ALBANY, NY - The NJIT baseball team was defeated 17-11 by host UAlbany in America East Conference action on Friday afternoon at Varsity Field.
The Great Danes scored a pair of runs in the first and broke the game open with six more in the second inning.
Kevin Putsky and
Ray Ortiz hit back-to-back home runs in the top of the second to tie the game at 2-2 before UAlbany answered with the six-run second.
Cade Ladehoff's team-best 10th home run of the season made the score 8-4 in the third and gave
the freshman 46 RBIs for the season, which leads the America East and is now the new single-season record in NJIT's Division I era. Paul Franzoni previously held the record with 45 RBIs in 2022.
UAlbany scored at least one in the next four innings, including a four-run fifth, to take back control of the game.
The Highlanders didn't go down without a fight, however, as they scored seven times in the top of the eighth inning to make things interesting.
Cole Fleming paced the NJIT offense with three hits and a pair of runs scored.
AJ Soldra had his second-straight multi-hit game, finishing 2-for-4 and also reached once via a walk.
Andrew Eppinger struck out a pair of Great Danes in his only inning of work on the mound, a scoreless bottom of the eighth.
The Highlanders will look to even the series on Saturday when the teams meet back at Varsity Field at 1pm.
