Box score

NEWARK, NJ—Houston Baptist scored in each of the first five innings, highlighted by a two-run opening frame and a four-run fourth, en route to an 11-6 win over host NJIT in the fourth and final game of the first day's play in the 2013 Great West Conference Tournament Tuesday night at Bears and Eagles Riverfront Stadium.
 
The victorious Huskies, who came in seeded third in the eight-team field and have won 10 of their last 11, including a 4-1 mark vs. NJIT in the hot streak, upped their season record to 31-24-1. They joined the day's other winners, regular season champion Northern Colorado, North Dakota,  and Texas-Pan American in the winners bracket and will take on second-seeded Texas-Pan American in Wednesday's fourth game, which is scheduled for 7 pm. UTPA scored a walk-off 7-6 win over New York Institute of Technology thanks to four ninth-inning runs.
 
NJIT, which had a productive offensive night in the loss to HBU, with 14 hits and six runs, will take on NYIT in an elimination game scheduled for 3:30 pm. The other elimination game on Wednesday will pit three-time defending champion and fourth-seeded Utah Valley, an 8-7 loser to #5 North Dakota on Tuesday, against #8 Chicago State, which lost its first game to #1 Northern Colorado, 13-1, in seven innings. Utah Valley and Chicago State will open the day Wednesday with a 9 am game. The remaining winner's bracket game is set for 12:15 pm Wednesday, with Northern Colorado facing North Dakota.
 
Houston Baptist, which finished with 14 hits against NJIT, including three doubles and a home run, scored on the third pitch it saw from NJIT's first-team All-Great West right-hander Mark Leiter, Jr. (5-9), when leadoff hitter Luke Clements drove the ball deep over the right field fence. The Huskies added another run in the bottom of the first and then single runs in the next two frames, before plating four runs in the fourth for an 8-1 lead. HBU closed its part of the scoring with two runs in the seventh.
 
NJIT, which managed one run through the first four innings, kept pushing at the plate and scored single runs in the fifth, seventh and eighth innings, plus two in the sixth, but the closest the Highlanders, who hit two doubles and 12 singles, got was 9-5 heading to the bottom of the seventh inning.
 
The win went the HBU starter, junior RHP Ryan Lower (8-4), who also beat Leiter head-to-head, 7-5, last Thursday in the final regular season series. Lower, who pitched 5.2 innings on Tuesday, allowed 10 hits and four runs, while striking out five and walking three. The winners used three relievers to nail down the win, as sophomore LHP Brandon Hammerly allowed an unearned run in a third of an inning, sophomore right-hander Josh Martinez allowed a run in two innings and freshman RHP Matt Harding wrapped up with a 1-2-3 ninth inning.
 
NJIT's Leiter, who never found traction in his four innings, allowed eight runs on 10 hits and five walks, while striking out five. The five strikeouts for Leiter in what was likely his last college pitching appearance, raised his season total to 106, breaking the overall school record of 105, set by Dan MacDonald in 1983, when NJIT played in NCAA Division III. Leiter's 103 strikeouts in 2011 had stood as the school Division I record.

Junior RHP Joe Fasano pitched the last four innings for the Highlanders, yielding three runs on four hits, while striking out three without a walk.
 
1B Bradley Brown led the Huskies in hits, with three, including a double, in five at-bats, while driving in a pair of runs. Clements, whose leadoff homer got HBU off on the right foot, had two hits, pairing a double with his home run, and scored three runs, while 3B Curtis Jones drove in a team-leading three runs on a 2-for-3 that included a double. CF Jake Gonzalez was 2-for-5, with two runs scored and one batted in, while SS CJ Jarvis, batting eighth in the deep HBU lineup, finished 2-for-4 and scored twice.
 
Two Highlanders had three-hit nights—DH Stephan Halibej (3-for-5) and 3B Matt Weckerle (3-for-4, 3 RBI). The two Highlander doubles came from CF Ed Charlton (1-for-5, run, RBI) and 1B Tom Bouck (2-for-5, run), while LF Teddy Bickert and C Zack Renna contributed two hits each.
 
The Huskies, who wasted no time getting on the scoreboard with Clements' leadoff home run, added a second marker in the frame on Brown's two-out RBI single. HBU tacked on another two-out run in the second inning, Jones hit a two-out double down the left field line to score Jarvis, who had singled with one out.
 
The Highlanders, who got five hits through the first three innings, got on the scoreboard in the top of the third when Weckerle's two-out single to center field scored Halibej, who had poked a one-out single earlier.
 
The Huskies got the run back in short order, with three hits in the bottom of the frame , including a leadoff single for Gonzalez and a run-scoring single for Josh Martinez.
 
Already up 4-1, HBU plated four more runs in the bottom of the fourth inning on run-scoring hits for Gonzalez, a single, Brown, a double, a single by C Samm Wiggins, and a sacrifice fly by Martinez.
 
NJIT picked up its second run in the top of the fifth inning, when Halibej, who singled, came home on a fielder's choice ground out by Weckerle.
 
The Huskies answered against with a run of the bottom half on a sacrifice fly Jones, driving home Clements, who had hit a one-out double down the right field line.
 
The Highlanders, who had their fair share of hits through the first five innings, but only two runs to show for it, doubled their scoring total with two runs on three sixth-inning hits. With two outs, Charlton hit his double over the center fielder's head to bring home Renna, who had singled with one out. And Charlton scored two batters later on a single by Halibej.
 
NJIT picked up another run in the top of the seventh, but Houston Baptist answered with two runs in its half, including a successful double steal of second and home with two outs and two strikes o the batter.
 
Weckerle and Bickert opened the inning with singles and Weckerle scored later when HBU's attempt at 6-4-3 double play ended with a throwing error that went into the HBU dugout.
 
The Huskies got their first run of the seventh on a two-out single by Jones. The second run came in on the two-out, two-strike double steal, as Jones broke for second, drawing the throw through from the catcher to second base and Jarvis, who had reached on a perfectly-placed bunt down the third base line, beat the throw back to home, completing the double steal.
 
The Highlanders closed out the scoring with a run in the top of the eighth inning. With two out, Bouck drove the ball to the deepest part of the park, over 420 feet to center field, for a double and Weckerle followed by lining a run-scoring single to left field.