NEWARK, NJ—An old coach once said-- If it ain't broke, don't fix. And that's exactly the approach the NJIT baseball team used Sunday, as it had in the weekend's previous three games against LIU Brooklyn. The Highlanders combined strong pitching and good, if not overpowering, hitting for a 9-1 win over the visiting Blackbirds Sunday at Riverfront Stadium.
NJIT (10-7) won the series opener on Friday afternoon, 8-3, and then swept a Saturday doubleheader, 6-3 and 4-2, before taking out the brooms for Sunday's 9-1 win.
LIU Brooklyn, which was a solid 7-9 coming into the series, leaves Newark with a 7-13 record. The Blackbirds have lost six straight in a slide that began in Florida against Stetson, alma mater of New York Mets 2014 National League Rookie of the Year Jacob deGrom.
NJIT's team earned run average in the four-game series vs. LIU was a strong 2.25 and Sunday was a continuation of what came before in the weekend's games.
Freshman RHP
Johnny Malatesta raised his rookie won-lost record to 3-1, as he started and pitched six innings, allowing just one run, while scattering seven hits and striking out six without a walk. Malatesta lowered his personal ERA to 3.38.
Another freshman, RHP
Tommy Derer, got his first college save by closing the game with three 1-2-3 innngs. Derer, who struck out three batters on Sunday, has not allowed an earned run in 6.2 innings over five appearances.
LIU used five pitchers, with the starter, sophomore Nick Ferijomil ((0-3) taking the loss after allowing two runs in 3.1 innings. The first four Blackbird pitchers all allowed to runs apiece and the fifth, junior Vincent Tranchina, allowed one run.
The Highlanders built their lead gradually, score once in the first inning and once in the third. The Blackbirds came back for what would be their only run of the day in the top of the fifth inning, but NJIT answered with two in the bottom of the frame. They Highlanders put the game out of reach with a four-run bottom of the seventh inning and added another marker in the eighth.
NJIT's 14-hit attack saw eight of the nine players who batted get at least one hit, paced by CF
Ed Charlton and 3B
Mike Rampone, each of whom went 3-for-5 in the game. Charlton, who doubled and tripled in the game, batted .563 in the series (9-for-16, 3 doubles, triple, home run).
The seniors Charlton and Rampone, each scored two runs Sunday, as did sophomore SS
Bryan Haberstroh (2-for-4, including his third home run of the season and of the series). Haberstroh batted .538 (7-for-13, double, 3 HR) for the weekend. His season's average is .373, second on the team to Rampone's .439.
Sophomore C
Cody Kramer was 2-for-5 Sunday with a pair of runs batted in.
LIU Brooklyn, with seven hits, got two each from CF Jon McAllister and DH Melvin Rios. McAllister drove in the Blackbird run with a two-out single in the fifth inning.
NJIT's first run came home on a two-out single by freshman LF
Evan Pietronico.
Charlton led off the home half of the third inning with double and the next batter, Haberstroh, knocked him home with a single. The same combo struck again in the fifth inning, as Charlton hit a leadoff triple and scored on a wild pitch to Haberstroh, who then homered.
The four-run seventh for the Highlanders included run-scoring singles by Kramer and Charlton sandwiched around a two-run single for sophomore 2B
Rex MacMillan. And Kramer singled to drive in Rampone, who had led off the NJIT eighth with a single, wrapping up the scoring.
The Highlanders will stay local for their next game, taking the short drive to Jersey City on Tuesday for a 3:30 pm game against Saint Peter's at Joseph J. Jaroschak Field, located in Lincoln Park, part of the Hudson Couny park system.
