UNION, NJ - The NJIT baseball team has now played eight home games, five of which they won in their last at bat as the Highlanders walked off Bryant twice on Friday, both by identical 4-3 scores.
NJIT is now 7-1 at home and 8-6 in America East action after Friday's revenge sweep, almost a month after the Bulldogs swept a three-game series from the Highlanders in Rhode Island. Bryant, which entered Friday's doubleheader winners of seven in a row, is now 9-8 in conference play.
Game One Recap
One week after defeating Binghamton 1-0 in eight innings, the Highlanders went to extra innings again as they defeated the Bulldogs 4-3 behind strong pitching from
Ryan Fischer and
Grant Vurpillat and a walk-off home run off the bat of
Ray Ortiz.
Fischer retired the first nine Bulldogs he faced on Friday and the Highlanders led 3-0 thanks to a first-inning two-run double from
Kevin Putsky and a
Brandon Peterson run off a wild pitch in the second.
Bryant was able to tie the game thanks to a pair of home runs and sent it to extra innings. Vurpillat relieved Fischer for the eighth inning and pitched a perfect 1-2-3 frame to set up Ortiz's heroic blast.
Ortiz led off the home half of the eighth with the game-winning home run over the right-centerfield wall.
Pusky finished with a pair of doubles to lead the NJIT offense, while
Andrew Elcock, Ortiz and
Ty Sallie each had a hit and reached via a walk.
Fischer had another quality start, striking out a season-high nine hitters in seven innings of work. The senior's sixth strikeout of the game was the 200th of his tremendous career.
Game Two Recap
In game two, it was Bryant that jumped out to a 3-0 lead. The Bulldogs hit a two-run home run in the first and added a third on a sacrifice fly in the third.
The Highlanders finally broke through in the fourth when Ortiz scored on a wild pitch and
Cole Fleming hit a sacrifice fly to score
Austin Francis. NJIT tied the game an inning later on
Luke Longo's team-best 12th home run of the season.
The game remained 3-3 as starter
Aidan Kidd, Vurpillat, and
Croix Jenkins held the Bulldogs off the scoreboard to set up another chance for a walk-off in the bottom of the ninth.
Sallie led off the ninth with a single through the left side and advanced to second on a sacrifice bunt by Fleming. He moved to third on a fly out by
Gardner Lawrence and, after Longo was intentionally walked, scored on a two-out hit by Elcock.
Elcock finished with a pair of hits, while Longo had one hit and reached twice via walks to increase his reached base streak to 24 straight games.
Kidd struck out eight in six innings and was relieved by Vurpillat who struck out two more in two innings of work. Jenkins pitched a 1-2-3 ninth inning and also struck out two.
Defense Wins Games
NJIT's defense didn't mak an error in either game and a pair of Highlanders made tremendous plays. As he has done several times throughout his career,
Jared Donnelly barehanded a pair charging in from third base and fired over to first to get the out. In game two, Sallie robbed a home run in the first inning to save a run in the one-run victory.
Up Next
The Highlanders and Bulldogs will wait out the weather and try to complete their three-game series at some point this weekend. Stay tuned to NJITHighlanders.com and @NJTechBaseball on twitter for updates.
