NEWARK, N.J. (Interstat) — The Albany Great Danes broke open a tight America East Conference series with a decisive 10-3 victory over the NJIT Highlanders on Sunday evening at Bears & Eagles Riverfront Stadium, riding a dominant pitching performance and a 15-hit attack to salvage the final game of the three-game set.

Albany, which entered the game with a 2-14 record, improved to 3-14 overall and 1-2 in conference play. NJIT fell to 7-12 and 2-1 in the America East. The result defied the pregame projections from Interstat, which gave the Highlanders a 60.8% probability to win and projected a 4-2 final score.

The most important part of the game was the collective effort of the Albany bullpen, which stifled a struggling NJIT offense over the final seven innings. After starter Christian Mello allowed one earned run in 2.2 innings, relievers Ethan Nardacci, Matthew Mariano and Tyler Kneller combined for 6.1 hitless innings to seal the win.

Nardacci was particularly sharp, striking out five over 2.1 perfect innings of work. But the top star was Mariano, who entered with the bases loaded and one out in the seventh inning and promptly induced a sacrifice fly and a flyout to limit the damage to two runs. He then pitched a perfect eighth and ninth, finishing with three scoreless, hitless innings. Mariano has now thrown 14 consecutive scoreless innings over his last three appearances, allowing just one hit.

The Great Danes’ offense provided ample support early, capitalizing on NJIT mistakes. They scored an unearned run in the first inning after a throwing error by the pitcher, then broke the game open with a four-run third. Cooper Loyal delivered the key blow, a two-run double to left-center field that scored Logan Morris and Luke Filippi. A bases-loaded walk to Patrick DeSarno and another to Michael Maggio pushed the lead to 5-0.

NJIT’s only sustained threat came in the third and seventh innings, both times fueled by walks. In the third, four walks and a hit-by-pitch plated a run, but Nardacci entered to strand the bases loaded. In the seventh, three walks loaded the bases again, leading to sacrifice flies from Austin Francis and Jack Stead that cut the deficit to 5-3. Mariano then quashed the rally.

Albany added insurance in the sixth on an RBI single by Levi McAllister and in the seventh on a solo home run by Tre Mariano. They capped the scoring with two unearned runs in the ninth on a two-run single by Morris, who finished 2-for-6 with two RBIs.

NJIT managed only two hits — singles by Ty Sallie and Lorenzo Camilleri in the sixth — and struck out 10 times. The Highlanders used seven pitchers, with Becker Sybirski, Nelson Smith, Anthony Catalano, Brendan Opat and Hayden Estes combining for 5.2 innings of scoreless relief after the early struggles of the starter.

The Great Danes will look to build on the win when they host Massachusetts on Tuesday. NJIT begins a three-game America East series at Bryant on Friday.