Lehigh University
NJIT
10th inning double sends Lehigh home happy
3/25/2009 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
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NEWARK, N.J. – It took 10 innings and some late heroics by Andy Russell, but the Mountain Hawks finally left Riverfront Stadium with a hard-earned 2-1 win over NJIT on Wednesday. After Pat Groome belted a two-out double to left center, Russell ripped one down the right field line to score him and give the Mountain Hawks their first lead of the game. Cory Kent, who had already pitched 1.2 innings in relief, recorded the final three outs in the bottom of the 10th as Lehigh improved to 5-19-1.
“It was big for those guys,” Lehigh head coach Sean Leary said. “We needed to get some two-out hits and both Pat and Andy came through in a clutch situation for us.”
The Highlanders fall to 1-12 on the season with the loss.
“Cory was lights out,” Leary said. “He’s been pretty consistent in late innings for us, and today was the right time to go to him. He shut it down without allowing a baserunner.”
Ken Longernecker earned a no-decision despite throwing six solid innings for the Brown and White. Longernecker struck out six and gave up just four hits and one run in the start.
The Highlanders got on the board first in the fourth inning when Longernecker walked John Berner with the bases loaded. Longernecker faced seven batters in the inning but escaped without further damage to keep the Mountain Hawks down just one.
“Longernecker did a great job for us today,” Leary said. “He gave us a strong six innings and then the bullpen came in and did an outstanding job.”
Groome came up with his first big hit of the afternoon in the sixth inning to tie the score at one. Groome singled to center field, scoring Mark Bernhard from second for Lehigh’s first run of the game to pull even with the highlanders. Groome was the only Mountain Hawk player on Wednesday to record a multi-hit game, going 2-for-5 on the day.
Luke Porter took over for Longernecker in the seventh and pitched 1.1 innings of shutout relief. Porter allowed just two baserunners without giving up a hit before being replaced by
The bullpen combination of Porter and Kent pitched four innings in relief without giving up a hit and striking out three. They combined to allow just two baserunners and didn’t allow a Highlander to get past first base. Lehigh pitchers overall held the Highlanders to just four hits and combined to strike out nine batters, keeping the Mountain Hawks alive until the heroics in the 10th inning.
“I felt good for the team today,” Leary said. “A lot of the guys have been pressing in those situations, and when you break through like that you can build on it. Hitting can be contagious and we hope those key hits can loosen some guys up for this weekend.”
Lehigh starts up league play on Saturday when it travels to
