Box Score 1 | Box Score 2


NEWARK, NJ—Another weekend date, another two-game split for NJIT baseball, as the Highlanders and visiting University at Albany divided a Sunday afternoon doubleheader at Bears and Eagles Riverfront Stadium. NJIT took the first game, 5-4, but UAlbany rebounded for a 9-5 victory in the nightcap.
 
The same two teams split a pair on Saturday in Newark (11-1, Albany; 5-4, NJIT). The Highlanders (16-21) have had 11 two-game dates this season, coming out 1-1 nine times plus winning one doubleheader sweep and losing one sweep. Seven of the nine splits have come in conventional one-opponent doubleheaders, while the other two were 1-1 days in tournaments against two different teams.
 
UAlbany (9-29) had one of its best weekends of the year. The Great Danes snapped a season-worst 11-game losing streak when they took Saturday's opening game of the series. They finished the weekend 2-2, a stretched topped only when they won three in a row from March 15 to March 18. All four games in the weekend series between the Highlanders and Great Danes were seven-inning contests.
 
NJIT, which used a walk-off home run to win Saturday's second game, 5-4, came from behind to win Sunday's first game by the same score, thanks to a two-run home run by senior catcher Scott Brosman in the bottom of the sixth inning.
 
UAlbany rallied to earn the Sunday split with a 9-5 victory in Game Two. The Great Danes took an 8-1 lead into the bottom of the fourth inning and held on, as NJIT scored four times and left seven runners on base, four in scoring position, the rest of the way.
 
Game One recap
Senior catcher Scott Brosman's two-run homer with one out in the bottom of the sixth inning was the difference for NJIT in winning Sunday's opener.
 
Brosman's second home run of the season, settled the see-saw contest after NJIT opened the game with two runs in the first inning; fell behind 3-2 on a three-run homer for UAlbany's RF Josh Nethaway in the top of the third inning; tied the game with a run in the bottom half of the fourth inning and then fell behind 4-3 when the Great Danes scored a run in the top of the fourth inning before Brosman's shot propelled the Highlanders back into the lead and, ultimately, to victory.
 
NJIT's redshirt senior right-hander DJ Roche (4-2) pitched a complete game for the win, allowing eight hits and four runs, while striking out eight and walking four.
 
UAlbany used two pitchers, with the second, junior lefty Andrew Jaurique (0-3) taking the loss after serving up the game-winning home run ball to Brosman. Jaurique, who entered with one out and a runner on first base in the fifth inning, struck out the first three batters he faced before 1B Tom Bouck doubled into the right center field gap ahead of Brosman's home run. Jaurique worked 1.2 innings and allowed the two hits and two runs, while striking out three and walking none. The starter, junior right-hander Matt Gallup, worked 4.1 innings and was charged with three runs on three hits, striking out three and walking two.
 
NJIT had only five hits in the seven-inning contest, but three of them were home runs and two were doubles.
 
After Roche had escaped the top of the first inning with the bases loaded, LF Teddy Bickert led off the Highlanders' half of the inning with a home run, his third of the season and second in as many days.
 
RF Matt Weckerle followed Bickert with a walk and the third batter, 3B Mike Rampone doubled, sending Weckerle ahead to third base, where he later scored on a ground out by CF Ed Charlton.
 
Leading 2-0 with two extra-base hits after just four batters, things looked got for the Highlanders' offense. But Gallup, the UAlbany starter, would allowed just one more hit in his 4.1 innings of work.
 
After going down 1-2-3 in the third inning against NJIT's Roche, the Great Danes got a leadoff double from CF DJ Hoagboon to start the third inning.
 
After a one-out walk, Nethaway, the senior right fielder who homered in each game of Saturday's doubleheader, did it again, depositing a  shot over the left center field fence for a three-run homer. Nethaway, who has five home runs for the season, finished the series with six hits, including a double and three home runs, 10 runs batted in and five scored.
 
The 3-2 Great Dane advantage was short-lived, as Rampone answered with a one-out solo home run in the bottom of the fourth.
 
The pendulum kept swinging and the visitors reclaimed the lead in the next half-inning. The first two batters reached base on bunt singles and the third popped out attempting a third straight bunt. A hit-by-pitch loaded the bases and Nethaway's fielder's choice ground out gave UAlbany a 4-3 edge in the top of the fourth.
 
That's where it stayed until the bottom of the fifth inning and Bouck's one-out double followed by Brosman's homer.
 
