NEWARK, NJ—The NJIT baseball team rolled to its fourth victory in a row, overpowering visiting Saint Peter's, 16-0, Tuesday afternoon in a non-conference game at Bears and Eagles Riverfront Stadium.
 
The last four wins for NJIT (12-15) have come against two teams, Saint Peter's (4-19) and USC Upstate. The streak began with an 11-7 non-conference win at Saint Peter's in Jersey City on March 29. It continued with a 4-2 win last Friday and an 8-6 triumph on Saturday, as the Highlanders took their first two all-time baseball games as members of the Atlantic Sun Conference. A third game scheduled vs. Upstate on Sunday was cancelled due to the dangerously high winds in the area. And the streak resumed on Tuesday with the rematch against the Peacocks.
 
Tuesday's 16-0 victory for NJIT represented the largest winning margin for the Highlanders in a shutout victory since the program began Division I competition in 2007. The old record had been a 14-0 win at Chicago State on April 16, 2010. Tuesday's 16 runs and 17 hits were high-water marks this season for NJIT, surpassing the 12 runs and 16 hits in a 12-2 win in Georgia on February 21 against Point University, which competes in the small-college NAIA.
 
The Highlanders were leading 1-0 when they came to bat in the bottom of the fourth inning and by the time the frame was over, NJIT had added 10 more runs. The home team added one run in the fifth inning, three in the sixth and another in the eighth, while three Highlander pitchers combine to shut out the Peacocks on three hits and a walk.
 
Using an NCAA statistical rule that allows a starting pitcher to be credited with a win if he is scheduled ahead of time to pitch less than the normally requisite five innings, sophomore LHP Justin Chin (2-1) was credited with the win after allowing two hits and a walk.
 
Freshman right-hander Brett Lubreski pitched the next four innings and limited Saint Peter's to one hit and redshirt sophomore Brian Sondergard work a 1-2-3 ninth inning, notching one strikeout.
 
Sondergard, who appeared in 12 games as a freshman in 2014 before missing last season due to injury, has made four relief appearances in this, his comeback year, and has allowed one run in 3.1 innings for a solid earned run average of 2.70.
 
The loss went to the Saint Peter's starter, freshman RHP Steve Epstein (0-2), who stayed on the mound for NJIT's entire 10-run fourth inning and was charged with 11 runs (six earned) on 12 hits and a walk in four innings.
 
The Peacocks used four more pitchers to get to the end of the game and only one, junior LHP Michael Ammerman, escaped without allowing a run. He pitched a scoreless seventh inning, allowing one hit and a hit batter, who was erased on a line drive double play.
 
Every starting player in the NJIT batting order got at least one hit, as did two substitutes. LF Evan Pietronico led the way, going 3-for-4, including a double and a home run, plus a sacrifice fly that raised his runs batted in total for the game to four.
 
C Cody Kramer, 1B Bryan Haberstroh, RF Michael Anastasia, and 2B Johnny Malatesta all added two hits each, with Anastasia belting a triple and driving in two runs. CF Jesse Uttendorfer (1-for-4, 2 RBI), DH Stephan Halibej (1-for-3), and 3B Tom Brady (1-for-2) all joined Pietronico in hitting doubles for the Highlanders.
 
The only extra-base hit for Saint Peter's was a double for sophomore DH Nick Ciocco (1-for-3).
 
NJIT got on the board in the second inning, when Halibej led off with a double and Kramer singled him over to third, where Halibej scored on a fielder's choice ground out toward the middle by Haberstroh.
 
Saint Peter's, which committed five fielding errors in the game, made three in the fourth inning, which, coupled with seven NJIT hits, a walk and a hit by pitch, spelled disaster for the visitors, as NJIT sent 15 men to the plate and poured across 10 runs.
 
Malatesta started the scoring with a one-out RBI single and Uttendorfer hit a two-run double two batters later. Later in the inning, Pietronico hit his three-run homer, Anastasia belted a two-run triple and Brady capped the scoring with an RBI double. The Anastasia triple and Brady double both came with two outs.
 
NJIT's fifth-inning run came home on a two-out single by Kramer and the Highlanders scored three times in the sixth inning on only one hit. The first run came in on a bases-loaded error with no one out, while Pietronico and substitute DH Edgar Badaraco each picked up runs batted in on an sacrifice fly and a single, respectively.
 
The Highlanders capped the scoring with an unearned run in the eighth inning. With two outs, Pietronico doubled, Badaraco reached on an error as Pietronico advanced to third base, and substitute C Brady Hall singled to drive him home.
 
NJIT's next scheduled action is an Atlantic Sun Conference series this weekend in Georgia at Kennesaw State. The Highlanders are scheduled to play single games vs. the Owls on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. Friday's contest is set to begin at 6 pm.