Saturday, March 26
Goodman Campus
1:00:00 PM
Lehigh University
8
vs
1
NJIT
Mountain Hawks take two from NJIT
3/27/2011 12:15:00 AM | Baseball
BETHLEHEM, Pa. – The Lehigh baseball team (11-8) picked up a pair of victories over the New Jersey Tech Highlanders on Saturday afternoon in 8-1 and 6-2 victories. The Mountain Hawks had strong starting pitching performances from Jayme Edwards and Mike Lebo.
In game one, Edwards made the start for the Mountain Hawks and went a strong five innings, giving up just one run. Edwards earned the victory and lowered his ERA for the season to 2.91. Brendan McGaheran delivered two hits and a game-high 3 RBI in the victory. Kevin Mihalik and Casey Turner each had one hit and an RBI as well.
With one out in the bottom of the first, Bill Goldman singled. After Andy Russell reached on a walk, Goldman scored on a double steal attempt on a bad throw by the catcher down to second base. Mihalik followed with a single to score Goldman. Mihalik scored later in the inning when Casey Turner delivered and RBI single. The Mountain Hawks had a 3-0 lead after one inning of play.
Edwards only had one small rough patch in the second inning, as he gave up a leadoff double and then the runner later advanced to third on a balk. A groundout to McGaheran put the Highlanders on the board, making the score 3-1. That would be the lone run Edwards and the rest of the pitching staff would give up for the game. The Mountain Hawks picked up a very quick run in the third inning. Russell led off the bottom of the inning with a walk. He then stole second and made it home on a bad throw by the catcher and misfielded throw by the centerfielder. Lehigh had a 4-1 lead at that point.
In the fourth inning, McGaheran cracked an RBI double, scoring Chad Warga to make the score 5-1. In the fifth, the Mountain Hawks tacked on three more insurance runs, including an Brendan Pifer RBI walk and a McGaheran two-run single. The Brown and White then had an 8-1 lead.
Dan Ciccone and Nick Cassell pitched two scoreless innings in relief to secure the 8-1 game one victory for Lehigh.
In game two, Mike Lebo made his first start in nearly a month and had a strong outing for the Mountain Hawks. NJIT's leadoff batter Matt Tomczyk roped a double to right field to start off the game. Lebo escaped the early scare though as he forced a groundout, strikeout and pop out. From that point on, Lebo was very strong in his rehab start, going five innings and giving up just four hits and one run while striking out four.
In the bottom of the first, Goldman and Mihalik each reached base on a walk and a single respectively. Then with two outs, Borden delivered a clutch two-out hit to score the runners and make the score 2-0 in favor of Lehigh.
Lebo found himself in a minor jam in the fifth inning, as he allowed an RBI single. With two runners on and two outs, Lebo forced a groundout to shortstop and escaped the jam. The senior's day was over as he was lined up for the win at that point. Lehigh had a 2-1 lead. Thomas O'Malley entered the game in the sixth inning and faced a major jam. O'Malley loaded the bases on two walks and hit batter. Then with two outs, NJIT grounded a ball into the hole, where McGaheran made a strong throw to first and Borden made a nice scoop play to escape Lehigh from the jam.
In the sixth inning Lehigh increased its lead to 3-1 after scoring on a play where Austin Borden scored when Jeff Wiand was caught stealing at second base. NJIT responded with an RBI double in the top of the seventh to cut the Lehigh lead to 3-2.
Lehigh tacked on three more runs, two of which were unearned, in the sixth inning when Ryan Gajdos led off the inning with a triple. Ciccone finished off the game for Lehigh in relief and picked up a three-inning save.
The Mountain Hawks are back in action on Sunday when they travel to Newark, N.J. to take on the Highlanders in another doubleheader, beginning at 1 p.m.
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