Highlanders Split Doubleheader to Clinch Third-Straight America East Series

The NJIT baseball team split a doubleheader with UMass Lowell on Saturday, dropping game one 12-1, before coming back to win game two 7-5 to clinch the three-game America East series at Jim Hynes Stadium.

The Highlanders (12-11) have now won all three America East series this season and sit tied for first place in the conference with a 7-2 league record. UML drops to 8-16 on the season and 3-6 in America East action.

Game One | UML 12, NJIT 1
UMass Lowell scored five runs in the first and never looked back en route to the double-digit victory, which tied the series after NJIT's 10-4 win on Friday evening. 

The Riverhawks tacked on two more runs in the second to go ahead 7-0 and two more in the fourth to make the score 9-0.

NJIT finally got on the board in the sixth inning when Albert Choi doubled home David Marcano, but the visitors added three runs in the seventh to make the final score 12-1. 

David Marcano had one of four Highlanders' hits to extend his hitting streak to 14, while Jared Donnelly saw his 10-game hitting streak come to an end. 

Drew Standen was effective out of the NJIT bullpen, tossing five innings and allowing just two earned runs. 

Game Two | NJIT 7, UML 5
The Riverhawks scored a run in the first and added another in the third to take an early two-run lead, but a three-run home run from Luke Longo in the fourth gave NJIT a lead that held up for the rest of the game.

NJIT got right back to work in the fifth adding four more runs to make its lead 7-2. Those runs came courtesy of an RBI double from Julio Marcano, an RBI single from Choi and a two-RBI single from Nick Hussey. 

UML was able to chip into the HIghlanders' lead with two runs in the six and one more in the ninth, but Joe Georgini was able to get a fly out with the tying runner on base in the ninth to preserve the victory and earn his second-career save.

Georgini combined with Jake Rappaport and Evan Gegeckas to pitch NJIT to the game two victory. Rappaport started for the second time this season and went four innings, before handing the ball to Gegeckas, who earned the mound win after tossing three innings. Georgini pitched a perfect eighth inning and was able to work around a solo home run and an error in the ninth to close the door and clinch the series victory.

Longo, Choi, and the Marcano twins each recorded multi-hit games in the win. Julio Marcano was 4-for-5, while David Marcano went 2-for-5 to extend his hitting streak to 15.

UP NEXT
The Highlanders hit the road for another America East Conference series, making the trek to Maine for three games next weekend. Game one is slated for 4 p.m. on Friday and all three games will be streamed via ESPN3.