Orono, Maine – After a thrilling sweep last weekend to capture a first-round bye, the second-seeded NJIT baseball team travels to Orono, Maine this week with sights set on a title at the 2025 Northeast Delta Dental America East Baseball Championship. The Highlanders will open play on Thursday afternoon at 3 p.m. with their opponent to be determined.

HIGHLANDER HIGHLIGHTS

• NJIT clinched the No. 2 seed in the America East Tournament with a three-game sweep of UMass Lowell last weekend.
• The final two wins of the weekend came in dramatic fashion, with NJIT hitting go-ahead three-run home runs on Friday and Saturday to steal victories late.
• Michael Doyle's home run in the eighth inning on Friday capped off a four-run rally in the Highlanders' 4-2 win. On Saturday, Jack Stead also clubbed a go-ahead three-run shot in the eighth as NJIT nabbed a 5-3 win.
• MT Morrissey shined in Friday's win over UMass Lowell, striking out 11 and tossing his first-career complete game. It was the second straight game in which an NJIT pitcher struck out 11 batters, as Nate DeSchryver did so on Thursday night.
• Six Highlanders received All-America East honors on Tuesday. Nate DeSchryver, Mason Wolf and Ty Sallie landed on the First Team, while MT Morrissey, Ray Ortiz and Andrew Eppinger earned Second Team honors.
• Ray Ortiz sits just one home run shy of setting a new NJIT career record for round-trippers. He enters the weekend with 39 career home runs, tying him with Luke Longo who set the record last season.
• Ortiz has the chance to rewrite the NJIT record books this season. Should he play the remainder of NJIT's games this season, he would become the new career leader in games played. Ortiz has already set the single season mark in runs scored (56) as well as the career mark (164.
• Ortiz surpassed the 200 hit milestone at UMBC, becoming the eighth player in NJIT history to reach that mark.
• Mason Wolf has been tearing the cover off the ball as of late, entering the weekend with a 16-game hitting streak which has seen him bat .523 with four home runs and 19 RBI.
• NJIT has five qualified hitters with an average north of .300 in conference play this season: Wolf (.423), Eppinger (.408), Sallie (.341), Ortiz (.330) and Campbell (.300).
• Since joining the weekend rotation on a permanent basis, Nate DeSchryver owns a 4-0 record with a 2.82 ERA. He has struck out 52 batters over 38.1 innings pitched in those six outings.
• Ortiz launched three home runs on April 18 at Binghamton, and in doing so became the first Highlander in program history to record three separate 10+ home run seasons.
• Ortiz has been an offensive force for NJIT this season, leading the team in most the major offensive categories. He enters the weekend leading the team in home runs (13), doubles (17), hits (64), runs scored (57), total bases (126) and slugging percentage (.633).
• Ortiz leads the America East in home runs, doubles and runs scored while sitting second in hits and slugging percentage.
• Ortiz has received numerous national honors this season. He was named a semifinalist for the Brooks Wallace Award on Wednesday. Ortiz also landed D1Baseball.com's Week Six Top 50 Shortstops in the nation, coming in at No. 47 on the list.
• Nate DeSchryver was named America East Pitcher of the Week on April 7 after a stellar outing against UAlbany, striking out 11 and allowing just one hit over five shutout innings.
• DeSchryver became the third Highlander hurler to be named America East Pitcher of the Week this season, joining MT Morrissey and Brandon Peterson.
• Peterson was named America East Pitcher of the Week on March 31. He fired 6.2 innings while allowing just one hit and no runs in the win over Maine last Sunday.
• Morrissey was named America East Pitcher of the Week on March 4 after a stellar outing against Iona, pitching seven innings and striking out seven while allowing just one run.
• Cole Campbell was also recognized by D1Baseball.com before the season as one of the top 50 catchers in the country.
• Holden deJong was named by Perfect Game as the America East Preseason Pitcher of the Year, as well as a Top 250 College Prospect by D1Baseball.com.
• Andrew Eppinger collected his first multi-home run game of his career on March 28 against Maine. The graduate student entered the game with just one home run in his career.
• NJIT has scored in the first inning 30 times, putting up a total of 58 runs in the opening frame this season.
• The Highlanders are 19-6 this season when scoring 6+ runs.
• NJIT is 21-3 this season when leading in the sixth inning or later.
• The Highlanders were picked to finish tied for third in the America East preseason poll. NJIT was tied with Maine with 21 points apiece, behind second-place selection Binghamton and first-place pick Bryant.