The Fairleigh Dickinson baseball team let a late lead slip away and lost a non-conference tilt to Seton Hall in West Orange, NJ Wednesday afternoon, 6-5 The Knights led 4-0 early and 5-2 in the eighth before the Pirates scored four times to take a 6-5 lead. Led by senior pitcher Terry Lydecker (Pompton Lakes, NJ/Pompton Lakes), the Knights held Seton Hall hitless through the first six innings. With the victory, the Pirates improve to 11-14, while the Knights drop to 4-17 overall.
Each team failed to score a run over the first three innings. However, the Knights placed a crooked number on the scoreboard in the top of the fourth as they scored four times to take a 4-0 lead. Sophomore Ryan Kresky (Freehold, NJ/Freehold) started the rally by singling home fellow classmate Matt Holsman (Coral Springs, FL/Stoneman Douglas). Sophomore Mike Eliasen (Swedesboro, NJ/Gloucester Catholic) followed with an RBI single to score junior Joe Martino (Westbury, NY/W.T. Clarke). Freshman Ben Mersky (Hershey, PA/Hershey) capped the scoring with a two-run single to center, scoring Kresky and Eliasen.
The Pirates cut the lead to 4-1 in the sixth on Chase Gray's RBI groundout.
In the seventh, the Pirates broke up Fairleigh Dickinson's no-hit bid as Scott Kalamar led off the inning with a single. He scored on an error with two outs to put Seton Hall down, 4-2.
The Knights tacked on an important insurance run in the eighth to go up, 5-2, when Eliasen drove home junior Brian Dillon (Sarasota, FL/Cardinal Mooney) from second after he stole second to put himself in scoring position.
However, the insurance was not enough as the Pirates scored four times in the eighth to take a 6-5 lead.
Mersky led off the ninth with a walk but was left stranded at third when the final out was made, and the Pirates took the game, 6-5.
The story of the game for the first six innings was the Knights' pitching. Lydecker, making his third career start on the mound, threw 5.1 innings of no-hit baseball before being pulled with one out in the sixth. Lydecker gave up one earned run, walked four and struck out five. Junior Chris Theordor (Staten Island, NY/Staten Island Tech) replaced Lydecker in the sixth and kept the Pirates' hitless in the game as he tallied the final two outs of the inning. Theordor was able to get two outs in the seventh before being lifted for freshman Eric Anderson (Allendale, N.J./Northern Highlands). Theordor pitched 1.1 innings, allowing only one unearned run and two hits.
Anderson started the eighth and was able to get one out before freshman Craig Warner (Coral Springs, Fla./Stoneman Douglas) to hold the lead. Warner struggled and was only able to retire one batter. He gave up two runs, both earned on three hits. He also walked one. Warner (1-1) was also tagged with the loss. Senior Corey Jeffers (Woodbine, NJ/St. Augustine Prep) came in to get the final out of the inning.
The Knights' pitching staff yielded only six hits on the day to the Pirates.
The Knights' offense continued to struggle as they only collected seven hits. Kresky and Eliasen each went 2-for-3 for the squad. Eliasen also had two RBI's. Defensively, the Knights committed two errors.
Despite striking out seven times, the Knights' knocked Seton Hall starter Ryan Harvey after 4.0 innings after scoring four times on five hits. However, the Pirates' bullpen was brilliant over the final five innings, limiting the Knights to one run on two hits. Mike Genovese pitched the final 1.1 innings to earn the victory.
The Knights return to action on Friday, April 9 to begin a four-game series at home versus Northeast Conference-foe Wagner. First pitch for game one of the series is scheduled for 3:00 p.m. at FDU Field in Teaneck.
