NEWARK, N.J. (Interstat) — A marathon 16-inning game at Bears & Eagles Riverfront Stadium ended in an 11-11 tie Wednesday, April 29, as the Fairleigh Dickinson Knights and NJIT Highlanders traded late-inning rallies before settling for a deadlock.

Fairleigh Dickinson, now 26-15-1, built an early lead behind solid pitching from starter Joe Barbarino, who threw six innings without allowing a hit but gave up two unearned runs. The Knights scored once in the first on a sacrifice fly after an error, added another in the second on a sacrifice fly by T. Stroh, and plated three in the fourth on a double by J. Delamota and a single by Stroh to take a 5-0 lead. They made it 6-0 in the sixth on a single by Stroh.

NJIT, now 14-24-1, erupted for four runs in the bottom of the sixth thanks to a two-run double by Rowin O’Connor and two more unearned runs on errors, cutting the deficit to 6-4. Fairleigh Dickinson answered with a run in the seventh on a hit-by-pitch that forced in a run, pushing the lead to 7-4. But the Highlanders stormed back in the bottom of the seventh. A double by Lorenzo Camilleri brought in a run, and O’Connor followed with a three-run homer to left field, giving NJIT an 8-7 lead.

The Highlanders extended their lead in the eighth. Nick Vega led off with a solo homer, and Ty Sallie added a two-run homer to make it 11-7. Fairleigh Dickinson refused to fold in the ninth. With two outs and a runner on second, Caleb Walker doubled to center to score Worth T. Then Johnathan Gomez launched a three-run homer to left, tying the game at 11-11.

Both teams had chances in extra innings. The Knights put runners on base in the 10th, 12th, 14th and 15th but could not score. NJIT loaded the bases in the 12th and 15th but left them stranded. The Highlanders’ bullpen, led by Tyler Kim’s three and one-third shutout innings with six strikeouts, kept the game tied. Fairleigh Dickinson’s relief corps of Neylin Navarro, Jay Creighton and Evan Doyle combined for seven scoreless innings, striking out nine.

Key performances included O’Connor’s two hits in seven at-bats with a home run and five RBIs for NJIT and Sallie’s one hit in five at-bats with a homer and two RBIs. Gomez went two for seven with a homer and three RBIs for the Knights, and Walker had two hits in four at-bats with two RBIs. Barbarino allowed two earned runs and struck out one in six innings.

The game featured 18 hits for Fairleigh Dickinson and 11 for NJIT. The Knights made two sacrifice flies, while the Highlanders had four sacrifice hits.

Both teams are off Thursday before resuming their schedules. Fairleigh Dickinson hosts Central Connecticut for a three-game series starting Friday, and NJIT hosts Bryant for a three-game set beginning Friday.

Interstat’s game simulator had projected a final score of Fairleigh Dickinson 7, NJIT 3, and its ELO system gave NJIT a 57.60 percent probability to win.