The Fairleigh Dickinson baseball team dropped its third game of the season versus Saint Peter's Wednesday afternoon in Jersey City, 16-7. The Knights collected 11 hits but committed two costly errors. The Peacocks built a 10-1 lead after the third inning and cruised to the victory. Saint Peter's improves to 16-26 on the season, while the Knights fall to 10-31 overall.
Saint Peter's got on the board first as Conor Mullee doubled down the left field line in the bottom of the first to put the Peacocks up 1-0.
The Knights tied the game up at one in the top of the second when sophomore Mike Eliasen (Swedesboro, NJ/Gloucester Catholic) scored on freshman Jonathan Torres (Miramar, FL/Pine Crest)' single to right field.
In the bottom half of the second, the Peacocks scored four times to take a 5-1 lead. Mullee singled home two more runs, and Chris Grimes followed with a two-run double.
Saint Peter's tacked on five more runs in the third to extend their lead to 10-1. The big blow of the inning was Grimes' bases loaded double.
Junior Joe Martino (Westbury, NY/W.T. Clarke) singled home fellow classmate Steven LaForge (Garfield, NJ/St. Mary) in the fifth to cut the lead to 10-2. However, the Peacocks answered with a run of their own in the bottom of the frame to go back up nine at 11-2.
The Knights scored two more runs in the sixth courtesy of junior DJ Robinson (Woodbury, NJ/Gloucester Catholic)'s two-run single, scoring sophomore Matt Holsman (Coral Springs, FL/Stoneman Douglas) and Laforge, to cut the deficit to 11-4. Saint Peter's got one run back in the bottom half of the inning to go up 12-4.
Sophomore Ryan Kresky (Freehold, NJ/Freehold) tripled to start the seventh inning and scored on classmate Mike Elasen's RBI groundout to give the Knights their fifth run of the game. The Peacocks answered with two more runs in their half of the inning on Grimes' two-run homer to go back up nine at 14-5.
The Peacocks scored two more runs in the bottom of the eighth to go up 16-5 before the Knights scored twice in the ninth to make the final outcome 16-7.
Knights' pitching struggled on the day as four pitchers combined to allow 12 hits and 11 walks and only record three strikeouts. Senior southpaw Terry Lydecker (Pompton Lakes, NJ/Pompton Lakes) (1-1) started on the hill for the Knights as took the loss. Ethan Jackson earned the win for the Peacocks.
Holsman, LaForge and junior Dillon each collected two hits for the Knights. Robinson had two RBI's, while LaForge and Kresky each scored two runs.
Grimes went 3-for-5 with seven RBI's to pace the Peacocks' offense.
The Knights return to action Friday as they travel to Hamden, CT to take on Quinnipiac in a Northeast Conference doubleheader. First pitch for game one is scheduled for 12:00 p.m.
