UNION, NJ - The NJIT baseball team snapped its losing streak in style on Friday with a doubleheader sweep of America East Conference foe UAlbany at Jim Hynes Field in Union, NJ. The Highlanders came from behind in game one for a 3-2 victory and scored early in game two and never looked back en route to a 4-1 victory.
Friday's games were the first two home contests of the season for NJIT, which played its first 21 games on the road, including 10 in North Carolina, three in Missouri, and three in Virginia.
Game One Recap
Graduate student
Jared Donnelly was the hero in the game one win as his ground-rule double in the bottom of the seventh scored pinch runner
Andrew Elcock and gave the Highlanders their first victory in 10 games.
Cole Fleming led off the seventh with a walk and advanced to second on a great sacrifice bunt from
Brett Helmkamp. Elcock then came in to pinch run for Donnelly, who crushed a ball to right-centerfield and was mobbed by his teammates after rounding second base.
Senior
Ryan Fischer was effective on the mound for the Highlanders, only allowing two UAlbany runs, one in the second and another in the fourth.
The Highlanders got on the scoreboard in the home half of the fourth when
Ty Sallie led off the inning with a single and later scored on a wild pitch to make it a one-run game.
In the sixth inning, NJIT was able to tie things up without even getting a hit.
Luke Longo reached on an error.
Ray Ortiz walked, and
Kevin Putsky was hit by a pitch to load the bases. Freshman
Austin Francis did his job, hitting a deep fly ball to right field to score Longo and tie the game.
UAlbany threatened in the top of the seventh, but Fischer was able to get out of it thanks to a pair of great defensive plays. With one out and a runner on third, Helmkamp charged in from his first base position and fielded a slow roller, while looking the runner back to third and tagging out the batter. Francis then caught a line drive to second base to end the inning, setting up the dramatic bottom of the seventh where Donnelly came up big.
Fischer went the distance on the mound for the second start in a row and struck out five. Sallie, Putsky, and Donnelly were the only Highlanders to record a hit, but NJIT made the most of its chances throughout the game to earn the win.
Game Two Recap
Junior
Aidan Kidd struck out three in the top of the first and the Highlander offense struck for three runs in the home half of the inning to set the tone early.
The Highlanders first inning runs came from RBIs courtesy off
Ray Ortiz,
Kevin Putsky, and
Cole Fleming.
UAlbany was finally able to get a run off of Kidd in the third, but the Highlanders answered immediately when
Cole Fleming drew a throw to second on a stolen base attempt and
Austin Francis bolted for home and beat the throw to put NJIT back ahead by three.
Kidd continued his dominance from there, striking out a season-high and career-high-tying 10 over 5.0 innings before handing the ball to graduate student
Grant Vurpillat.
Vurpillat kept the Great Danes off the scoreboard during the final four innings to earn his second save of the season. The veteran struck out three as NJIT struck out 13 Great Danes in the win.
Offensively, Fleming and Donnelly led the way with a pair of hits.
Up Next
The Highlanders and Great Danes will complete their three-game series later this weekend at Jim Hynes Stadium. A decision on the date and time of game three will be made Saturday morning. Check back to NJITHighlanders.com and @NJTechBaseball on twitter for updates on Saturday.
