with Tripp Davis and Mark Leiter, Jr. who have comprised the one-two at the front of NJIT's pitching rotation since they were freshmen in 2010. Far and away the two best pitchers in the Highlanders' Division I era, Davis, a left-hander, and Leiter, a right-hander, will complete their four-year careers holding virtually all of NJIT's important school pitching records.