NJIT Walks Off First Place Bryant Twice on Saturday at Yogi Berra Stadium

The NJIT baseball team swept a doubleheader from first place Bryant on Saturday at Yogi Berra Stadium, first beating the Bulldogs 3-2 in seven innings, before completing the sweep with a 9-8 win in 11 innings in the nitecap.

Holden de Jong and Albert Choi were the stars of game one as Choi's sixth inning home run broke up Bryant's no-hitter and tied the game 2-2. After de Jong pitched a scoreless seventh inning, the Highlanders walked off the Bulldogs as Dillon Can put a ball in play and pinch runner Cole Fleming avoided the tag to win the game. de Jong tossed his first-career complete game, tying his career-high with nine strikeouts in the process. 

Choi's clutch home run was the 200th hit of his tremendous NJIT career, making him the seventh Highlander to reach the milestone.

If game one was a pitcher's dual, game two was a slugfest as both teams traded the lead several times.

Bryant scored five times in the second to take an early lead, but solo shots from Kevin Putsky and Dillon Can in the home half of the inning got the Highlanders right back in the game. 

Joe Georgini settled in out of the bullpen and kept Bryant off the scoreboard as the Highlanders scored once in the third to get within two and then three times in the fifth to take their first lead of the game. 

Back-to-back home runs from the Bulldogs gave the visitors a one-run lead in the top of the seventh.

NJIT captain and the program's all-time leader in home runs Luke Longo took matters into his own hands in the bottom of the ninth, tying the game with his 37th-career home run.

Bryant scored once in the 10th, but NJIT answered immediately, this time with a freshman coming up big. Cade Ladehoff, who set the single-season record for RBIs last weekend, doubled to score Can for his 47th RBI of the season. The Highlanders looked like they were going to win it in the 10th when Ray Ortiz drove a ball deep into the left-centerfield gap, but Bryant's centerfield made an unbelievable diving play to send the game to the 11th.

Talon Mihalinac pitched a scoreless top of the 11th to set up NJIT's second walk off of the day.

Longo led off the bottom of the 11th and was hit by a pitch, and Cole Fleming entered the game to pinch run. Longo advanced to second on a walk drawn by AJ Soldra and third on another walk from Can. Austin Francis then drew a four-pitch walk to score Fleming and clinch the double header sweep. 

The Highlanders will return to action on Friday when they open up another America East Conference series at UMass Lowell.