VESTAL, NY - The third-seeded NJIT baseball team was defeated 18-14 by second-seeded UMBC in the 2024 America East Baseball Tournament at the Bearcats Baseball Complex.
UMBC advances in the winner's bracket to take on top-seeded Bryant, while the Highlanders will play #4 UMass Lowell in an elimination game on Friday morning.
The Retrievers scored a pair of runs in the first inning to go ahead 2-0 before NJIT answered with 11 in a row to go ahead 11-2 after three and a half innings.
NJIT led 13-5 in the middle of the fifth inning, but the Retrievers scored 13 of the game's final 14 runs to earn the 18-14 victory.
The Highlanders recorded a season-high 19 hits, led by four from
Cade Ladehoff, and three from
AJ Soldra, and
Cole Campbell. Three of Ladehoff's four hits were extra base hits, including a fourth-inning home run.
Ty Sallie hit a pair of home runs for NJIT and knocked in five runs, while
Kevin Putsky scored a pair with a two-run double in the fifth.
The Highlanders will look to keep their season alive on Friday morning when they take on UML at 11am back at the Bearcats Baseball Complex. The winner of that game will take on the loser of the 3pm game between Bryant and UMBC on Friday at 7pm.
