Saint Peter's Live Stats
St. John's Live Stats

The Fairleigh Dickinson baseball team will look to build on a positive performance this past weekend against Lafayette when they take on Saint Peter's and St. John's in mid-week non-conference contests this week.  The Knights will host the Peacocks on Tuesday at 3:00 p.m. at the Naimoli Family Baseball Complex in Teaneck, NJ before traveling to Queens, NY on Wednesday to take on the Red Storm at Kaiser Stadium with the first-pitch scheduled for 3:00 p.m.

Last Time Out: FDU (2-5-1) played a home-and-home three-game series this past weekend against Lafayette.  On Friday, the Knights fell at the Leopards' home field, 7-6, after leading 5-3 in the game.  On Saturday, FDU hosted a doubleheader and won game one, 6-2, before tying Lafayette in the second game, 3-3 in 11 innings, which ended in a tie due to darkness.  The game was scheduled for seven innings.

Senior Ryan Kresky (Freehold, NJ/Freehold) had a monster week, hitting .421 (8-of-19) with one double, one home run, three RBI's, three runs scored, three walks and a stolen base.  The FDU starting shortstop also slugged .632 and registered an on-base percentage of .542.  In the first game against Lafayette, Kresky went 4-for-5 with a home run and two RBI's.

Junior Eric Anderson (Allendale, N.J./Northern Highlands) had a good week both at the plate and on the mound.  The lefty hit .389 (7-for-18) with two home runs, four RBI's, two runs scored and three walks.  The Knights' starting first baseman recorded a slugging percentage of .722 and registered an on-base percentage of .476.  On the mound, Anderson started the first game against the Leopards and left the game leading 5-4 after 6.0 innings of work but received the no decision.  He scattered five hits, allowed four runs with only two being earned, walked two and struck out three.

Senior Mike Eliasen (Swedesboro, NJ/Gloucester Catholic) picked up his first victory on the mound this season as he pitched the final 4.0 innings against Lafayette in the second game of the series.  The righty allowed two earned runs on five hits, while striking out seven and walking none.  For the week, which included a 9.0 inning performance against NYIT, Eliasen pitched 13.0 innings and allowed only 12 hits, five earned runs and walked one guy via an intentional walk en route to striking out 12 and posting a 3.46 ERA.

Scouting Saint Peter's: The Peacocks (3-11), who are picked to finish eighth in the nine-team MAAC, are coming off a four-game split this past weekend at Savannah State (L, 4-3 in 10 innings, W, 10-3, W, 13-0, L, 6-1).  Saint Peter's lost nine of its first 10 games with its only victory coming at the expense of UNC-Asheville (3-1).  The Peacocks have played all of their games on the road this season, losing series at Charlotte, UNC-Asheville and Richmond.

All-Time Series: The Knights hold a 42-25 advantage in the series which dates back to 1951.  Both teams each won a game in the series last season with FDU winning at home, 9-0, before falling at Saint Peter's, 10-4.  The Knights and Peacocks have played each other almost every season since 1951 with the exception of five years.  FDU won 19-straight games in the series from 1972-1990.

Scouting St. John's: The Red Storm (5-9), who were ranked in the Top-25 in various preseason polls and picked to win the Big East Conference, salvaged the final game of their four-game series at Liberty this past weekend, 4-1, after dropping the first three (12-2, 7-4, 4-1).  St. John's has played the likes of Michigan State, Illinois and Minnesota in the Big Ten-Big East Challenge in Florida, Texas Tech and Northern Illinois at Texas Tech, at North Carolina, at UNC-Wilmington, Illinois at the Coastal Carolina Invitational in South Carolina and at Fairfield.  The contest against the Knights will be the home opener for the Red Storm.

Senior infielder Matt Wessinger is the Red Storm's top offensive threat as he leads the team in hitting (.385), hits (20-for-52), runs scored (10), doubles (5), total bases (28), slugging percentage (.538), on-base percentage (.437) and stolen bases (12-for-13).  He also has one home run and eight RBI's.  As a team, St. John's is hitting only .220 (99-for-450) with 51 runs scored (3.6 runs per game).  The Red Storm has struck out 94 times, drawn 46 walks and has made 30 errors on defense.  Opponents are hitting .252 (119-for-472) off St. John's pitching and have scored 79 runs (6.4 runs per game), drawn 55 walks and struck out 94 times.

The Johnnies will start senior left-handed pitcher Brendan Lobban on the mound against the Knights.

All-Time Series: The Red Storm holds a 38-8-1 advantage in the all-time series and has won the last 18 in the series.  The last win for FDU in the series came during the 1987 season when they defeated the Johnnies, 10-9.

Next Up: The Knights will start NEC play on Friday, March 16 at Monmouth with a four-game series starting at 3:00 p.m.  Saturday will feature a seven-inning doubleheader beginning at 1:00 p.m. before the series finale on Sunday at 1:00 p.m.