BALTIMORE, MD -- The NJIT baseball team received home runs from Dillon Can and Nick Vega, but fall to UMBC, 17–6, on Friday night.
The Retrievers opened the scoring in the bottom of the first, stringing together five hits and taking advantage of two errors to build a 5-0 advantage.
The Highlanders got on the board in the second inning when Can launched a solo home run to left field, cutting the deficit to 5-1.
The Retrievers answered immediately in the bottom half highlighted by a three-run home run to extend the lead to 8-1. The Retrievers added another run later in the inning on a sacrifice fly to make it a 9-1 game.
The Highlanders added a run in the third after Ty Sallie tripled to center field and scored on a sacrifice fly from Lorenzo Camilleri, trimming the deficit to 9-2.
The Retrievers continued to add on over the next three innings to build a 13-2 lead.
The Highlanders mounted their biggest rally in the sixth when Cole Campbell worked a walk and Austin Francis followed with a single before Can was hit by a pitch to load the bases. Vega then crushed a grand slam to right-center field, cutting the deficit to 13-6.
The Retrievers answered with four runs in the bottom of the sixth to extend the lead to 17-6.
Vega finished 1-for-2 with four RBIs and a walk, while Campbell recorded a pair of hits and reached base three times. Can added a homer and scored twice, and Sallie contributed a triple and a run scored.
The Highlanders used six pitchers in the contest, with Talon Mihalinac tossing 1.2 innings of relief and allowing just one unearned run while striking out one.
Next Up
The Highlanders take on UMBC for the season finale on Saturday, the 16th with first pitch scheduled for 1:00 p.m.
