After a two-and-a-half hour rain delay, the Fairleigh Dickinson baseball team was defeated 12-5 by Bryant in the series finale of the four-game series in Smithfield, RI. With the victory, the Bulldogs took all four games in the series and improve to 19-18 (11-5 NEC) on the season, while the Knights fall to 9-26 (4-12 NEC) overall.
With two outs in the first, Dylan Stone stroked a two-run double to right-center to give the Bulldogs an early 2-0 lead.
Stone put the Bulldogs up 3-0 in the third with an RBI single. Jordan English's RBI sacrifice fly in the fourth put Bryant 4-0.
Sophomore Eric Pollag's two-run double in the fifth put the Knights on the board and cut the deficit in half, 4-2. Sophomores Ryan Kresky (Freehold, NJ/Freehold) and Mike Eliasen (Swedesboro, NJ/Gloucester Catholic) scored on the play.
In the bottom half of the fifth, the Bulldogs responded with five more runs to take a commanding 9-2 lead. Zakary Skagerlind delivered and a two-run single, and Kevin Brown drove in two runs with a double. Jordan English capped the rally with an RBI single.
The Knights got one run back in the sixth as junior DJ Robinson (Woodbury, NJ/Gloucester Catholic) connected on his third home run of the season to left-center field, cutting the lead to 9-3. The Bulldogs were able to get the run back in the bottom of the frame on Skagerlind's RBI double.
Junior Steven LaForge (Garfield, NJ/St. Mary) doubled home freshman Ben Mersky (Hershey, PA/Hershey) and sophomore Matt Holsman (Coral Springs, FL/Stoneman Douglas) in the seventh to cut the deficit to 10-5. Once again the Bulldogs answered with two runs of their own in the bottom of the inning to go back up 12-5, which would be the final score.
Robinson led the Knights' 12-hit attack with three hits. Pollag and Mersky each had two hits, and Pollag had two RBI's. LaForge also had two RBI's.
Brown had four hits to pace Byrant. English, Nick Campbell and Nick Stone each had three hits. As a team, the Bulldogs collected 18 hits. English, Skagerlind and Stone also had three RBI's a piece.
Freshman Matt Cadigan (Freehold, N.J./Freehold) (0-4) took the loss on hill for the Knights. He allowed nine runs, all earned on 11 hits in 5.0 innings. He walked two and struck out one. Salvatore Lisanti earned the victory for the Bulldogs by going 5.2 innings, allowing only three runs on six hits. He walked one and struck out six.
The Knights return to action on Wednesday, April 28 as they travel to Jamaica, NY to take on St. John's in a non-conference matchup. First pitch is scheduled for 6:00 p.m.
