ORONO, ME - The NJIT baseball team fought off elimination for the second straight game with a 9-7 victory over top-seeded Maine early Friday, but eventually saw its season come to an end with a 13-8 loss to fourth-seeded UMass Lowell in the 2022 America East Baseball Tournament.

The Highlanders conclude their season 26-27, just one win shy of tying the program record of 27 victories and one game from reaching their second-consecutive America East Championship round.

Game 1: #3 NJIT 9, #1 Maine 7
The Highlanders opened the scoring with an RBI single from Julio Marcano in the first and added three more runs an inning later on a pair of home runs from Luke Longo and David Marcano, respectively.

Maine scored the game's next five runs, two in the second and three in the fifth, to take their first lead of the game, but it was short-lived as the Highlanders answered immediately.

In the top of the sixth, NJIT tied the game on a RBI single from Albert Choi and went back in front a batter later when Julio Marcano hit a two-run home run just inside the left field foul pole. The home run was the 29th of his career which ties Paul Franzoni for the program record and it was also his 232nd career hit, which set a new program record. 

Maine tied the game with a pair of runs in the sixth, but Longo hit his second long ball of the afternoon in the seventh to put the Highlanders back in front, this time for good. Julio Marcano added an insurance run in the ninth to give the Highlanders a bigger cushion as they looked for the final three outs.

Jake Rappaport, who started Thursday's loss to Binghamton, pitched the final four innings for the Highlanders to get the win. The veteran allowed a leadoff hit in the ninth, but the runner was erased when Nick Hussey made an unassisted double play on a line drive at first base one batter later. Rappaport was then able to get a pop out for the final out and extend NJIT's season.

Game 2:  #4 UMass Lowell 13, NJIT 8
The second game of the day was also a back-and-forth affair as both teams traded the lead several times over the first three innings.

UML led 6-5 after three innings and added to its lead with three in the fifth and two more in the sixth to go ahead 11-5.

The Highlanders got a run back in the sixth on a RBI single from David Marcano and were able to get within 11-8 in the eighth thanks to a two-run single from Albert Choi.

The Riverhawks got the two runs back in the top of the ninth and shut NJIT down in order in the bottom of the inning to win 13-8 and move on to Championship Saturday against Binghamton.

David Marcano paced the NJIT offense with three hits, while Ray Ortiz and Kevin Putsky each had two. Putsky hit his third home run of the season in the third inning.