Box Score
 
TEANECK, NJ—The plot was familiar when Lehigh spotted NJIT a 5-0 lead through four innings, but then came back late for a 7-5 win Sunday afternoon, as the teams completed play in a three-team, three-day baseball tournament hosted by Fairleigh Dickinson on the Naimoli Family Baseball Complex diamond.
 
The plot was familiar because it was a near-mirror image of a game between the same two teams played the previous day on the same field. On Saturday, it was Lehigh that built a 3-0 lead through three innings, only to have NJIT pull out a 4-3 win with four unanswered runs—two in the sixth and two more in the bottom of the ninth inning.
 
Indeed, even the pitchers of record, both relievers, were the same on the two days, although the roles were flipped. For Lehigh, senior RHP Nick Cassell, who took loss on Saturday, got the win on Sunday as the fourth pitcher to appear for the victorious Mountain Hawks (6-8). Cassell's personal record is 1-2.
 
On Sunday, Cassell faced six NJIT batters in a one-hit, scoreless 1.2 innings.
 
For NJIT (4-5), sophomore lefty Ian Bentley, the winning pitcher on Saturday, took the loss in Sunday's game. Working his third inning of the day, Bentley yielded two runs in the bottom of the eighth inning, which broke a 5-5 tie and tagged him with the loss. He, too, is 1-2.
 
Lehigh scored the deciding runs in a late rally in their last at-bat of the day.  With two outs in the bottom of the eighth, junior SS John Elson drove in a pair of runs with a double to left center to break the 5-5 tie.
  
NJIT finished with eight hits – two of which were doubles from 3B Mike Rampone (2-for-4), with six other men getting one hit each. LF Teddy Bickert, CF Ed Charlton, and SS Bryan Haberstroh all doubled for the Highlanders.
 
Lehigh got 10 hits, with nine singles going along with Elson's tie-breaking double.
 
The NJIT starting pitcher was senior RHP Matt Coughlin, who pitched five innings and allowed eight hits and five runs (three earned), with six strikeouts and two walks. Bentley allowed two runs on two hits and three walks in his 2.2 innings, while fanning two Lehigh batters. And NJIT's Tyler Kapp came on to get the last out of the eighth inning.
 
For Lehigh, the starter, senior RHP Colin Gotzon struggled on the cold day, allowing all five NJIT runs on seven hits and a walk, with two strikeouts.
 
However, the Lehigh bullpen, backed by Cassell, was tremendous, as Brandon Kulp, Steven Goldberg, and Cassell combined to lock down NJIT with no runs and just one hit over the last six innings. Kulp, a right-handed sophomore, allowed three walks and Cassell gave up the hit, a double by Rampone leading off the ninth inning, but that was all for NJIT, which struck out three times against the bullpen.
 
NJIT scored one run in the top of the first inning and added three in the third and one more in the fourth against Gotzon, who gave up two hits and run without retiring a Highlander, which brought on Kulp, who threw a wild pitch and allowed a walk, but kept any more runs from crossing the plate.
 
Trailing 5-0 through four frames, Lehigh drew even with a five-run fifth inning. The score stayed there until the bottom of the eighth inning. Given the two-run lead, Lehigh's Cassell allowed the double to Rampone opening the ninth inning, but then got the last three outs he needed.
 
NJIT got its first-inning run when Bickert was hit by a pitch leading off the game and then scored two batters later when Rampone doubled to center field.
 
Bickert also got things started in the three-run third inning, opening the frame with a double. RF Matt Weckerle followed with a single and DH DJ Roche brought home Bickert on a sacrifice fly to right field. Charlton then power an RBI double to center 1B Tom Bouck single to chase home the fourth Highlander run of the day.
 
In the fourth inning, 2B Nick Swim opened with an infield single and came around on Haberstroh's double to right center field, knocking Lehigh's Gotzon out of the game. Bickert walked as the first batter to face Kulp, but he and Haberstroh were stranded leaving NJIT with a 5-0 lead going to the bottom of the fourth inning.
 
Coughlin, the NJIT starter allowed a two-out hit in the bottom half of the inning, but the Highlanders were looking good as they took the five-run lead into the fifth.
 
The momentum shifted in a big way in the bottom of the fifth when the Mountain Hawks mounted a five-run rally to knot the score. After managing two hits through the first four innings, they reached Coughlin for six hits in the fifth inning. 2B Mike Garzillo drove in the first run on a single; RF Joe Abeln followed with a two-run single; 1B Tyler Brong singled home another run; C Tim McKay (2-for-3) had a bunt single to bring home the fifth Lehigh run.
 
In addition to McKay, DH John Scarr and LF Jacen Nalenik were each 2-for-4 at the plate for the winners.
 
With the score tied, NJIT left one runner on base in the sixth inning and seventh innings, respectively. In the eighth, it was two runners stranded, when the Highlanders couldn't cash in despite Lehigh fielding errors.
 
Given that reprieve, Lehigh punished NJIT in the bottom half. Nalesnik opened with a single and went to second base on a sacrifice bunt. After an intentional walk and a strikeout, Elson doubled home the two runs on a drive to left center field.
 
NJIT is scheduled for a nine-inning contest against Fairfield on Wednesday at Houlihan Park on the campus of Fordham, with first pitch slated for 6:30 pm.