STONY BROOK, N.Y. - The Maine Black Bears dropped a heartbreaker to NJIT on Friday afternoon, as the Highlanders scored two unearned runs in the ninth to advance to the America East Championship.

The Black Bears will now take on Stony Brook again, with the winner having the beat NJIT twice and the loser going home. 

A scoreless contest was finally broken in the eighth inning, as Maine's All-Conference outfielder Sean Lawlor drove a single up the middle to bring Connor Goodman around to score and give Maine a 1-0 lead. 

In the bottom of the ninth NJIT got the leadoff man on with an infield single, followed by a ball down the line just tipping off the third baseman's glove and getting into the left field corner. The next batter was intentionally walked to load the bases and create force outs all around, and the next man up lined a sacrifice fly to center to tie things up 1-1. A first pitch swing by the next batter landed at the base of the wall, and NJIT walked off the 2-1 victory. 

Alex McKenney took the toughest of losses on the mound, after throwing eight dazzling shutout innings with just four hits before the ninth inning. He struck out four and walked just one alongside the intentional walk. 

The road suddenly got a lot longer for the Black Bears, as they'll need to beat Stony Brook tomorrow morning in an elimination game before defeating NJIT twice in the title game. Start time is set for 11:00am on ESPN+, subject to change due to inclement weather moving in. 

For all the latest news and updates about Maine Baseball, stay tuned to @MaineBaseball and GoBlackBears.com.