The Fairleigh Dickinson baseball team suffered a pair of losses Saturday afternoon to NEC-foe Bryant in Smithfield, RI. The Bulldogs took game one, 3-1, and then took the nightcap, 6-3. Both games were seven innings. With the victories, the Bulldogs improve to 18-18 (10-5 NEC) on the season, while the Knights fall to 9-25 (4-11 NEC) overall.
In game one, Knights' starting pitcher Mike Eliasen (Swedesboro, NJ/Gloucester Catholic) and Bryant's starting pitcher Eric Polvani were locked into a scoreless pitcher's dual over the first five innings of the game. The Bulldogs finally broke the scoreless tie in the sixth on Jordan English's RBI single to take a 1-0 lead. Bryant extended its lead to 3-0 later on in the inning when Colin Dougherty scored on an errant pick-off attempt and Nick Campbell's RBI double.
The Knights avoided the shutout in the seventh on sophomore Ryan Kresky (Freehold, NJ/Freehold)'s RBI groundout, scoring junior Brian Dillon (Sarasota, FL/Cardinal Mooney). However, Bulldogs' closer Mark Andrews was able shut the door on the Knights the rest of the inning to earn his seventh save on the season and give the Bulldogs a 3-1 victory.
Eliasen (0-1), making his first start on the mound this season, took the loss. The sophomore went 5.1 innings, allowing only four hits and three runs. However, only one run was earned. He walked three and struck out one. Polvani earned the victory for the Bulldogs on the hill. He pitched 6.0 innings, giving up five hits and no runs. He walked one and struck out five.
Sophomore Matt Holsman (Coral Springs, FL/Stoneman Douglas) had two hits to pace the Knights on offense.
The Knights got off to quick start in game two as they scored twice in the top of the first to take an early 2-0 lead. Dillon delivered a two-run single to score both Holsman and junior Steven LaForge (Garfield, NJ/St. Mary).
Jamie Skagerlind delivered an RBI single in the second inning to cut the Knights' lead in half, 2-1.
The Knights were able to get the run back in the fourth as Dillon scored on Kresky's single to put the squad back up two, 3-1.
However, Bryant struck for three runs in the bottom half of the frame to take a 4-3 lead. Zakary Ciancaolo's RBI triple started the scoring. After an RBI groundout, Kevin Brown put the Bulldogs ahead with an RBI double.
The Bulldogs extended their lead to 6-3 in the fifth with two more runs. The Knights were unable to get any closer and Bryant took game two, 6-3.
Freshman Ashley Bulluck (Hollywood, FL/South Broward) (1-5) took the loss on the mound for the Knights. He pitched 4.1 innings and allowed six runs on nine hits. Five of the runs were earned. He walked one and struck out two. Peter Kelich earned the victory for the Bulldogs. He pitched 6.0 innings, allowing three runs, all earned, on seven hits. He walked one and struck out two.
Dillon had two hits and two RBI's to lead the Knights' bats. Ciancaolo had three hits to pace Bryant.
The two teams will play the final game of their four-game series tomorrow. First pitch has been moved up to 11:00 am due to the threat of inclement weather.
