FAIRFIELD, CT–The NJIT baseball team won game one of the doubleheader at Fairfield, 6-5, before falling to the Stags 8-3 in game two Friday afternoon in non-conference baseball action at Don and Chris Cook Field.
The Highlanders now stand at 7-14 overall while the Stags moved to 7-13 overall.
With rain in the forecast on Saturday, the two teams will conclude the series with a single game on Sunday at 1pm in Fairfield, CT.
Game One | NJIT 6, Fairfield 5
Senior LHP Aidan Kidd registered his first win of the season while graduate student RHP Liam Reiner came out of the bullpen and picked up his first save in a Highlander uniform in three innings of work.
Kidd pitched 6.0 innings, striking out six Stags batters and allowing four hits and walking two. Reiner struck out a pair of batters in the final three innings, facing 14 Fairfield batters.
Graduate student Kevin Putsky led the Highlanders in game one, hitting 2-for-5 with two RBI and two runs scored, including his fourth home run of the season in the top of the ninth inning.
Michael Doyle and Ty Sallie each drove in a run in the Highlanders victory. Six different Highlanders – Ray Ortiz, Andrew Eppinger, AJ Soldra, Doyle, Sallie and Cole Fleming each recorded a hit in the win.
Fairfield plated the first run of the game on a two-run homer by Ethan Hibbard to give the Stags a 2-0 lead after the first inning.
NJIT answered in the top of the second, scoring three runs on an RBI single to left field by Doyle, scoring Eppinger, who doubled down the right field line. Sallie drove in Doyle with a single to left center and with the bases loaded, Cole Campbell reached first on a hit-by-pitch, sending home Sallie as the Highlanders went ahead, 3-2.
Luke Nomura tied the game at 3-3 in the bottom of the second with a homerun to left field.
The Highlanders regained the lead, 4-3, in the top of the fifth inning on a sacrifice bunt by Austin Francis, scoring Putsky, who singled to center field, advanced to second on a passed ball and went to third on an error by Fairfield's second baseman before scoring NJIT's fourth run of the game.
NJIT extended its lead in the top of the ninth on a two-run blast to left field by Putsky, his fourth of the season to give the Highlanders a 6-3 advantage.
Fairfield did not go down easily in the bottom of the ninth as the Stags scored two runs on three hits but Highlanders closer Reiner secured his first career save, holding off the home team and coming away with a 6-5 road win in game one.
Game Two | Fairfield 8, NJIT 3
The Stags scored four runs on two hits in the bottom of the second to take an early 4-0 lead.
NJIT got on the board for the first time in game two, bringing a pair of runs across the plate on a two-out single to center field by Doyle, to bring the Highlanders within two of the Stags 4-2.
Fairfield added four runs in the bottom of the sixth on four runs, three hits and one Highlander, including a pair of Stag home runs for an 8-2 lead.
The Highlanders added a single run in the top of the eighth on a sacrifice fly to center field, driving home Ray Ortiz who singled to left field to start out the inning for the Highlanders third run of the game.
Doyle finished game two 1-for-3 three with two RBI while Ortiz and Cade Ladehoff each recorded a hit.
Brandon Peterson (0-2) was credited with the loss, pitching 4.0 innings and striking out eight Stags. Hayden Estes pitched a scoreless eighth inning out of the bullpen for the Highlanders.
