The Fairleigh Dickinson baseball team won its second straight game in come-from-behind fashion as they scored two runs in the ninth to earn a 4-3 victory over Wagner at Richmond County Ballpark in Staten Island, NY. With the victory, the Knights improve to 10-32 (7-18 NEC) on the season, while the Seahawks fall to 17-27 (11-14 NEC).
After neither team scored over the first two innings, the Seahawks took a 1-0 lead with one out in the bottom of the third as Joe Conforti scampered home on an errant throw by junior catcher JT Sherba (Binghamton, NY/Binghamton) who tried to throw out Conforti at third base on a steal attempt.
In the top of the fourth, junior Ryan Kresky (Freehold, NJ/Freehold) led off the inning with a triple off the right field fence, but the Knights failed to drive him home to tie the game.
The Seahawks took a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the sixth as Seth Boyd delivered an RBI single up the middle past a drawn in Knights' infield with nobody out. Wagner then loaded the bases on back-to-back bunt singles, but the Knights got two huge outs on a double-play lineout to Kresky at shortstop as stepped on second for the second out. After a walk loaded the bases back up, sophomore Eric Anderson (Allendale, N.J./Northern Highlands) was able to induce a foul pop up to first base as senior DJ Robinson (Woodbury, NJ/Gloucester Catholic) made a tough catch in the sun to end the threat and keep the damage at a minimum.
The Knights scored a single run in the top of the seventh to cut the deficit to 2-1. With one out, senior Erik Pollag (Sicklerville, NJ/Paul VI) stroked a double to right field. Robinson followed and hit the first pitch through the left side for a single, putting runners at the corners. The Knights caught a break as a balk was called on a 3-2 pitch with senior Joe Martino (Westbury, NY/W.T. Clarke) up at the plate. Pollag came home to give FDU its first run of the game, while Robinson took second base but was eventually stranded.
In the bottom half of the seven, the Seahawks got the run back to take a 3-1 lead. With two outs and a man on second, Boyd hit a routine fly ball out to left field, but Martino dropped the ball, allowing the run to score and Boyd to reach third.
The Knights once again cut the lead to one in the top of the eighth to make the score 3-2. Sophomore Jonathan Torres (Miramar, FL/Pine Crest) led off the top of the eighth with a single to right. Kresky followed with his third hit of the afternoon as he singled on the first pitch through the right side to put runners on the corners with no one out. Junior Mike Eliasen (Swedesboro, NJ/Gloucester Catholic) then knocked a RBI sacrifice fly to right field to drive home Torres. With two outs, Pollag gave the ball a right to deep right-center field, but the Seahawks' right field made the catch on the warning track to end the inning.
After the Knights held the Seahawks scoreless in the bottom of the eighth, Robinson led off the ninth inning with a single to center field. Martino followed and knocked the first pitch he saw to right for a single to put runners on first and second with nobody out. Junior Matt Holsman (Coral Springs, FL/Stoneman Douglas) then laid down a sacrifice bunt to advance the runners to second and third. On the play, it looked like Holsman beat the throw but was called out for the first out of the inning.
With Wagner playing the corners in and the middle infield back, junior JT Sherba (Binghamton, NY/Binghamton) hit a sharp groundball to shortstop. On the play, Robinson came home to tie the game at three. However, the shortstop's throw was wild to first base and dribbled away far enough that Martino was able to come around from second and beat the throw to the plate by a split second to give the Knights their first lead of the game, 4-3.
Senior Spencer Kelly (Rockville, MD/The Bullis School) started the ninth on the mound for the Knights. After retiring the first two batters, Conforti hit a ball that was destined to be the final out of the inning, but the ball took a bat hop over Robinson's head at first. Conforti ended up on second with a double. Eddie Brown was then hit by a pitch to put the winning run on first.
After a trip to the mound by Coach Gary Puccio, Boyd drilled a ball to deep center field that looked like was going to win the game for the Seahawks, but Torres made a running catch up against the wall to secure the 4-3 victory for the Knights and giving Kelly his seventh save of the season.
Anderson gave the Knights a quality start on the mound. He allowed two runs, both earned, on seven hits in 6.0 innings of work, while walking three and striking out three. Sophomore Craig Warner (Coral Springs, Fla./Stoneman Douglas) allowed an unearned run in the seventh despite not allowing a hit. Senior Zach Kisling (Marlboro, NJ/Marlboro Central) (3-0) earned the victory by pitching a 1-2-3 eighth inning. The Knights bullpen only allowed one hit in their three innings of work.
Ryan Van Spronsen pitched 8.0 innings for Wagner and scattered eight hits and allowed two earned runs, while walking two and striking out three. Closer Dakota Dvorak was tagged with the loss as he gave up two runs on two hits in the ninth inning.
Kresky led the Knights' 10-hit attack by going 3-for-4 with a pair of singles and a triple. Robinson went 2-for-4 with a run scored.
The Knights and Seahawks will play games two and three of their four-game series on Saturday beginning at Noon at Richland County Ballpark in Staten Island, NY.
