Box Score
 
GLEN BURNIE, MD—NJIT baseball completed a sweep in its abbreviated two-game series at Coppin State, scoring a convincing 13-3 victory over the Eagles Sunday at Bachman Sports Complex.
 
Originally scheduled as a three-game series, the third game of the set and second game on Sunday was called in the bottom of the third inning due to rain.
 
The Highlanders, now 3-3 with wins in three of their last four contests, dominated the game that was able to be completed Sunday, building a 7-0 lead before CSU (0-6) got on the board with three runs (one earned) in the bottom of the eighth inning. With the lead reduced to 7-3, NJIT removed all doubt by exploding for six runs in the top of the ninth, highlighted by a 3-run homer for RF Matt Weckerle.
 
NJIT freshman RHP Alex Daniele worked the first seven innings, yielding one hit and no runs with 10 strikeouts in posting his first collegiate win.  Left-handed relievers Austin McAuliffe and Tyler Kapp pitched the eighth and ninth innings, respectively, for the Highlanders.
  
Weckerle, a senior, went 2-for-6, including the 3-run homer in the top of the ninth and scored one run. In the young season, he is batting .368 with a team-leading 7 runs batted in and a double, triple and now a home run, through six games.
 
It's still early enough that a good or bad weekend can skew a player's season statistics in either direction. But the early start for Weckerle reflects the form he showed as a freshman and sophomore before he endured a spotty junior season. He batted .284, scored 33 runs and drove in 21 as a rookie and then followed that with a .313 average and 34 RBI as a sophomore. He still drove in 25 runs as a junior, but his average dipped to a career-low .234.
 
In addition to Weckerle, NJIT got a 2-for-5 with three runs batted in and two runs scored from freshman CF Jesse Uttendorfer.  SS Mike Rampone, batting .375 on the year, was 3-for-5 on Sunday with two runs scored, while  freshman C Cody Kramer was 3-for-6 with an RBI and three runs scored. Kramer, who has played in five games, starting two, is 5-for-11 (.455) early in his college career for NJIT. Senior LF Teddy Bickert added two hits and a walk for the Highlanders batting in the leadoff spot.
 
Five different Coppin State batters got one hit apiece, with SS David Hamlett driving in two of the team's three runs, while senior 3B Chris Godfrey, who came off the bench for two-at bats, doubled for the Eagles' only extra-base hit.
 
Junior Yahya Muhammad, the first of three Coppin State pitchers, took the loss, falling to 0-2 after working 4.2 innings against the Highlanders and allowing 5 hits and 3 runs (2 earned). The second Coppin pitcher, Jhar Devilme, was roughed up for 9 hits, two walks and 9 runs (4 earned) in 3.1 innings.
 
The game was scoreless through the first three frames, with NJIT stranding five base runners and Coppin managing only a leadoff hit against Daniele in the bottom of the first inning.
 
The Highlanders finally broke through in the fourth inning, with 2B Bryan Haberstroh leading off the frame by being hit with a pitch, stealing second base, moving to third base on a passed ball and scoring the first run on Kramer's one-out single. Kramer subsequently stole second base and scored on a double by Uttendorfer, who later scored on an outfield error on a ball hit by Weckerle.
 
Uttendorfer keyed NJIT's 3-run seventh inning, driving home two with a one-out single. First baseman Tom Bouck knocked home the eighth-inning run for the Highlanders.
The first Highlander run of the ninth inning scored, unearned, on one of three Coppin State errors in the frame and seven in the game. Wecklerle then unloaded his 3-run homer and the last two runs came in on Coppin wild pitches.
 
Coppin, too, took advantage of errors for its 3-run eighth inning. NJIT committed three miscues in the game, but two of them happened in the eighth. After Godfrey led off the frame with a double for the Eagles, an error advanced him to third base and he scored on a sacrifice bunt that included another error on the play. With two outs, Hamlett delivered the final two CSU runs with a single.
 
Sunday's 13-3 win came on the heels of an 8-2 Saturday victory behind strong pitching performances by senior starter RHP DJ Roche and sophomore reliever LHP Ian Bentley.
 
NJIT is slated to return to Maryland next weekend, going farther south to take on another team from Coppin's Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference. Next weekend's foe is Maryland Eastern Shore, located in Princess Anne and, as the institutional name implies, on the Eastern Shore near the bottom of the Delmarva Peninsula below Delaware. The schedule calls for doubleheaders on Saturday and Sunday with a noon first pitch on both days.