JERSEY CITY, N.J. (NJCUGothicKnights.com) | Junior catcher
Andrew Niech (Avenel, NJ/Colonia) needed one double to become
New Jersey City University's baseball all-time leader in the category. On April 6, he had three and added a grand slam for good measure.
Niech was 4-for-4 with six RBIs and his 30th, 31st and 32nd career doubles and NJCU unleashed four home runs as the Gothic Knights belted City College of New York, 17-6, in non-conference makeup action at the Thomas M. Gerrity Athletic Complex.
NJCU wins for the sixth time in seven games to improve to 9-8 overall. CCNY, which batted as the home team on the scoreboard in a makeup of a twice posted road doubleheader, fell to 7-5. NJCU slugged 17 hits in the win, including 11 for extra-bases and had 37 total bases.
The Knights led 11-0 after two and a half innings and 15-2 after four as
Niech, senior first baseman/right fielder
Alex Weinstein (Colonia, NJ/JFK-Iselin), senior catcher
James Gardner (Hoboken, NJ/Saint Peter's Prep) and sophomore
Zach Buchholz (Colonia, NJ/JFK-Iselin) all homered. It was the first time NJCU hit four homers in a game since 2009 with three coming in the fourth inning.
Niech, who had 11 doubles as a freshman and 13 as a sophomore, and in the 92nd game of his collegiate career, crushed a 1-1 pitch with one out in the fourth inning over the head of the CCNY left fielder for an opposite field double, breaking a tie for first place in program history with former Gothic Knight
Nick Cucinello (1990-93, 134 games).
Weinstein doubled twice (12th, 13th) and homered, finishing 3-for-6 with four RBIs. Sophomore right/left fielder
Eric Giordano (Metuchen, NJ/JFK-Iselin) extended his two-year consecutive games on-base streak to 31 straight, going 2-for-3 with two RBIs (one run, one walk).
Also for NJCU offensively, freshman left/center fielder
Dmitri Rueger (Teaneck, NJ/Teaneck) was 2-for-3 with three runs, two steals and an RBI.
Gardner and
Buchholz each notched their first career home runs;
Gardner, who entered as a reserve, was 1-for-2 with two runs and two RBIs while
Buchholz scored twice in a 1-for-2 effort. Freshman designated hitter
Juan Penas (Port Reading, NJ/Woodbridge) was 2-for-3.