The Fairleigh Dickinson baseball team split a non-conference doubleheader Sunday afternoon versus Iona in New Rochelle, NY. The Gaels defeated the Knights in game one, 8-5. However, the Knights bounced back to win game two, 10-6, to earn the split. The Knights are now 8-22 on the season, while the Gaels are 6-25 overall.
In game one, the Knights jumped out to a 1-0 lead when junior Joe Martino (Westbury, NY/W.T. Clarke) scored on sophomore Mike Elasen's RBI groundout in the second inning. The Gaels tied the game at one in the third inning on Anthony Muccio's solo home run.
The Gaels went ahead 2-1 in the fourth on Andrew Passerelle' solo blast. However, the Knights answered in the top of the fifth when freshman Eric Anderson (Allendale, N.J./Northern Highlands) scored on sophomore Matt Holsman (Coral Springs, FL/Stoneman Douglas)'s RBI single to tie the game at two.
In the bottom half of the fifth, the Gaels scored three times to take a 5-2 lead. Passerelle hit his second bomb of the game, a two-run shot, in the inning.
The Knights clawed their way back in the sixth and cut the lead to 5-4 on back-to-back homers by junior DJ Robinson (Woodbury, NJ/Gloucester Catholic) and Martino. The Gaels answered in the bottom half of the frame to extend their lead to 8-4. The big blow of the inning was a three-run shot off the bat of Nick Rossetti.
Sophomore Eric Pollag hit his first home run of the season in the seventh inning to cut the lead to 8-5. However, it was not enough as the Gaels were able to shut the Knights down in the final frame to earn the victory.
Freshman starter Ashley Bulluck (Hollywood, FL/South Broward) (1-4) took the loss on the hill for the Knights. He pitched 4.2 innings, allowing five runs, all earned, on seven hits. He did not walk a batter and struck out six. Thomas Kriss earned the victory on the hill for the Gaels.
Martino had two hits and scored two runs to pace the Knights on offense. As a team, the Knights collected seven hits. Rossetti and Passerelle each had two hits for the Gaels and scored two runs. The pair combined for seven RBI's.
In game two, the Knights scored a single run in each of the first three innings to take an early 3-1 lead. Junior Brian Dillon (Sarasota, FL/Cardinal Mooney) drove home Holsman for the first run. Holsman then singled home Pollag for the second run. Sophomore Ryan Kresky (Freehold, NJ/Freehold) tripled home Robinson for the third run.
After the Gaels cut the lead to 3-2 in the fourth, the Knights scored three times in the fifth to take a 6-2 lead. Kresky hit the first of his two home runs on the day as the big fly scored Martino.
The Gaels answered with three runs in the bottom of the fifth and one more in the sixth to tie the game at six, heading into the final inning.
In the seventh, Robinson hit a two-run blast to put the Knights up 8-6. Two batters later, Kresky hit his second blast of the game to extend the lead to 9-6. Freshman Ben Mersky (Hershey, PA/Hershey) then tripled home Pollag to put the Knights ahead 10-6.
Senior Terry Lydecker (Pompton Lakes, NJ/Pompton Lakes) pitched the final inning to close out the 10-6 victory.
Freshman Matt Cadigan (Freehold, N.J./Freehold) started on the hill for the Knights. He pitched 4.2 innings, allowing five runs on six hits. However, only three runs were earned, and he struck out two and walked three. Junior Zach Kisling (Marlboro, NJ/Marlboro Central) earned the victory for the Knights by going 1.1 innings of relief. He allowed one run on three hits. Anthony Castelletto took the loss on the hill for the Gaels.
Holsman, Robinson and Kresky each had three hits. Robinson scored three times, and Kresky collected four RBI's. The Knights had 14 hits as a team.
Passerelle, Chris Burke, James Beck and Collin Lyall each had two hits for the Gaels.
The Knights return to action on Wednesday, April 21 to take on NJIT in Newark. First pitch is scheduled for 4:00 p.m.
