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NEWARK, NJ—Seton Hall won for the fourth time in its last four games and for the 35th time overall Tuesday night with a 9-3 victory over NJIT in what was the final non-conference baseball game of the season for both teams.
 
Seton Hall, which beat the Highlanders 9-1 in South Orange, NJ, back on March 9, is 35-18 on the season. The Pirates, who are 7-8 in the BIG EAST Conference, can clinch a spot in their conference postseason tournament by taking two of three this weekend when they visit Butler in Indianapolis.
 
NJIT, 17-33 overall, finishes with a 15-18 record in non-conference games, including 6-3 in non-league games played at Bears and Eagles Riverfront Stadium.
 
The Highlanders, who are out of contention for a spot in the Atlantic Sun Conference postseason tournament, will wrap up 2016 with a three-game home A-Sun series vs. North Florida. NJIT is slated to host UNF in 6 pm home games on Thursday and Friday and then close the season with a noon game on Saturday in Riverfront Stadium.
 
Victorious Seton Hall used seven different pitchers, none for more than two innings, and the starter, senior RHP Luke Cahill (2-0) was credited with the win.
 
Cahill, All-New Jersey College Baseball Association Division I first team and second-team All-Big East, and second-team All-Region as a sophomore in 2014, had a rough junior year in 2015 after being named Preseason Co-Pitcher of the Year before last season. He has made four starts as a senior this season.
 
Sophomore RHP Johnny Malatesta (2-4) started for the Highlanders and was charged with the loss, despite being his team's most effective pitcher Tuesday. Malatesta allowed two runs in four innings while giving up seven hits.
 
Three NJIT relievers combined to surrender seven runs on 14 hits over the last five innings.
 
With a season-high 21 hits, the visiting Pirates got three hits each from six different men—SS Chris Chiaradio, DH Matt Fortin, C Mike Alescio, 3B Joe Poduslenko, 2B Mike Caputo, and RF Ryan Ramiz.
 
Chiaridio, Poduslenko, and Caputo all drove in two runs apiece, with Fortin and Ramiz hitting doubles and Podulenko driving a triple.
 
Seton Hall, which came in leading the nation's Division I teams with 166 stolen bases in 52 games, added to the total Tuesday, succeeding on six steals in six tries against the Highlanders.
 
NJIT managed just five hits, two of them by senior DH Stephan Halibej, who is a graduate of Seton Hall Prep. Halibej, who doubled and drove in two of NJIT's three runs, has five runs batted in over the last three games. He has raised his season's batting average to .288 as he readies for the final three-game series of his career this weekend.
 
Junior 2B Bryan Haberstroh doubled in three at-bats and had the other Highlanders RBI.
 
Seton Hall got the first run of the game, but also left the bases loaded in the top of the first inning. The run scored on Caputo's one-out single to left field.
 
NJIT answered in the bottom of the frame, as freshman 3B Tom Brady (1-for-3, walk) singled to lead off and scored two batters later on Haberstroh's double into the left center field gap.
 
The Pirates answered right back, going ahead to stay when LF Zack Weigel (2-for-6) singled with one out and Fortin doubled him home for a 2-1 SHU lead.
 
Seton Hall made it 4-1 in the top of the fifth after consecutive run-scoring singles by Alescio and Poduslenko.
 
The score stayed at 4-1 through seven complete innings before The Hall added two more runs in the top of the eighth inning. Chiaridio and Weigel each singled for runs batted in as the score went to 6-1.
 
The Highlanders hung in with two runs in the bottom of the eighth inning on Halibej's two-out, two-run double to right center. An ensuing wild pitch moved NJIT pinch runner Matt Yuhas to third base and a walk put Brady on first, but there would be no more scoring for the Highlanders.
 
Needing a scoreless top of the ninth to hold tight with a 6-3 deficit, NJIT instead allowed three runs in the top of the ninth, as Poduslenko tripled home one run and then scored on Caputo's single. Chiaridio drove in the ninth Seton Hall run with a one-out single.
 
Trailing 9-3, the Highlanders put two runners on base in the bottom of the ninth inning, but could not score.