NEWARK, NJ—NJIT baseball became the first Highlanders program to win its Atlantic Sun Conference debut with a 4-2 win over visiting USC Upstate Friday at Bears and Eagles Riverfront Stadium.
The winning pitcher for the Highlanders was senior LHP
Ian Bentley (3-3), who took over on the mound to begin the fifth inning following a rain delay of an hour and 48 minutes and finished with a line of 5 innings pitched, 5 hits, 1 run, 7 strikeouts and 2 walks. The win was the 19th of Bentley's career, tying him with
Tripp Davis (Class of 2013) for the program's Division I record.
With the victory, the Highlanders are 1-0 in the A-Sun and 10-15 overall. Upstate, which had won a season-best five in a row leading up to conference play, is 13-13 overall and 0-1 in the A-Sun.
Bentley took over for sophomore
Sean Lubreski, who worked the first four innings and allowed 6 hits and a run, while walking 1 and striking out 4. He departed due to tightness after the rain delay that began at 6:06 pm and ended at 7:54 pm.
The losing pitcher for the Spartans was junior RHP Eric Birkland (1-1), who started and came back after the rain delay. He finished with 5.1 innings pitched and was charged with 10 of NJIT's 11 hits and all 4 runs, while walking 3 and striking out 6.
Relievers Elijah Willingham, Kevin Hickey, and Colton Chupp combined to blank the Highlanders on one hit over the last 2.2 innings.
USC Upstate opened the scoring in the top of the first inning on a one-out opposite field solo home run over the right center field fence by senior RF James Fowlkes, who would finish the day 3-for-5.
The Highlanders took the lead with single tallies in the second and third innings. Upstate tied the score at 2-2 with a run in the top of the sixth inning, but NJIT answered in the bottom half with a pair of runs for a 4-2 lead that held up the rest of the game.
Sophomore LF
Evan Pietronico finished the game 3-for-4, including a double, with a run batted in for NJIT and freshman RF
Michael Anastasia and freshman SS
Justin Etts each got a pair of hits for the Highlanders. Etts and junior C
Cody Kramer hit doubles and Etts finished with three RBI.
In addition to Fowlkes, Upstate got a 3-for-4 from sophomore 3B Jordan Ford and LF JJ Shimko and C Charlie Carpenter added two hits apiece for the visitors.
Down 1-0 after the Fowlkes homer, the Highlanders got the run back in a second inning that featured some unusual plays.
1B
Bryan Haberstroh led off with a single for NJIT, but he was forced out at second base when he couldn't beat the throw to second base from Fowlkes, who dropped a shallow pop fly that landed just inside the right field foul line.
A later "non-error" burned the Spartans, however. NJIT had runners on first and second base with one out when 3B
Tom Brady hit a bouncing ball to second baseman Devon Ortiz, who tagged the runner going to second, but then threw wide attempting to complete the double play on Brady at first base. Etts followed with a two-out single into the shortstop hole, bringing home Kramer with the tying run.
NJIT took the lead an inning later when 2B
Johnny Malatesta walked leading off and then came all the way around when Pietronico belted a double into the gap in right center field.
Leading 2-1 after three innings, NJIT's advantage held until the top of the sixth, as Carpenter singled to lead off for the Spartans, went to second on a sacrifice bunt and scored on Ford's single up the middle.
NJIT took the lead for good in the bottom of the inning, which began with a double for Kramer. Anastasia then got an infield single, moving Kramer ahead to third base. Kramer was forced to hold at third on the first out of the inning, but Etts doubled to score both base runners and put the Highlanders up, 4-2.
Etts, who was batting under .200 after 10 games, has 9 hits in the last six contests after managing just 5 hits total in his first nine college games. He is 7-for-15 with two doubles and a triple in the last four games.
Bentley stranded three runners between the seventh and eighth innings, but put an exclamation point on the win with three strikeouts around a one-out double in the ninth inning to seal the win.
The same two teams are slated to play a single game on Saturday, with first pitch at 1 pm at Bears and Eagles Riverfront Stadium.
