Link to NJIT vs. Saint Peter's (4/26) photo gallery

Link to html box score

NEWARK, NJ—Evan Pietronico's two-run seventh-inning home run tied the score at five runs apiece and Stephan Halibej's RBI single two batters later gave NJIT a 6-5 lead that held up the rest of the way, as the Highlanders rallied to edge visiting Saint Peter's in non-conference baseball Tuesday night at Bears and Eagles Riverfront Stadium.
 
NJIT, which has won four of its last five games, all at home and all outside the Atlantic Sun Conference, is 16-23 overall. The Highlanders have defeated Saint Peter's (6-30) in all three meetings this season, winning 11-7 in Jersey City on March 29, and then topping the Peacocks twice in Newark (16-0 on April 5 and then 6-5 on Tuesday night).
 
Looking at the line score of Tuesday's win for NJIT, the game could be divided into three parts, with momentum swings in three-inning segments.
 
The Highlanders scored twice in the second inning and added a run in the third for a 3-0 lead through three innings. However, Saint Peter's came back in the middle three innings, scoring a run in the fourth, three in fifth to take a 4-3 lead and then adding another tally in the top of the sixth.
 
NJIT rallied in the bottom of the seventh inning to reclaim the lead, 6-5, and Highlander relievers Brian Sondergard and John Saviano, both sophomores, combined to blank Saint Peter's over the final three innings.
 
Saviano, a right-hander, was credited with his first win of the season after holding the Peacocks scoreless on one hit and two walks over the last 2.1 innings of the game.
 
Sondergard, a lefty, pitched two innings ahead of Saviano and allowed three hits and an unearned run, lowering his team-best earned run average to 1.23 in the process. Sondergard, who missed all of the 2015 season due to injury, has appeared in eight games, pitching 7.1 innings out of the bullpen and his ERA is nearly 2.5 runs per nine innings lower than fellow reliever Brent Jones, who is second on the team with a 3.72 ERA.
 
NJIT's starting pitcher, freshman RHP Brett Lubreski, worked the first four innings and allowed a run on five hits and a walk. Classmate Chris Gibbons, a left-hander, pitched two-thirds of an inning and allowed three hits and a walk, for three runs (two earned). He left the game as the pitcher of record on the losing side, but was taken off the hook by NJIT's winning rally in the seventh inning.
 
NJIT managed just six hits in the game, but two of them were home runs. Halibej (2-for-3) led off the bottom of the third inning with a no-doubt-about-it blast over the left field fence and Pietronico's blast over the fence in the right field corner tied the game with one out in the bottom of the seventh inning.
 
Johnny Malatesta, NJIT's second baseman, drove in the other two Highlander runs with a two-out single that put the home team on top 2-0 in the second inning.
 
The losing pitcher for Saint Peter's was the third of three pitchers, sophomore RHP Tom Puza (1-1), who was charged with allowing the game-winning run. He allowed three hits and walk in 1.2 innings and stuck with one run allowed.
 
Peacocks freshman LHP Nick Arre gave a solid starting effort, lasting six innings and allowing just two hits and three runs, while walking four. He gave way to sophomore RHP Paul Schifilliti, who yielded a hit and walk and was charged with two runs before handing the ball to Puza.
 
Saint Peter's doubled NJIT in hits—12-to-6—but all of the Peacocks hits were singles and the left nine men on base while also hitting into the only double play of the game.
 
Leadoff batter Angel Perez, a sophomore left fielder, was 3-for-5 and the Peacocks got two hits each from four other batters—1B Mike Ionta, DH Jason Midkiff, RF Nick Ciocco, and C Nick Camillieri. Perez, Ionta, Camillieri and 2B James Spadaccini (1-for-4) all collected one run batted in apiece.
 
NJIT had just one hit in its two-run second inning, Malatesta's clutch two-out single, but the Highlanders, who left the bases loaded, also got two walks and a hit-by-pitch in the frame.
 
Halibej's second home run of 2016 and ninth of his career staked the Highlanders to a 3-0 advantage before Saint Peter's got to an apparently tiring Lubreski for a run with a two-out rally in the fourth.
 
After the first two Peacocks were retired, Midkiff and Ciocco hit back-to-back singles, with Midkiff advancing to third base on Ciocco's hit. Ciocco then stole second base, which would prove crucial in enabling his team's upcoming run.
 
The next batter, Camillieri hit a grounder into the hole between shortstop and third base. Highlander shortstop Justin Etts made a nice backhanded stab. But with Ciocco having stolen second, the only available force play was at first base and the ball was hit too deep into the hole for Etts to get off a strong throw across the diamond. Midkiff scored easily from third base, but Ciocco was out at third on a tag play, ending the inning.
 
Saint Peter's took the lead in the fifth inning with three runs on three hits, plus a critical NJIT error and two wild pitches by Gibbons of the Highlanders. For the Peacocks, Ionta and Spadaccini each hit RBI singles and third run scored on the NJIT error.
 
The visitors added another unearned run in the sixth inning to claim a 5-3 lead, with Perez singling to knock home his team's fifth run of the game.
 
Schifilliti took over for Arre to begin the bottom of the seventh inning for the Peacocks and he got an out before walking Malatesta and then serving up Pietronico's home run.
 
Pietronico was 1-for-3 on Tuesday, but his home run was a continuation of a hitting surge that has now lasted eight days and six games. Starting with last Tuesday's home win over Fairleigh Dickinson, the sophomore is 10-for-23 (.435) in the last six games. He has 6 doubles and two home runs, with 12 runs batted in during the hot streak. His season's total of 33 RBI now leads the team by 15 (Halibej is next with 18 RBI).
 
After the Pietronico homer tied the score, Saint Peter's turned to Puza, who allowed a single to NJIT CF Jesse Uttendorfer, who then stole second base. Halibej's single two right center field scored the speedy Uttendorfer from second base with what turned out to be the game-winning run.
 
Saviano, who had entered the game for NJIT in the top of the seventh inning and got a strike out for the final out, allowed a leadoff single to Midkiff in the eighth inning before retiring the next three batters.
 
And the Peacocks got two two-out walks before Saviano induced the game-ending ground out.
 
NJIT, which last played an Atlantic Sun Conference game on April 17, will return to A-Sun action with a trip this weekend to Nashville, where the Highlanders will visit Lipscomb. All three games will be carried live from Nashville, which is in the Central Time Zone, on ESPN3, with single games on Friday (7 pm EDT), Saturday (7 pm EDT), and Sunday (2 pm EDT).