The Fairleigh Dickinson baseball team will commence its 2012 baseball season this weekend in Davidson, NC.  The Knights will play a single-game on Saturday against Lehigh at Noon before playing a pair of games on Sunday against Lehigh (10:00 a.m.) and Davidson (1:00 p.m.).  All games will be played at Wilson Field.
 
The Knights, who are coming off a 12-38 (9-23 NEC) season a year ago, will have a lot more depth this season after only having a roster of 19 student-athletes last season.  Head Coach Gary Puccio brought in 18 new players, including 16 freshmen, for the 2012 campaign. 
 
Nine players return from last year's team which includes five starters.  Second Team All-NEC performer Ryan Kresky (Freehold, NJ/Freehold) returns to play shortstop, while senior Mike Eliasen (Swedesboro, NJ/Gloucester Catholic) will join Kresky on the left side to play third base.  Eliasen also return as FDU's top pitcher and will primarily get the call to the bump on Sunday's.  Kresky and Eliasen will serve as co-captains for this year's team.
 
Senior JT Sherba (Binghamton, NY/Binghamton) returns as the Knights' starting catcher.  Senior Matt Holsman (Coral Springs, FL/Stoneman Douglas) will see time at both second base and third base this season.  Junior lefty Eric Anderson (Allendale, N.J./Northern Highlands) will play first base and pitch in the starting rotation.
 
Juniors Matt Cadigan (Freehold, N.J./Freehold) and Craig Warner (Coral Springs, Fla./Stoneman Douglas) will add some much-needed depth to the bullpen this year.  Sophomore Brandon Horetsky (Jefferson Township, NJ/Jefferson Township) will see some time in the outfield, while fellow classmate Jeff Murawski (Stroudsburg, PA/Stroudsburg) will be stationed in the bullpen.
 
The Knights will begin the season with 18 newcomers including 16 freshmen.  The entire starting outfield with consist of first-year college players and a bulk of the pitching staff as well.  Juniors Kyle Weeks (Middle Island, N.Y./Longwood) and Sean Yoshikawa (Fremont, CA/Irvington) are transfers from junior colleges who will see playing time.  Weeks will see time as second base, while Yoshikawa will play outfield, third base and DH when called upon. 
 
The starting outfield will consist of freshmen.  Mike Hewson (Sayville, NY/Sayville) will likely get the call in left field, Jordan Ritz (Newport News, Va./Woodside) will be the anchor in center, while Shane Siebler (Nazareth, Pa./Nazareth Area) will see action in right field.  Riley Moonan (Syracuse, N.Y./Cicero North) and Corbin Gapski (Syracuse, NY/Liverpool) will also see time in the outfield.
 
In the infield, freshman Ryan MacDonald (Bethpage, N.Y./Island Trees) will play a key defensive role at first base as he has showed he can pick it very well at the position.  Freshman Patrick McClure (Fayetteville, N.Y./Fayetteville-Manlius ) will serve as Sherba's backup at catcher and will also see some starts as a designated hitter.  Freshman Jack Loftus (Dumore, Pa./Dunmore) will be the emergency third catcher, and freshman Brett Bittiger (Saylorsburg, Pa./Pius X) will back up Kresky at shortstop.
 
Freshmen Brendan Butler (W. Sayville, N.Y./Sayville) and Joe Borelli (Wallingford, Conn./Mark T. Sheehan ), both right-handed pitchers will be placed in the starting rotation at the start of the season, joining Eliasen and Anderson.  Freshman left-handed pitcher Mitch Paz (Bridgeport, CT/St. Joseph) will likely start the season starting mid-week contests on the mound and has a shot to make the conference rotation once NEC play begins. 

Joining Cadigan, Warner and Murawski in the bullpen will be MacDonald, who is a lefty, and freshman right-hander David Marcelino (Englewood, NJ/Paramus Catholic).  Freshman Eric Snyder (Slatington, Pa./Northern Lehigh) will get first crack at being the closer.  Freshman Yonah Perline (Dix Hills, N.Y./St. Dominic) will be the eight-inning man, while freshman Anthony Calise (Pearl River, N.Y./Pearl River) will pitch in the seventh inning.  All three are right-handed throwers.
 
Scouting Lehigh: Located in Bethlehem, PA, the Mountain Hawks compete in the Patriot League, in which they finished sixth in the league last season.  Lehigh features a different look after losing six starting position players and three starting pitchers from last year's team which finished 24-21.  The Mountain Hawks are picked to finish last in the six-team Patriot League this season.  They will play Davidson in their season-opener on Friday before taking on the Knights at Noon on Saturday.
 
FDU and Lehigh have met only once before.  The Knights lost, 8-3, in the second game of the 1958 season.
 
Scouting Davidson: Located in Davidson, NC, the Wildcats (1-1), who are picked to finish last in the 11-team Southern Conference, split their first two games of the season as they dropped their season-opener to Niagara, 9-4, before defeating La Salle in come-from-behind fashion, 4-3.  Senior centerfielder Drew Gadaire was Davidson's most consistent offensive weapon in the season opening series, reaching base five times in nine plate appearances, and he was the lone Wildcat with multiple extra base hits (a double and a triple). Senior second baseman James Cerbie had Davidson's only other extra-base hit – the game-tying home run against La Salle.  Wildcat pitchers nearly matched both last season's single-game season-low for hits and single-game season-high for walks in the same game. Davidson accomplished the former as RHP Brian Russell allowed just three hits in 5.0 innings, and the Wildcats' bullpen combined to throw 4.0 innings of hitless ball against La Salle. However, the pitchers combined to issue eight walks.
 
FDU and Davidson will meet for the first time in series history on Sunday at 1:00 p.m.
 
Next up: The Knights will travel to the Bronx, NY to take on Fordham on Wednesday, Feb. 29.  First-pitch is scheduled for 3:00 p.m.