JERSEY CITY, NJ—NJIT went on the road and produced one of its best hitting games of the season in a come-from-behind 11-7 non-conference baseball victory over Saint Peter's at Joseph J. Jaroschak Field Tuesday afternoon.
The 11-run, 15-hit afternoon against Saint Peter's was second only to NJIT's 12 runs and 16 hits in the third game of the season, when the Highlanders rolled past NAIA member Point University, 12-2, on February 21 in Emerson, GA.
With Tuesday afternoon's victory, NJIT raises its season won-lost record to 9-15, halting a skid that had seen the Highlanders lose seven of their previous eight after winning four in a row before that. In two doubleheaders against Fordham over Easter Weekend, NJIT had managed just eight combined runs in four games, so Tuesday's outburst was a welcome change.
With the defeat, Saint Peter's falls to 4-14 on the season.
The lead changed hands five times in the opening five and a half innings Tuesday, as the Highlanders scored twice in the opening half-inning, only to see Saint Peter's score three in the bottom half. NJIT went back ahead with a three-run top of the second inning and the 5-3 Highlander advantage stood up until the bottom of the fifth, when the home team plated four runs to claim a 7-5 lead.
NJIT answered with a four-run top of the sixth inning and stretched the 9-7 lead with two more runs in the top of the eighth. Meanwhile, Highlander relievers
Justin Chin,
Brian Sondergard, and
Tommy Derer combined to blank the Peacocks over the last 4.2 innings to nail down NJIT's win.
Chin, who entered in the fifth inning with four runs in, one out, and a runner on base, induced an inning-ending double play to snuff the Saint Peter's rally.
A sophomore left-hander, Chin (1-1) was credited with his first career win after allowing no hits and a walk in 1.2 innings. Sondergard allowed a hit in a scoreless inning and Derer, in his 13th relief appearance of the season, pitched two innings, allowing two hits and striking out four. His earned run average is down to 2.28.
Johnny Malatesta started for NJIT and allowed three runs in one inning.
Chris Gibbons was charged with two runs in three innings, and
John Saviano was tagged for two runs in a third of inning before giving way to Chin.
Saint Peter's used five pitchers, beginning with Nick Arre (0-1), a freshman lefty who was charged with the loss after allowing eight runs (seven earned) in 5.2 innings.
NJIT had three men with three hits each, including the top two in the batting order, CF
Jesse Uttendorfer and SS
Justin Etts. Uttendorfer was 3-for-4 with two walks and three runs scored with one batted in. Two of his hits doubles. Etts, a freshman, was 3-for-5, including a triple.
And junior 1B
Bryan Haberstroh, batting farther down the order in the sixth sport, was 3-for-5, including two doubles.
Edgar Badaraco, a sub in the designated hitter spot, went 2-for-3 and freshman RF
Michael Anastasia had one hit, but it was two-run homer.
Saint Peter's got three hits apiece from senior SS Jon Kristofferson and sophomore DH Mike Ionta, while senior CF Rob Moore had two hits. Ionta drove in three runs and Moore knocked in a pair for the Peacocks.
Etts figured in both first-inning runs for the Highlanders, tripling to drive in Uttendorfer, who led off the game with a walk and then scoring from third on a sacrifice fly with no one out by LF
Evan Pietronico.
Saint Peter's got three in the bottom half on a two-run single and a later run-scoring double by Ionta.
The Highlanders got the three runs right back in the next inning, as Anastasia hit a two-run homer to right field and Uttendorfer, who had singled, later scored on an outfield error by SPU.
Saint Peter's loaded the bases with no one out in the bottom of the fifth inning before Ionta drove in a pair of runs with a single. The third run scored on an infield out and Ionta came home on a single by 2B James Spaddacini, giving the Peacocks a 7-5 lead through five.
NJIT quickly retook the lead, scoring four in the top of the sixth. Haberstroh got it started with a leadoff double and he scored on a two-out single by
Rex MacMillan. Uttendorfer his an RBI double before Badaraco and C
Cody Kramer each walked with the bases loaded to force home two more runs.
Haberstroh belted a two-run double in the top of the eighth inning to round out the scoring.
NJIT will begin play in its first baseball season as a member of the Atlantic Sun Conference this weekend. The Highlanders are scheduled to host USC Upstate in single games on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday at Bears and Eagles Riverfront Stadium.
Atlantic Sun Conference baseball is expected offer a huge test for the Highlanders, the only Northeast team in the conference. The Atlantic Sun ranked 12th out of the 32 Division I conferences in conference RPI (Ratings Percentage Index) in 2015. By comparison, the Big East Conference, considered the top Northeast-based baseball conference in most years, ranked 18th in the 2015 conference RPI.
