The Fairleigh Dickinson baseball team suffered a non-conference loss Wednesday night to Big East opponent St. John's, 9-7, in Queens, NY. The Knights took advantage of four Red Storm miscues to take the lead three different times during the game. With the victory, the Johnnies improve to 27-12 on the season, while the Knights fall to 9-27 overall.
Junior DJ Robinson (Woodbury, NJ/Gloucester Catholic) wasted no time to extend his hitting streak to 11 games as he blasted a two-run shot to left-center to score junior Brian Dillon (Sarasota, FL/Cardinal Mooney) in the top of the first to give the Knights an early 2-0 lead. The round-tripper was his fourth of the season.
The Red Storm answered with four runs on three consecutive hits in the bottom of the second to take a 4-2 lead.
The Knights cut the lead to 4-3 in the top of the fourth when sophomore Mike Eliasen (Swedesboro, NJ/Gloucester Catholic) scored on fellow classmate Matt Holsman (Coral Springs, FL/Stoneman Douglas)'s RBI single up the middle.
Dillon led of the top of the fifth with his second home run of the season to tie the game at four. Later on in the frame, Robinson and junior Joe Martino (Westbury, NY/W.T. Clarke) each scored on separate errors to put the Knights ahead 6-4.
In the bottom of the fifth, Sean O'Hare and Scott Ferrara each delivered RBI singles to tie the game backup at six.
However, the Knights responded in the sixth to once again take the lead, 7-6, on Martino's sacrifice fly, scoring Dillon.
The lead was short-lived once again as the Red Storm struck for three runs in the bottom half of the inning to take a 9-7 lead. The big blow of the inning came off the bat of Jeremy Blatz as his two-run home run gave the Johnnies the lead.
The Knights, however, were unable to score over the final three innings and were defeated 9-7.
Dillon went 3-for-4 and scored three times to pace the Knights on offense. Martino went 2-for-3, and Robinson drove in two runs and scored twice. As a team, the Knights managed only seven hits.
Jimmy Parque, Joe Panik, Baltz, Greg Hopkins and O'Hare each had two hits for the Red Storm, who collected 14 as a team.
Senior southpaw Terry Lydecker (Pompton Lakes, NJ/Pompton Lakes) started on the hill for the Knights. He pitched 4.1 innings, allowing six runs, all earned, on eight hits. He walked five and struck out one.
Junior Chris Theordor (Staten Island, NY/Staten Island Tech) (0-1) came in relief for Lydecker and took the loss for the Knights. He gave up three runs, all earned, on five hits in 0.2 innings. Juniors Zach Kisling (Marlboro, NJ/Marlboro Central) and Spencer Kelly (Rockville, MD/The Bullis School) combined to give up one hit over the final three innings of relief.
Jose Rodriguez earned the victory for St. John's, while Daniel Burawa earned the save.
The Knights return to action this weekend as they host Sacred Heart in a four-game series at FDU Field in Teaneck. First pitch in game one of the series is scheduled for 3:00 p.m. Friday.
