ANNANDALE-ON-HUDSON, New York -- The Marist baseball team has returned to the Northeast for it's first game of the season in New York State when the Red Foxes host the New Jersey Institute of Technology Highlanders on Tuesday at 3 p.m.

Originally the game was scheduled to be Marist's home opener at McCann Field, however, due to recent weather and current field conditions, the game was moved to Honey Field on the campus of Bard College in Annandale-on-Hudson, NY. 

LAST TIME OUT:

The Red Foxes are coming off their first series win, series sweep and three game win streak of the year after Marist won its three games at the Towson Tigers last weekend.

In the series finale on Sunday, the Red Foxes opened the scoring when in the top of the first inning, senior Andrew Rouse laced a one out double down the right field line. Two batters later, junior Frankie Gregoire drove in Rouse with an RBI single and gave Marist the 1-0 lead.

Four innings later in the top of the fifth, sophomore Patrick Lightner walked with one out and junior Anthony Lazar ripped an RBI double down the left field line to increase the lead to 2-0.

The Tigers answered in the bottom of the inning with a lead off single, a second single three batters later and an RBI single by the following batter to trim the deficit to 2-1.

Towson tied the game in the bottom of the seventh with a lead off solo home run to left field.

One inning later, the Tigers took their first lead of the series with a one out single, a stolen base, a second single and an RBI sac bunt to take a 3-2 lead.

Down by a run and down to their last three outs, the Red Foxes answered when redshirt junior Jordan Roper smacked a lead off solo home run to left center. Three batters later, freshman Reece Armitage walked, Lightner reached on a throwing error by the third baseman that scored Armitage and allowed Lightner to advance to third and Lazar followed with an RBI single to give Marist a 5-3 lead.

Senior Mike Coss then returned to the mound for his second inning of relief and retired Towson in order to secure the comeback win.

WEEKLY AWARDS:

Lazar was named the Madness Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference Player of The Week by collegesportsmadness.com on Tuesday. He batted .429 with six hits, four doubles, one run scored and 4 RBI in three wins at Towson for Marist. He finished with a two hits, a double and one RBI in the Red Foxes' 4-1 win on Saturday, two hits, a double and and one RBI in Marist's 9th inning comeback 5-3 win on Sunday and had two hits, a double, a run scored and one RBI in the Red Foxes's 9-1 win on Friday. He now has five doubles in his last four games and one in each of the last five games as well.

CAREER PROGRAM MILESTONES:

Marist currently has two players who have moved into the Top 10 in program history in several career statistical categories:

Gregoire hit his 21st career home run in Marist's 4-1 win on Saturday and moved into a tie for 3rd place All-Time in career home runs with Tim Allen (2001-03).

Senior Charlie Jerla recorded his 35th career start on the mound for the Red Foxes on Saturday, moving into a tie for 9th All-Time with Ryan Kondratowicz (2000-03) and George Heath (2002-06) and recorded his 21st career win which put him into a tie for 5th place All-Time with Chad Gallagher (2008-12). Jerla also currently stands at 165 career strikeouts which is good for 10th place All-Time in program history.

STREAKING PLAYERS:

Rouse is currently riding a five game hit streak during which he is batting .444 (8-for-18) with three doubles, five runs scored, two RBI, a .545 on base percentage and a .611 slugging percentage.

Lazar currently has a four game hitting streak .444 (8-for-18) with five doubles, one run score, four RBI, a .421 on base percentage and a .722 slugging percentage. 

Roper is currently riding a 14 game reached base streak, while senior Matt Iantosca currently has a 13 game reached base streak as well.

SCOUTING THE HIGHLANDERS:

NJIT enters the game with an 8-7 overall record and are coming off an 8-6 win at Penn State on Wednesday.

Freshman David Marcano currently leads the team with a .420 average, a .491 on base percentage and is tied for first with 21 hits. Junior Michael Anastasia is first with two home runs and 10 RBI.

On the mound, the Highlanders will look to junior Brett Lubreski who is 1-0 with a 0.00 ERA and in seven innings pitched has given up no runs on five hits with two walks, six strikeouts and a .217 opponent batting average against.

HOW TO FOLLOW:

Live stats will be available here. Fans can also follow @Marist_BSB on Twitter for in game updates. 

UP NEXT:

The Red Foxes open MAAC play this weekend when they host the Monmouth Hawks in a doubleheader on Saturday (Noon) and a single game on Sunday (Noon) at McCann Field.