UMBC

Steve Bowen recorded a home run for the second game in a row on Saturday against NJIT.

BALTIMORE--The UMBC baseball dropped a close, 8-6, decision to visiting NJIT in the second game of a three-game series on Saturday afternoon at The Baseball Factory Field at UMBC.

The Highlanders (6-11) took the lead from the Retrievers (7-12) in the top of the sixth and did not relinquish it for the rest of the game, adding six runs in the sixth and seventh innings, combined.

Senior Steve Bowen led the Retrievers, recording a home run in his second straight game, and going 4-for-5 on the day with two runs scored and two RBI.

Junior Dan Blewett (0-6) remains winless, picking up his sixth loss in the Retrievers defeat. Blewett allowed five runs, four of them earned, and nine hits in 6.0 innings while striking out seven.

Austin DeRogatis led the Highlanders, batting a perfect 3-for-3 on the day with one walk and one RBI, while PJ Saporito (2-3) led NJIT from the mound, going 7.0 innings and letting up six runs, 11 hits, and striking out four.

The Retrievers took the lead off sophomore Scott Peddicord’s lead-off double, senior Steve Gale’s walk, and freshman Rick Phillips single through the left side that plated Peddicord in the bottom of the second, but the Highlanders knotted the score at one in the top of the fourth on a Retriever error.

The Highlanders took the lead in the top of the next inning, but the Retrievers quickly answered back in the bottom of the fifth with Bowen’s two-out, two-run homer to take their last lead of the game, 3-2.

The Highlanders proceeded to bat back-to-back three-run innings in the sixth and seventh to put away the Retrievers, 8-6.

The Retrievers and the Highlanders face-off in the rubber match of the three-game series on Sunday at 1:00 p.m. at The Baseball Factory Field at UMBC.