TEANECK, NJ—Fairleigh Dickinson swept a pair of 7-inning games baseball games from NJIT Saturday, topping the Highlanders 6-5 and 6-1 Saturday afternoon on FDU's Naimoli Family Baseball Complex.
The Knights (13-17) overcame deficits of 3-0 and 5-3 to edge the Highlanders in the first game and the home team won the second game easily behind a 5-hit, complete-game effort from sophomore right-hander Joe Flack. NJIT is 17-16-1.
Following Saturday's action, NJIT has a new career hits leader in senior third baseman
Mike Rampone, who had one hit in each end of the doubleheader bringing his career total to 208, one more than
Matt Weckerle (Class of 2014).
Saturday's doubleheader loss at Fairleigh Dickinson means NJIT has lost three in a row and seven of nine since April 12. Earlier, the Highlanders had an eight-game unbeaten streak from March 27 through April 4.
NJIT will try to get back on the winning track when it hosts Fairleigh Dickinson in another doubleheader on Sunday starting at 1 pm in Bears and Eagles Riverfront Stadium. Both Sunday games are scheduled for seven innings.
In Saturday's opening game, NJIT scored three runs in the top of the second inning, but gave them back in the bottom of the frame. The Highlanders reclaimed the lead with a run in the top of the third inning and expanded their margin with another run in the top of the fifth inning. However, Fairleigh Dickinson answered with three runs in the bottom half of that inning for a 6-5 lead through five innings.
That would be it for the scoring and FDU took the win, as the second of three pitchers, junior Ryan McGrath (5-4) got the win after allowing two runs in 3.2 innings. Senior right-handed closer Eric Snyder nailed down the win and his eighth save with two innings of scoreless two-hit relief.
The loss went to NJIT's freshman reliever
Tommy Derer (2-3), who allowed a run in 1.1 innings pitching behind starter
John Saviano, who allowed only three hits in 4.2 innings, but was hurt by five bases-on-balls.
Fairleigh Dickinson got its six runs on a pair of three-run homers. 2B Dylan Sprague (2-for-3) hit his three-run shot with two outs in the second inning and 3B Joel Roman (1-for-3) powered the game-winning three-run blow with two outs in the bottom of the fifth inning.
NJIT got two hits apiece from SS
Bryan Haberstroh and DH
Evan Pietronico in the opener. One of Haberstroh's hits was a double and 1B
Stephan Halibej (1-for-3) also hit a double for the Highlanders. Five different NJIT batters—Halibej, Pietronico, LF
Matt McKinnon, C
Cody Kramer, and 2B
Johnny Malatesta—were credited with one run batted in each.
Fairleigh never trailed in the second game, taking a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the second inning and adding on two more in both the fifth and sixth innings, respectively, while NJIT got its only run off of Flack in the top of the third inning.
Flack's record is 2-2 following his five-hit defeat of NJIT, while Highlander freshman
Sean Lubreski, the starting pitcher for the visitors is 3-3 after allowing 10 hits and six runs (two earned) in five innings. Classmate
Brandon Pilovsky relieved Lubreski and got the last three outs.
Fairleigh Dickinson got all the runs Flack would need when LF Jason Fatzinger (2-for-3) hit a two-out, two-run home run in the bottom of the second inning for a 2-0 lead.
NJIT built its run in the next half-inning when CF
Ed Charlton hit a one-out double and Rampone followed with an infield single that advanced Charlton to third base, where he would score on a sacrifice fly by Haberstroh.
RF
Jesse Uttendorfer and Charlton each collected a pair of hits for the Highlanders. Charlton, incidentally, has 199 career hits for NJIT, nine off Rampone's school-record pace.
The bottom three spots in the Fairleigh Dickinson batting order accounted for seven of the Knights' 10 hits in Saturday's nightcap. Fatzinger, in the seventh spot; DH Corbin Gapski, batting eighth; and, 2B Jose DeLeon, ninth, all had two hits apiece and Sprague, coming off the bench in Game Two, added another hit in the nine-hole when he replaced DeLeon.
