Franzoni's Blast Leads NJIT to Game Two Victory at Stony Brook

Senior captain Paul Franzoni's eighth inning home run, a two-run blast over the left field wall, helped push the NJIT baseball team past host Stony Brook in game two of Sunday's doubleheader at Joe Nathan Field. The Highlanders held on to win game two 7-5, after falling short 4-3 in the seven-inning opener on Sunday.

NJIT (17-21, 16-16 AE) clinched the season series over first-place Stony Brook (24-15, 20-8 AE) as the Highlanders won three of four and home and the squads split the four-game series this weekend on Long Island. 

Game One Recap
Stony Brook got on the scoreboard first with a sacrifice fly in the second inning and added two more runs courtesy of a Stanton Leuthner home run in the fourth inning.

The Highlanders were able to get back into the game in the fifth thanks to a pair of run-scoring hits from the Marcano brothers as Julio Marcano hit an RBI-double to get NJIT in the column and David Marcano followed it up with a two-run single to tie the game.

The contest remained 3-3 until the seventh when the Seawolves won the game on a squeeze play.

NJIT starting pitcher Grant Vurpillat struck out five in 4.2 innings of work, while only giving up two earned runs. 

Offensively, the Highlanders were led by Julio Marcano, who finished the game 3-for-4. It was his 15th multi-hit game of the season and fourth with at least three hits. 

Game Two Recap
NJIT was able to open up the scoring in this one, thanks again to Julio Marcano who hit a single to right field in the third inning to score Albert Choi.

The Highlanders added two more runs an inning later on an RBI single from Nick Hussey, who was able to come around and score on a Stony Brook error.

Stony Brook bounced back immediately, scoring four runs in the fourth to take the lead. The hosts added a fifth run two innings later to make the score 5-3, which stood until the eighth inning.

In the top of the eighth, Cole Fleming's second hit of the day scored Daniel Helfgott to cut the margin to one, 5-4, before Franzoni's big blast put the Highlanders back in front. NJIT added an insurance run later in the inning when Choi hit an RBI single to plate Hussey.

Jake Rappaport, who took over on the mound for NJIT in the sixth inning, handled it from there as the senior left-hander kept the Seawolves off the scoreboard to preserve the victory.

Rappaport tossed four innings and gave up just one run to improve to 6-1 this season with seven saves. 

Choi, Helfgott, and Fleming each had two hits to pace the NJIT offense.

On Deck
NJIT will host Binghamton next weekend in another four-game America East series. The Highlanders and Bearcats, who are currently tied for the second and final playoff spot in their division, will meet for a pair of doubleheaders on Saturday and Sunday at Jim Hynes Stadium in Union, NJ. Fans are not permitted at NJIT home games this season, but all four games will be streamed on AmericaEast.TV.