The Fairleigh Dickinson baseball team ended up with a split versus Mount St. Mary's Saturday afternoon at FDU Field in Teaneck. The Knights won a pitchers' dual in the seven-inning first game as Freshman Ashley Bulluck (Hollywood, FL/South Broward) outdueled Costa Kapothanasis to give the Knights a 2-1 victory. In the nine-inning second game, the Knights were primed to earn the sweep as they were up 9-2 going into the final frame. However, back-to-back errors to start the inning opened the door to a 10-run inning by the Mount. The Knights were unable to answer in the bottom half of the ninth, allowing Mount St. Mary's to win game two, 12-9. With the split, the Knights are now 14-35 (9-19 NEC) on the season, while the Mount is 20-31 (14-18 NEC) overall.
After each team failed to score a run in the first two innings in game one, the Knights struck for two runs in the third when sophomores Ryan Kresky (Freehold, NJ/Freehold) and Mike Eliasen (Swedesboro, NJ/Gloucester Catholic) scored on junior Steven LaForge (Garfield, NJ/St. Mary)'s double to the left-center field gap.
With the Knights still nursing a 2-0 lead in the sixth, the Mount's Jacob Darr led off the inning with a solo home run to center to cut the lead in half, 2-1.
The two runs were all that Bulluck (3-6) needed as he was exceptional on the mound. In the complete game effort, Bulluck scattered eight hits and allowed the one earned run. He stuck out six and did not walk a batter.
Kapothanasis also pitched well as he limited the Knights to only three hits in six innings of work. He also struck out six and walked two.
LaForge, Kresky and Eliasen each had a hit for the Knights, while LaForge had the two big RBI's.
Darr, Michael Foster and Shane Eyler each had two hits for the Mount.
In game two, the Mount scored two runs in the second on Mike Matta's two-run shot to left-center to take an early 2-0 lead. However, the Knights quickly answered in the bottom half of the frame with a pair of RBI fielder's choices to tie the game at two. Sophomore Scott Morrison (Coral Springs, FL/J.P. Taravella) drove home junior Joe Martino (Westbury, NY/W.T. Clarke) with the first run, and freshman Jonathan Torres (Miramar, FL/Pine Crest) plated Kresky for the second run.
The Knights took a 3-2 in the third when junior DJ Robinson (Woodbury, NJ/Gloucester Catholic) drove home fellow classmate Brian Dillon (Sarasota, FL/Cardinal Mooney) with a single to center.
In the fourth, Morrison scored on sophomore Matt Holsman (Coral Springs, FL/Stoneman Douglas)'s fielder's choice to extend the Knights' lead to 4-2.
After Dillon walked to begin the fifth, Robinson blasted a two-run shot on to the soccer field across the street to give the Knights a 6-2 lead. The round-tripper was Robinson's team-leading seventh home run of the season. Freshman Ben Mersky (Hershey, PA/Hershey) then singled home Martino later in the inning to push the Knights' advantage to 7-2.
The Knights scored single runs in the sixth and seventh innings to go up 9-2. Martino drove home Robinson with an RBI groundout in the sixth, and Mersky singled home Morrison in the seventh.
With the Knights looking for the series sweep in the ninth, the floodgates opened after two errors to start the inning. Josh Winters delivered the two big blows of the inning as he hit a three-run homer down the left field line and then singled in two more to drive in the go-ahead runs.
Down 12-9 in the bottom half of the ninth, the Knights failed to get a rally going, and the Mount escaped with their lone victory of the series.
Eliasen (1-3) was fantastic for the first eight innings as he allowed only two runs on five hits. However, he could not get out of the ninth and was tagged with the loss. For the game, he allowed 10 runs, six earned, on 11 hits. He struck out four and did not walk a batter.
Patrick Moriarty earned the victory for the Mount, and Matta earned the save after being tagged for both losses yesterday.
Robinson led the Knights' 13-hit attack by going 3-for-5 and falling a triple short of the cycle. He drove in three and scored twice. Martino, Morrison and Mersky each had two hits for the Knights. Dillon, Martino and Morrison also scored two runs, and Mersky added two RBI's.
Matta and Winter each had three hits and combined for eight RBI's. Matta and Kyle Kane both scored three runs.
Today was the final two home games for seniors Corey Jeffers (Woodbine, NJ/St. Augustine Prep), Terry Lydecker (Pompton Lakes, NJ/Pompton Lakes) and Mike Strachman.
The Knights return to action Tuesday afternoon as they travel to Piscataway, NJ to take on Rutgers before they take on Monmouth in West Long Branch, NJ next weekend for their final series of the season. First pitch at Rutgers is scheduled for 1:10 p.m.
