Box Score

TEANECK, NJ—Senior left fielder Teddy Bickert singled with two outs and the bases loaded in the bottom of the ninth inning, lifting NJIT to a thrilling come-from-behind 4-3 walk-off win against Lehigh on Saturday in the second day of a three-team baseball tournament hosted by Fairleigh Dickinson on its Naimoli Family Baseball Complex.
 
NJIT, which managed a total of two runs and three hits through the first eight innings, doubled both totals in the ninth inning to pull out the win Saturday against Lehigh. The result brought the season record for the Highlanders back to .500 at 4-4, while Lehigh slipped a game under the break-even point to 5-6.
 
The first Highlander run in the ninth inning scored on a one-out double down the left field line by freshman C Cody Kramer, who was a team-leading 2-for-4 on the day. After an out, DH DJ Roche, who earlier drove in two runs for NJIT, walked and 1B Tom Bouck singled, moving Roche to second base.
 
Kramer's RBI double tied the score for the Highlanders, who were down 3-2 entering the final half-inning. An intentional walk to Scott Brosman loaded the bases before Lehigh relief pitcher Nick Cassell (0-2) got a strikeout for the second out. Cassell is a senior right-hander.
 
Bickert is one of four NJIT seniors who first played college ball in 2010, but have received NCAA injury hardship waivers along the way, allowing them to play in 2014. His injury year was 2012. The veteran, who batted .358 in 2013, delivered the bases-loaded walk-off single to right field, scoring pinch runner Zach Emmett with the winning run.
 
Sophomore LHP Ian Bentley (1-1) got credit for the win after pitching a scoreless, one-hit top of the ninth inning with one strikeout.  
 
Bentley's work capped a strong pitching day for NJIT. Freshman RHP Alex Daniele started and allowed all three Lehigh runs on six hits and two walks in six innings of a no-decision. However, he rang up 10 strikeouts, raising his freshman season total to 23 in 19 innings. Twenty of the strikeouts have come in the last two outings.
 
Austin McAuliffe, a redshirt senior left-hander whose injury year was 2013, when he pitched one inning, preceded Bentley and allowed one hit without a run in two innings. He also struck out one.
 
Lehigh used two pitchers, with the starter senior RHP Mike Burke, yielding three hits and two runs in six innings. He struck out seven and walked two. Cassell took the mound to begin the eighth inning, retiring the side in order before NJIT rallied to win in the ninth. Cassell's line was 2.2 innings, 3 hits, 2 runs, 5 strikeouts and 2 walks.
 
While Kramer's double was the only extra-base hit for victorious NJIT, the Mountain Hawks got one double apiece from SS John Elson, RF Joe Abeln, and C Tim McKay. Abeln and McKay each finished 2-for-4 win one run batted in. Elson and Abeln were both Patriot League second-team all-stars in 2013.
 
Lehigh, which lost Saturday's other game to host FDU, 12-4, scored twice in the second inning and once more in the third to take a 3-0 lead against the Highlanders.
 
McKay singled to drive in one run in the second and 3B Patrick Donnelly later stole home on a successful double-steal with McKay.
 
The third Mountain Hawk run came on back-to-back doubles by Elson and Abein with one out in the fourth inning.
 
The 3-0 Lehigh lead held until the bottom of the sixth inning, when Bickert and RF Matt Weckerle, each of whom had walked scored on a two-out single by Roche, another of NJIT's fifth-year seniors. Roche missed 2013 following 2012 Tommy John Surgery on his right elbow.
 
The Mountain Hawks, who had three hits after the third inning, could not add to their lead, setting the stage for NJIT's comeback win in the bottom of the ninth.
 
The same two teams will get back at it on Sunday at 2 pm on FDU's Naimoli Family Baseball Complex.