Box Score 1 | Box Score 2

NIAGARA UNIVERSITY, NY—Niagara's junior star Jordan Schwartz played a big part in each of his team's two close baseball wins Saturday over visiting NJIT on NU's Bobo Field. Schwartz was the starting and winning pitcher in the Purple Eagles' 3-1 victory in Game One and his run-scoring single in the ninth inning lifted his team to a 5-4 walk-off triumph in the nightcap.
 
Schwartz was named Friday to the official "watch list" for the national Gregg Olson Award, which goes to "College Baseball's Breakout Player of the Year". Gregg Olson didn't do much until his sophomore season at Auburn, but finished with 3-year college career totals of 25 wins, 7 losses, and 20 saves, before going on to pitch 14 years in the majors that included 1989 American League Rookie of the Year.
 
Schwartz, undrafted out of high school, was named the best professional prospect in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference by the authoritative Baseball America. His win Saturday upped his 2014 pitching record to a relatively modest 5-6, but opponents are batting just .217 against him and he has 109 strikeouts against just 35 walks in 95.1 innings. His earned run average is 3.12 and Saturday's seven-inning effort vs. NJIT was his fifth complete game.
 
A center fielder when he isn't on the mound, Schwartz singled with two men on base and one out in the bottom of the ninth inning to overturn a comeback by NJIT, which trailed 3-0 after one inning in Game 2, but fought its way into a 4-3 lead before falling in extra innings.
 
This weekend's four-game series was delayed a day when a scheduled single game on Friday was rained out. The result was a doubleheader on Saturday and another on Sunday, with all four games set to go seven innings apiece.
 
In the opener, Niagara collected two runs in second inning and added another in the fourth, before the Highlanders finally reached Schwartz for a run in the top of the seventh inning. His final line was: 7 innings, 4 hits, 1 run, no walks and 9 strikeouts.
 
NJIT's Matt Coughlin also went the distance, allowing three runs on 11 hits in six innings, while striking out four without a walk. Coughlin, a senior in his final college start, ended the season with a 2-5 record, tossing solid complete games in his last two outings.
 
In Game Two, Niagara scored three times in the opening inning, but NJIT got a run back in the third inning and then pulled ahead briefly with a 3-spot of its own in the fifth inning. The hosts scored a run in the bottom half for a 4-4 tie that held up into extra innings before Schwartz knocked home the winning run in the ninth.
 
The win went to Purple Eagles reliever Geoff Soja (5-4), who entered with two out and a runner on third base in the fifth inning and retired all 13 Highlanders he faced the rest of the way.
 
NJIT got fine work out of its bullpen, but the second reliever, junior lefty Tyler Kapp (3-3) was the tough-luck loser. Kapp finished with four innings pitched and allowed one run and four hits, two of which came in the final decisive inning. He walked two (one in the ninth) and struck out three.
 
Niagara is 18-31 after the two close wins, while NJIT is 20-23. With two games left on the schedule, the Highlanders, who had won a season-best four in a row before Saturday, can not finish above .500.
 
Game One recap
Niagara had 11 hits, all singles, in its 3-1 wi.  3B Greg Rodgers, the pitcher Schwartz, and RF Jacob Lysiak all had two hits each. Rodgers and Lysiak each drove in a run, as did CF Anthony Firenzi (1-for-4).
 
NJIT, with four hits off of Schwartz, got its only run on CF Ed Charlton's fourth home run of the season leading off the last inning. Senior C Scott Brosman finished 2-for-3 and senior LF Teddy Bickert got the other hit for the Highlanders.
 
Both NU runs in the second inning scored with two outs. 2B Mark Meisner had reached base on a fielder's choice that was the second out for the Purple Eagles. Niagara then strung together three straight singles by SS Geoff Seto, Lysiak, and Firenzi, respectively.
 
With one out in the bottom of the fourth, Lysiak singled ahead of a second out. LF Kevin Paulsen and Rodgers then hit back-to-back singles, with Rodgers driving in Lysiak.
 
Game Two recap
The Purple Eagles eventually compiled eight hits in nine innings of the 5-4 nine-inning win in Game Two, but they scored three runs in the bottom of the first inning on just one hit against NJIT starter DJ Roche, a fifth-year senior pitching his final college game.
 
Roche, who has made a remarkable recovery from Tommy John Surgery on his right elbow in 2012, ends with a 4-2 won-lost record, plus a solid 3.97 ERA. He also has 85 strikeouts in 68 innings and opponents are batting just .204 against him.
 
On Saturday, he allowed only one hit and struck out four Purple Eagles, but he was done in by nine walks over just 2.1 innings. Five of the walks and three of the strikeouts came in the opening frame that ended with the bases loaded after the last two runs had scored on bases-loaded passes. DH Michael Fuhrman (1-for-3, 2 runs scored, one RBI) singled in the first Niagara run.
 
Roche was replaced on the mound by fellow redshirt senior Austin McAuliffe, who went two innings and allowed three hits and run before handing the ball off to Kapp for the final four innings of the game.
 
Freshman left-hander Cody Erickson started for Niagara and allowed eight hits and four runs in 4.2 innings before Soja, a right-handed senior, came on and slammed the door on rallying NJIT.
 
Each team finished with eight hits, all singles. RF Matt Weckerle and Charlton each had a pair of hits for the Highlanders. Rodgers (2-for-3) was the only Purple Eagle with more than one hit.
 
Down 3-0 after the opening inning, NJIT inched closer with a run in the top of the third inning, with 2B Mike Rampone and Charlton getting back-to-back two-out singles before Roche, who was also his team's designated hitter, reached base on a throwing error that also allowed Rampone to score.
 
Two innings later, Weckerle hit a one-out single and soon scored on an RBI single by Charlton. Roche followed with a single that saw two runs score. He got credit for one RBI. with the second run of the play and third of the half-inning coming in due to an outfield error on the play. Soja entered two outs and Roche on third base and got a ground out to end the NJIT rally.
 
Having their first, and ultimately, only lead of the day was short-lived for the Highlanders. In the half inning after the Highlanders had gone up, 4-3, Niagara leveled the score. 1B Joel Klock led off with a single and moved up a base on Schwartz's sacrifice bunt. Klock moved ahead another base on a wild pitch and scored from third on SS Robert Hansen's single.
 
Next came four consecutive scoreless innings, plus a scoreless top of the ninth inning before the ended in the bottom of the ninth.
 
After an out, Fuhrman walked and Rodgers singled to right field, putting runners on first and second base. Klock took a hit-by-pitch to load the bases and Schwartz settled things with a single, as the last four Niagara batters got on base.
 
Both teams will wrap up the 2014 season on Sunday in a doubleheader that is scheduled to begin at 11:30 am on Niagara's Bobo Field.