Box Score


BROOKLYN, NY—LIU Brooklyn scored two runs in the bottom of the seventh to force extra innings and then a two-out run in the bottom of the eighth for an 11-10 walk-off win over visiting NJIT Saturday in the opener of a scheduled baseball doubleheader on LIU Field.
 
The scheduled second game was rained out, as well a single game between the two teams that had been booked for Sunday in Newark.
 
Saturday's 11-10 win for the Blackbirds (11-9-1) was the second time in the two contests the teams completed this weekend where LIU tied the score in the game's next-to-last inning and then got a walk-off victory in the final frame.
 
The Blackbirds, winners of their last four in a row and 8-2-1 in the last 11 games, trailed Friday's series opener 5-4 heading to the bottom of the eighth inning, where they tied with a run, setting up a 6-5 triumph on another two-out run in the bottom of the ninth.
 
NJIT, 6-10 after the Saturday loss, fought back from an early 3-1 deficit on Friday to take a 5-4 lead with a run in the top of the seventh inning before LIU Brooklyn's comeback win that day.
 
On Saturday, the lead changed hands seven times overall and three times in the first three innings.
 
The third frame ended with a 3-3 tie. The Highlanders then scored four in the top of the fourth inning to grab a 7-3 advantage, only to see it erased and surpassed in the bottom of the frame, when the Blackbirds scored five times to go up 8-7.
 
NJIT knotted the score again on a run in the top of the fifth and went ahead 10-8 with a pair of runs in the top of the sixth in a game scheduled for seven innings. However, LIU generated another deadlock with two runs in the seventh and then got the winning run on a sacrifice fly by catcher Melvin Rios in the bottom of the eighth inning.
 
Saturday's win went to LIU Brooklyn senior right-hander Kevin Needham (3-0), who pitched the last 2.2 innings and did not allow a run despite yielding two hits and two walks. Needham, who went 2-for-4 as the starting designated hitter for Blackbirds, was also the winning pitcher in Friday's walk-off win.
 
The losing pitcher for the Highlanders was their second hurler of the day, freshman left-hander Jake Yanez (0-2), who was credited with 1.1 innings, 2 hits, a run, and 3 walks. He got one out in the ninth inning, but left with the bases loaded. Another freshman lefty, Brian Sondergard, entered with the bases loaded and got Rios to fly out, But the ball was hit deep enough to drive in Bobby Webb, who had reached base against Yanez, with the game-ending run.
 
Needham, the winner, was LIU's fourth pitcher of the day. He was preceded by starter Brian Drapeau, a junior right-hander who lasted 3.2 innings and allowed 10 hits and 7 runs (6 earned), while walking one and striking out four. Freshman LHP Evan Flood retired the only batter he faced and junior right-hander Dustin Carlson allowed 3 runs on 4 hits in 1.1 innings. He struck out two and did not issue a walk.
 
The start for NJIT went to redshirt senior RHP DJ Roche, who was coming off his best outing of the season (8 innings, 2 hits, 1 run, 9 strikeouts in a no-decision at Rider last weekend). Against LIU, Roche pitched 6 innings and allowed 5 earned runs (10 overall), with 8 hits and 5 walks, while striking out 7. He now has 33 strikeouts in 26.2 innings coming back from Tommy John Surgery that kept him out all of 2013.
 
LIU Brooklyn had 10 hits, including a double and home run, plus 10 walks and a hit-by-pitch. NJIT also made three errors. So, despite the 11 runs, the Blackbirds also left on base.
 
NJIT had a season-best 16 hits in defeat, their second double-digit output in the two games at LIU. The Highlanders had four doubles and two home runs in Saturday's tilt.
 
Six different Blackbirds got into the hits column, paced by Webb (3-for-5, double, 3 runs, 2 RBI), the man who eventually scored the winning run after reaching base without a hit (grounded into a fielder's choice). Needham, the DH, had a couple of hits, as did 2B Charles Misiano (2-for-3, 2 RBI).
 