Trailing by a run heading into the final inning, Great Dane DH Brian Bullard led off with a single and then stole second representing the tying run. Roche got a big strikeout, but that brought up the dangerous Nethaway with one out. After missing with two careful pitches, the Highlanders went "against the book" intentionally walking Nethaway, to put the go-ahead run on the bases. But the strategy paid off when Roche induced a game-ending 6-4-3 double-play ground out.
 
For UAlbany, Hoagboon, the leadoff man in the order, was 3-for-4, including a double, to go with Nethaway's 2-for-3 with four runs batted in out of the cleanup spot.
 
Rampone (2-for-3, double, home run) was the only Highlander with more than one hit in the game. Bickert and Brosman drove home runs for their hits and Bouck's hit was a double.
 
Game Two recap
UAlbany earned the split, taking the second game, 9-5. The Great Danes reached the NJIT starter, freshman RHP Alex Daniele (3-3) for a run in the first inning and added a pair in the third inning before breaking the game open with a five-run top of the fourth inning that knocked Daniele from the game for his shortest outing (3.1 innings) in nine college starts. Daniele was charged with seven runs (six earned) on six hits and five walks to go with four strikeouts.
 
Relievers Austin McAuliffe and Jake Yanez combined to allow two more runs in 3.2 innings. McAuliffe, a redshirt senior, struck out four in his 2.2 innings, while walking four and Yanez got two of his three outs via strikeouts. McAuliffe and Daniele each hit two batters.
 
The visiting starter, sophomore LHP Brendan Ryan earned his first win of the season, upping his record to 1-2. He pitched five innings, allowing eight hits and four runs, while striking out two and walking four. Reliever Steven Carey pitched two innings and llowed a run on three hits, walking one, hitting one and striking out two.
 
The Great Danes got on the board in the top of the first inning, thanks to a two-out single by 1B Craig Lepre, whose single brought home the designated hitter, Bullard, who was hit by a pitch with one out, went to second on a passed ball and then stole third base.
 
The red-hot Nethaway doubled to drive in one run in the third inning and Lepre added a run-scoring single to give UAlbany a 3-0 lead.
 
The Highlanders got on the board in the bottom of the third, thanks to an RBI single from Roche, who was NJIT's designated hitter in both ends of the doubleheader. He drove in Weckerle, who hit a one-out bunt single, stole second, and headed to third base on Charlton's infield single.
 
The score got away from the Highlanders in the top of the fourth inning, as UAlbany piled on five more runs on three hits, one of which was a leadoff home run by Hoagboon. Daniele followed by striking out Bullard, but then he walked two and Lepre singled to load the bases and knock Daniele from the game. McAuliffe entered and walked his first two batters, forcing in a pair of runs. LF Adam Mund then delivered another run on a sacrifice fly and 3B Jeff VonMoser singled to cap the five-run rally.
 
NJIT got a run back in the bottom of the inning, on a bases-loaded walk to Rampone. With a chance to do more damage, the Highlanders left the bases loaded.
 
NJIT mounted another rally in the bottom of the sixth inning, scoring twice more before two were out. But they had to settle for two runs when UAlbany's Carey got the next two outs to choke off the threat of a big inning.
 
NJIT's freshman shortstop Bryan Haberstroh opened with a leadoff single and reached second base on a wild pitch. His middle infield partner, 2B Rex MacMillan, followed with an RBI single down the left field line and reached second base on a wild pitch. Carey, who had entered to face MacMillan, then gave up a swinging bunt single to Weckerle before striking out two of the next three batters, with a fielder's choice ground out to the middle bringing in NJIT's second run of the inning.
 
The Great Danes added a run in the top of the seventh inning when pinch runner Cory Kingston came home on a passed ball.
 
NJIT answered with a run in the bottom of the seventh inning, but left two on base, bringing their total of stranded base runners to seven from the fourth inning on.

Each team had two men with three hits apiece in the nightcap. Lepre and VonMoser each finished 3-for-4 for the Great Danes, while Weckerle and Haberstroh were 3-for-4 on the NJIT side. The three-hit game for the freshman Haberstroh matched his career-high, matching his three hits vs. Central Arkansas on February 23. MacMillan (2-for-4) knocked in a career-high two runs for the third time this season.
 
Next up on the NJIT schedule is a doubleheader Saturday in Princess Anne, MD vs. Maryland Eastern Shore, with first pitch scheduled for noon.
 
With 16 victories and eight games left on the 2014 schedule, the Highlanders need to win four more in order to extend their string of 20-win seasons that began in 2011. NJIT won 20 that year and followed with a 25-27 record in 2012 for the most wins in the program's Division I era, which began in 2007. The Highlanders won 20 a year ago.