VESTAL, N.Y. – No. 2 UMBC trailed NJIT 13-5 midway through the final game of the day, but the offense broke out for 13 runs to secure the victory, while Bryant and NJIT also came away with wins on Thursday at the Bearcat Baseball Complex.
Down 13-5 to NJIT, the Retrievers scored 11 runs between the 6th and 7th innings to grab a 16-14 lead and then tacked on two more for a 18-14 final in the Thursday finale. The Highlanders started their day with a victory over Binghamton to send the hosts home by taking 5-0 lead in the first three innings. Top seed Bryant outlasted UMass Lowell 8-4 with some help from the long ball in the second game of the day.
Day three of the #AEBASE Championship begins at 11 a.m. No. 3 NJIT and No. 4 UMass Lowell face-off with the loser going home. No. 1 Bryant and No. 2 UMBC square off at 3 p.m. and the loser battles the winner of Friday’s first contest at 7 p.m.
Visit #AEBASE Championship Central for a complete updated bracket with times and links to live stats and video.
NJIT 5, Binghamton 4
- NJIT got on Gabe Driscoll early, as AJ Soldra ripped an RBI double for a 1-0 lead and then Luke Longo followed with a 2 RBI single for the 3-0 advantage.
- The Highlanders made it 4-0 in the second with a bases loaded walk, but Berkwich came in for Driscoll and ended stopped the bleeding.
- Longo pushed the lead to 5-0 an inning later on a solo shot to left field.
- The Bearcats final broke through in the bottom of the fourth as Devan Bade went yard to lead off the frame.
- Binghamton added another run in the fifth and had runners on the corners with no outs, but Aidan Kidd sent the Bearcats down in order.
- Binghamton loaded the bases in the top of the seventh with one out, but the Highlanders were able to get out of the inning. In the ninth the tying run came to the plate with two outs after a pair of singles, but Joe Georgini was able to finish off his 3.0 inning save.
- Kidd finished with 10 strikeouts and 6.0 innings with just four hits allowed, while Luke Longo reached base three times and drove in three runs.
Bryant 8, UMass Lowell 4
- Zac Zyons went yard on the first pitch he saw to give Bryant an early 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first. Matt Smith followed four batters later with a two-run shot for the 3-0 advantage.
- UMass Lowell got on the board in the third inning on an RBI groundout by Trey Brown, but Carmine Petosa responded with a solo home run in the bottom of the frame for a 4-1 margin.
- The River Hawks loaded the bases with no outs in the fourth and tallied a pair of runs on a hit-by-pitch and a sacrifice fly. Austin Wainer retired the final two batters to avoid more damage.
- Bryant plated a pair of runs in the bottom of the fourth and then added two more in the sixth, pushing the lead to 8-4.
- Wainer went the distance and didn’t allow another run. He finished with 9.0 innings, four earned runs and five strikeouts on 112 pitches.
- Carmine Petosa finished 4-for-5 with two runs while Zac Zyons was 3-for-5.
UMBC 18, NJIT 14
- UMBC started strong with a pair of runs in the bottom of the first inning. NJIT answered in the top of the second with four runs, capped off by a Ty Sallie two-run homer to make it 4-2.
- The Highlanders exploded for six runs in the third to push the lead to 10-2. Ray Ortiz started the scoring with a single to center and Sallie finished off the scoring with a three-run shot.
- Cade Ladehoff added a solo shot in the fourth for an 11-2 advantage, but the Retrievers came back with three in the bottom of the frame to cut the deficit to 11-5.
- NJIT added two runs in the top of the fifth for the 13-5 lead.
- UMBC countered with four runs in the bottom of the sixth, including a three run homer from Luke Trythall to make it 13-9.
- The Retriever offense exploded for seven runs in the seventh, including a game-tying three-run shot from Danny Wyatt to tie it at 14 apiece. They added two more runs for the 16-14 lead.
- UMBC tacked on two more runs and Sam Downs struck out five over the last two innings to close the door.
- Wyatt finished with two home runs and five RBI as the team hit five home runs overall.
- Cade Ladehoff was 4-for-6 in the loss while Sallie had a pair of homers.
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