Rios, whose sacrifice fly brought in the winning run, was 0-for-2, but he joined Webb and Misiano with two RBI. The Blackbird home run was hit by SS John Ziznewski (1-for-3), his third of the season on a solo shot leading off the bottom of the third inning.
 
The first eight men in the NJIT batting order all had at least one hit apiece and three—RF Matt Weckerle, 3B Mike Rampone, and Roche, who was the DH in addition to being the starting pitcher—all had three knocks each LF Teddy Bickert and 2B Rex MacMillan added two hits apiece to the Highlander attack.
 
Rampone, who is red-hot at the plate, had a double, his team-best ninth, plus his second home run in as many days. After going 3-for-5 in the game, Rampone is batting .397 plus a team-leading 10 bases-on-balls for an on-base percentage of .465.
 
Weckerle (3-for-5) hit a double, as did Roche (3-for-4, 5 RBI) and McMillan (2-for-4, 2 runs). Roche, a career .290 hitter with 29 doubles in just under 400 college at-bats, was 4-for-6 in the LIU series. MacMillan, hitless in his first six college games (0-for-16), now has a 5-game hitting streak, during which he is 7-for-18 (.389).
 
Along with Rampone's homer, NJIT also got one from CF Ed Charlton (1-for-4, 2 RBI).
 
It was the first of the season for Charlton, a stalwart at the plate and in center field his previous two seasons playing for NJIT. He was New Jersey College Baseball Association Division I Rookie of the Year as voted by the state's eight DI coaches in 2012 after batting .315 with 19 extra-base hits as a freshman and followed that with .294 and 15 extra-base hits last year, despite a recurring hamstring injury that kept him from getting consistent reps.
 
This year, he hasn't gotten going in a slow start that finds his batting average under .200, but with nearly two months' worth of games still to play, the Highlanders hope Saturday's home run is a taste of things to come, getting him back where he's been throughout his career.
 
NJIT scored first on Saturday thanks to Rampone's two-out solo shot in the top of the first inning.
 
LIU answered with two in the bottom of the first, with a pair of hits and two walks, plus two NJIT errors that made one of the runs, both of which scored with two outs, unearned. Misiano's two-out single with the bases loaded brought in the first run and the second scored on an error.
 
Roche helped his own cause with a two-run double that put the Highlanders ahead 3-2 in the top of the third inning, but Ziznewski's homer leading off in the bottom half made it 3-3.
 
The pendulum kept swinging in the fourth inning, when NJIT scored four times and LIU answered with five. Two runs came home for the Highlanders when SS Bryan Haberstroh reached base on an error after C Scott Brosman had singled and MacMillan doubled. Two more came in, unearned, on a two-out single by Roche.
 
LIU roared back with a five-run bottom of the fourth, highlighted by a two-run single for Webb and a run-scoring single for LF Jon McAllister. Two other runs scored when 1B Mark Hernandez reached base on a two-out error.
 
The Highlanders drew back even at 8-8 in the top of the fifth inning when MacMillan singled with one out, stole second with two out and scored on Bickert's single.
 
In the sixth, Rampone doubled leading off and Charlton followed with his two-run homer to left field, putting the Highlanders into a 10-8 advantage.
 
However, they didn't score the rest of the day and the Blackbirds scored twice in the seventh for a 10-10 tie. Webb led off with a double and Needham singled, pushing Webb to third base. Yanez took over the pitching for Roche and got his first batter, the catcher Rios to ground out, but Webb scored on the play. Misiano then singled home the tying run.
 
Roche, opening the top of the ninth inning singled, but he was erased on a double play and Needham got the third out easily, sending the game to the bottom half of the inning.
 
Hernandez opened the frame with a single, but was taken off then bases on a fielder's choice ground out by Webb, who would move up to second when the next batter, Needham, was hit by a pitch. RF Kyle DeMarco walked to load the bases and the game ended a batter later on the Rios sacrifice fly to right field.
 
With Sunday's previously scheduled game already called off due to the rain this weekend, NJIT next will head north to the Albany, NY, area for a game at Siena in suburban Loudonville on Tuesday at 3:30 pm. Last season the Saints beat the Highlanders in Newark, 11-8, on March 20, 2013.