NEWARK, NJ—The last time the NJIT baseball team played a game in New Jersey, the Highlanders rolled over Saint Peter's, 16-0, on April 5. On Tuesday night, the Highlanders, playing in New Jersey for the first time since routing Saint Peter's, overpowered visiting Fairleigh Dickinson in a non-conference matchup at Bears and Eagles Riverfront Stadium, 14-3.
 
Tuesday night's win snapped a six-game Highlanders losing streak, all of which took place in Atlantic Sun Conference away games. They are 13-21 overall, while Fairleigh Dickinson, a member of the Northeast Conference, is 18-18 overall. Fairleigh came into Tuesday's non-conference tilt with four wins in the last five games.
 
The Highlanders were ahead 5-3 heading into the bottom of the seventh inning, but NJIT sent 15 batters to the plate in the inning and scored nine runs against a parade of three FDU pitchers to put the game beyond the Knights' reach.
 
Typical of weekday non-conference games, both teams used a lot of pitchers Tuesday night. Fairleigh Dickinson used seven, with the loss going to freshman LHP Evan Layne (1-1). He was the second pitcher of the evening for the Knights and allowed two runs in two innings.  Layne was on the mound when NJIT went ahead to stay with two runs in the bottom of the fourth inning.
 
NJIT sent five pitchers to the mound and the win went to the second one, freshman RHP Brett Lubreski (1-0), who got his first college victory with three innings of one-run, three-hit ball.
 
Sophomore RHP John Saviano started and allowed two runs in three innings, while freshman LHP Chris Gibbons, sophomore RHP Tommy Derer, and redshirt sophomore LHP Brian Sondergard all followed Lubreski with an inning each of scoreless, one-hit pitching.
 
The Highlanders piled up 15 hits in the game, plus three walks, and three hit-by-pitch. LF Evan Pietronico and DH Stephan Halibej each got three hits, which included two doubles each and two runs batted in apiece to pace the Highlanders. 1B Bryan Haberstroh (1-for-4, triple) also drove in two runs, as did 2B Johnny Malatesta and 3B Tom Brady.
 
After the three hits each for Pietronico and Halibej, the Highlanders got two hits each from CF Jesse Uttendorfer, Brady, and RF Michael Anastasia.
 
FDU, with 11 hits total, received two each from SS Matt McCann, 1B John Giakas, and DH Ryan Brennan. McCann and 3B Bobby Romano each hit doubles for the Knights.
 
NJIT took an early lead with a run in the bottom of the first inning, but FDU scored twice in the top of the third to seize the monetary advantage. The Highlanders answered with two of the their own runs the bottom of the third, but the pendulum kept swinging and the Knights drew even at 3-3 with a score in the top of the fourth inning. The Highlanders took the lead for good with two in the bottom of the fourth and the Highlanders put the score out of reach in the nine-run bottom of the seventh inning.
 
The Highlanders opened the scoring when their leadoff man, Uttendorfer, delivered a single, moved up on a ground out and then stole third ahead of Brady's RBI single.
 
For FDU, Romano, a sophomore, doubled to drive home the first run and C Evan McDonald hit a sac fly later in the third inning.
 
NJIT's two third-inning runs came home on Haberstroh's two-out triple down the right field line. Freshman LF CJ Stablein helped the Knights knot the score at 3-3 in the top of the fourth inning, when he led off with a single, stole second base and scored on a single by 2B Dylan Sprague.
 
Halibej's two-out, two-run double in the bottom of the fourth inning gave the Highlanders a 5-3 lead they would never relinquish.
 
Halibej's leadoff double began the big bottom of the seventh inning and he eventually scored on single for Malatesta. Anastasia drove in a run with a single and Justin Etts drove in the next run when he was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded. Two more NJIT runs came in on a force-play try at home, as the throw from the FDU pitcher sailed over the catcher's head to the backstop. Pietronico hit a run-scoring single, Brady did the same, and Malatesta's sacrifice fly capped the scoring.
 
NJIT, which began a stretch of six non-conference games in a row with Tuesday night's victory over FDU, will continue with a four-game, two-city series this weekend vs. New York Institute of Technology.
 
NYIT, 14-18, is set to host Army on Wednesday afternoon. The Bears will then host the Highlanders on Long Island in Old Westbury, NY, on Saturday at noon. The same two teams will then meet in another doubleheader on Sunday afternoon, with first pitch at Bears and Eagles Riverfront Stadium also slated for noon.