STATEN ISLAND, NY—Visiting NJIT scored seven runs in each end of its baseball doubleheader Saturday afternoon at Wagner. The seven markers were plenty for a 7-1 opening game victory, but seven were not quite enough in an 8-7 second-game loss that needed nine innings to settle a game that was scheduled for seven innings.
 
The Highlanders (16-13-1) cooled off a hot Wagner team in the opener with the strong freshman pitching combination of starter Sean Lubreski and reliever Tommy Derer,
 
Wagner (16-13-1), which came in with eight wins in its preceding 10 games, including the last three straight, managed just a lone second-inning run against Lubreski (3-2), who worked the first 5.2 innings and scattered seven hits, while walking two and striking out two. Derer, who made his ninth relief appearance of the season, finished up with 1.1 innings, allowing a hit and no runs. It was his seventh scoreless appearance and eighth without allowing an earned run.
 
The loss went to Wagner's junior starter Mike Adams (3-2) after he allowed seven runs (six earned) in 3.2 innings.
 
Wagner scored its run in the second inning for a brief 1-0 lead, but NJIT exploded for six runs in the next half-inning for a 6-1 lead in the third inning. The Highlanders added another run in the fifth inning for the comfortable seven-inning victory.
 
The visiting Highlanders seemed poised for a doubleheader sweep when they took a 6-2 lead into the bottom of the fifth inning of the nightcap, which, like the first game, was scheduled for seven innings.
 
But the sweep never happened, as Wagner refused to die in the late innings and ultimately prevailed in extras. The Seahawks scored twice in the bottom of the fifth inning, cutting the deficit to 6-4 and they added another pair of runs in the sixth for a 6-6 tie.
 
The Highlanders reclaimed the lead with a run in the top of the seventh inning, but couldn't hold on, as Wagner forced extra innings in the bottom of the frame.
 
After a scoreless eighth inning and nothing for NJIT in the top of the ninth, Wagner won the game in the bottom half on a one-out single with a runner on second base.
 
For Wagner to pull out its walk-off extra-inning win, it meant defying some long-standing positive trends for the NJIT pitching staff.
 
NJIT's junior left-handed ace Ian Bentley came in with wins in each of his previous five games, all starts in which he pitched at least six innings and held the opponents to two runs or less in four of the games. On Saturday, he lasted five innings and allowed four runs, but departed with a two-run lead..
 
Blown saves are not an official statistic in college, but applying the professional standard, the NJIT bullpen had not blown a save in its opponent's last scheduled at-bat through the first 29 games of 2015. Going into the bottom of the seventh of Saturday's nightcap, NJIT had 16 wins, eight of which involved saves, six by senior Tyler Kapp.
 
However, the Highlanders took absorbed a blown save in their 30th game when Wagner managed a pair of runs in the bottom of the seventh inning to keep the game going.
 
Finally, Derer, the freshman right-hander who had yielded just one earned run in nine previous appearances, including in Saturday's opener, finally allowed a run in the bottom of the ninth inning, as Wagner escaped with a split of the doubleheader. He is 2-2, with the only other loss coming on an unearned run back on March 22 against Niagara.
 
The winning pitcher in the nightcap was the fourth of four Wagner pitchers, Steven Bloodworth (2-0) who pitched the last two innings and blanked the Highlanders on one hit.
 
Indeed, three Wagner relievers made the extra-inning win possible, as they limited NJIT to one run on two hits over the last 4.1 innings after the Highlanders reached starter Nick Pavia for six runs in 4.2 innings.
 
The Highlanders got production throughout their batting order in taking the first game. Everyone who batted, except one player, got hits for NJIT, topped by DH Evan Pietronico (3-for-4) and 3B Mike Rampone (2-for-5). All 11 NJIT hits were singles, as were the eight hits for Wagner, which got a 2-for-4 from CF Trey Nicosia batting in the leadoff spot.
 
After Wagner built its run in the second inning against Lubreski, the Highlanders struck six times on six hits and a walk in the top of the third. SS Bryan Haberstroh singled home the first two runs and 2B Johnny Malatesta and Pietronico each hit two-run singles later in the frame.
 
CF Ed Charlton walked with the bases loaded in the fifth inning to force home the seventh run for the Highlanders in Game One.
 
It took extra innings for Wagner to pull out the Game Two win, but the Seahawks prevailed after stranding 11 baserunners through the first seven innings and 15 overall.
 
They finished with 18 hits—17 singles and a double. 1B Tommy Mazurkewitz was 4-for-4 and the first three men in the batting order—Nicosia, SS Nick Mascelli, and RF Ben Ruta—all got three hits each for Wagner. LF Anthony Godino and DH Brendan Benecke each had a pair of hits. Ruta drove in three runs and Mascelli and Godino each drove in two.
 
Wagner scored a run in the bottom of the third inning on a two-out single by Ruta, but NJIT came back for two runs and the lead in top of the fourth inning, aided by two Wagner errors. LF Matt McKinnon had a sacrifice fly in the inning for NJIT. The Seahawks got the run back for a 2-2 tie through four innings.
 
The Highlanders appeared to take charge with a four-run top of the fifth inning, as Charlton singled in a run and 1B Stephan Halibej launched his third home run of 2015, a two-out, three-run home run over the left field fence.
 
The 6-2 lead slipped away when Wagner got two runs on a Godino single in the fifth inning and two more in the sixth in RBI singles by Mascelli and Ruta. Even though they tied the score at 6-6, the Seahawks could have had more, leaving the bases loaded in the sixth.
 
Having taken a big punch from the Wagner comeback, the Highlanders retook the lead on Charlton's team-leading seventh home run of the year, a solo shot with two outs in the top of the seventh inning.
 
Undeterred, Wagner came right back, as Benecke hit a leadoff double. Kapp then got a strikeout, but loaded the bases on a walk and a hit-by-pitch. Mascelli followed with a sacrifice fly that tied the score.
 
Bloodworth set down NJIT 1-2-3 in the eighth inning and Derer, on for his second relief appearance of the day, worked around a hit, an error and a wild pitch to avoid a Wagner run in the eighth.
 
C Cody Kramer opened the ninth inning with an infield single for NJIT and he got to second base after a sac bunt, but Wagner's Bloodworth reached back for two strikeouts to maintain the tie.
 
The bottom of the ninth inning began with a foul out, but Nicosia followed with a single and then stole second base. NJIT then issued an intentional walk, setting up potential forces at second and third base, but Ruta foiled the strategy with a walk-off one-out single.
 
The four-game series between NJIT and Wagner will wrap up with a 1 pm single game on Sunday at Riverfront Stadium.