BALTIMORE, MD - The NJIT baseball team was defeated by host UMBC 9-5 on Saturday in the second contest of a three-game America East Conference series this weekend at Alumni Field.

The Highlanders are now 22-22 on the season, while UMBC improved to 20-28.

NJIT left the bases loaded in the first inning, while the Retrievers were able to plate a run to go ahead 1-0 early.

Albert Choi drew a bases loaded walk in the second to tie the game, but UMBC was able to go right back in front in the home half of the inning and made it 3-1 with another run in the third inning.

An RBI double from David Marcano got the Highlanders back within one in the top of the fourth, but the Highlanders were again unable hold the hosts off the board as UMBC scored twice in the bottom of the fourth to take a 5-2 advantage.

The Highlanders scored runs int he fifth and sixth innings to cut the margin to one, but that was as close as they;d get as UMBC scored four times in the seventh to take a comfortable lead.

NJIT's final run came in the top of the eighth when Paul Franzoni hit his team-high 10th home run of the season. The home run was the 27th of his career and breaks a tie with teammate Julio Marcano for the program record. 

Jared Donnely, David Marcano and Kevin Putsky each paced the Highlanders' offense with a pair of hits. Drew Standen tossed two scoreless innings out of the bullpen, while Andrew Eppinger went the final 1.1 innings without allowing a run. 

The teams will meet on Sunday for the rubber match of the series with first pitch scheduled for 1pm at Alumni Field.