NEWARK, N.J. – Five runs in the fourth inning and a strong performance on the mound propelled the Niagara Purple Eagles to an 8-5 win in game one on Sunday before the NJIT Highlanders spread out seven runs over seven innings to take game two 7-1.

"I thought we did some good things and some not so good things," head coach Rob McCoy said. "The key for us and our siccess will be how we consistently we compete each pitch, all game long. Once we find that level of focused competition, great things will start happening."
 
Game One
Niagara (3-12) was held off of the board through the first three innings while NJIT (6-6) built a 4-0 lead as the game went into the fourth. Thomas Rodrigues was hit by a pitch and stole second before Anthony Firenzi drew a walk to put the first two batters of the inning on base. Both Tyler Lau and Joel Brophy were hit by pitches to load the bases and plate the first run with one out in the frame. Tanner Kirwer worked the count and drew a walk to score another run and cut the deficit in half. A long fly-ball to left field from Geoff Seto cleared the bases to give NU a 5-4 lead.
 
Kirwer scored Niagara's run in the sixth after he singled to center field, stole second, stole third, and came home on a sacrifice fly by Seto. The Purple Eagles added two more runs on two hits and an error in the top of the seventh to push the lead to 8-4. NJIT added one in the bottom of the ninth but Daniel Procopio shut the door to earn the save and give NU the 8-5 win.
 
Zachary Kolodziejski started on the mound and earned his second-consecutive win as the freshman turned in a final line of four runs, two earned, on nine hits through 6.1 innings. Matt McCuen also pitched out of the pen and gave up just one run on three hits over his 2.1 innings of work.  
 
Offensively, Firenzi went 3-for-4 and Rodrigues went 2-for-3 to lead the team at the plate. Both also walked and scored two runs each. Brophy knocked in a team-high two RBIs on a 1-for-3 performance.
 
Game Two
NJIT jumped out to an early lead with two runs on two hits in the first inning. Liam Stroud kept the Highlanders at bay as the sophomore gave up just two more hits through the rest of his 4.0 total innings. He retired the side in order in the third and the only runner to get into scoring position in the fourth did so on an error.
 
Firenzi cut the deficit in half, 2-1, when his homerun to left-center field in the top of the fifth inning got the Purple Eagles on the board. The round-tripper gave Firenzi the team-lead with two on the season. NJIT extended its lead with a run in its half of the fifth and another four in the sixth to take its final 7-1 lead.
 
Stroud took the loss on the mound. Firenzi went 1-for-3 with the homerun to lead NU at the plate for the second straight game.   
 
Niagara is back on the field this Tuesday when it takes on Little Three rival St. Bonaventure in a doubleheader in Olean, N.Y.

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