May 03, 2010
Baseball tops NJIT 15-6 in series finale

NEWARK, NJ— The NYIT baseball team scored nine runs in the first two innings Sunday and went on to a 15-6 win over NJIT in the finale of a four-game Great West Conference baseball series. All nine starters in the Bears batting order got a hit and four of them had multiple-hit days, paced by senior Brian Smith, who was 4-for-5, including a double. Sophomore Sebastian Grazziani was 3-for-5, while seniors Christian Dienna and Greg Gilroy and sophomore Matthew Carr all picked up two hits each. NYIT, which reached double-figures in runs for the second time in the four-game series and for the 13th time overall in 38 games this season, generated 17 hits on Sunday.
 
Sunday’s result in the only series game played in Newark was NYIT’s third victory in the four weekend games. The Bears had won at home on Friday and then the two teams split a doubleheader, also at NYIT, on Saturday.
 
NYIT is now 11-5 in the Great West Conference with a comfortable grip on one of the top three spots in the standings (fourth-place Houston Baptist was 8-7 entering play on Sunday). Sunday’s loss drops the NJIT Highlanders to 7-8 in the conference.
 
The visiting Bears took control Sunday with six runs on six hits in the opening inning. Leading 2-0, Gilroy delievered a two eun double and Carr followed with a  two run single, both coming with two outs.  NYIT followed the six-run first inning with three more runs in the second inning and the nine runs would prove to be more than enough for the win.
 
The score stayed at 9-4 through five innings, but NYIT added to its total with three runs in the sixth inning, two in the seventh and one in the eighth, while NJIT picked up two more runs of its own in the bottom of the seventh for the 15-6 final.

Jerry Smith and Dienna picked up runs batted in on sacrifice flies in NYIT’s three-run sixth inning and Valdez hit his two-run double in the seventh, while Grazziani hit an RBI double for the Bears in the eighth.
 
The winning pitcher for the Bears was senior  Matt McDevitt (2-1), with a solid effort in his third start of the season. He went 6.1 innings and allowed seven hits and four earned runs (six total), with seven strikeouts and one walk. Relievers Louie Bernardi and Mike Roth combined to blank NJIT over the last 2.2 innings.

Gilroy had a team-leading four runs batted in, while Effrey Valdez, Dienna, Jerry Smith, and Grazziani all had two RBI. Valdez hit his team-leading 16th double to drive home two runs in the seventh inning and the Bears also got doubles from Gilroy and Grazziani.

The Bears return to action at Manhattan College on Tuesday. First pitch is set for 3:30 p.m.