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The Fairleigh Dickinson baseball team will travel to Hamden, CT this weekend to take on Quinnipiac in a critical NEC four-game series at the Quinnipiac Baseball Field.  Because the weather forecast is calling for rain on Sunday, the teams will now play a pair of doubleheaders, both starting at 1:00 p.m. on Friday and Saturday.  The second game on Friday and the first game on Saturday will be seven-inning contests. 
 
Last Time Out: FDU (4-10-1, 1-3 NEC) was defeated at Hartford on Wednesday, 8-4.  The Hawks took a 3-0 lead after one inning and extended its lead to 5-0 after the second and never looked back as they eventually took an 8-1 lead before the Knights cut it to 8-4.  FDU had the tying run at the plate in the top of the eighth inning but the threat ended on a fly out to center field with the bases loaded.
  
Junior Eric Anderson (Allendale, N.J./Northern Highlands) stayed hot at the plate as he went 3-for-5 with a RBI to lead the Knights' 12-hit attack.  Senior Ryan Kresky (Freehold, NJ/Freehold) added two hits and a RBI, while freshman Jordan Ritz (Newport News, Va./Woodside) scored a run, drove home a run and stole two bases for FDU.
 
Freshman Mitch Paz (Bridgeport, CT/St. Joseph) was tagged with the loss for the Knights as he only recorded one out in the first inning.  Wildness was a problem for the lefty as he walked three walked and hit a batter, while allowing a RBI double and a RBI sacrifice fly to center field.  Six more freshmen pitched the final 7.2 innings for FDU, combining to allow five earned runs on six hits.  They walked six, struck out four, hit a batter and committed three balks.
 
Anderson leads the Knights in hitting (.469), home runs (5), RBI's (14), hits (23), slugging (.796) and on-base percentage (.550).  Kresky is hitting a healthy .382 on the year and leads the team in runs (11) and walks (12).  He has pounded out 21 hits, which includes five doubles and two home runs, and has collected 10 RBI's while slugging .582 and recording an on-base percentage of .514.
 
Senior Mike Eliasen (Swedesboro, NJ/Gloucester Catholic) leads the pitching staff with his 2-1 record.  With the exception of a couple innings, he has been the FDU ace as he has struck out 30 batters and has only walked three in 28.0 innings pitched.  Junior Craig Warner (Coral Springs, Fla./Stoneman Douglas) has posted a 4.50 ERA to lead the team and has struck out six, walked four and allowed only eight earned runs in 16.0 innings of work.  Butler has bounced back from his first start of the season to hold opponents to a .246 batting average in 17.0 innings.
 
Scouting Quinnipiac: The Bobcats (2-12, 1-3 NEC), who are picked to finish eighth in the NEC and one spot ahead of FDU, will be playing their first home games of the season after losing 12 of their first 14 away from home.  After splitting with Fordham in its season-opening doubleheader, Quinnipiac lost nine games in a row with losses to Hofstra, Richmond, William & Mary and Wagner.  The Bobcats won the third game of their series against Wagner, 6-2, before dropping the series finale last weekend and losing at Army on Wednesday. 
 
As a team, Quinnipiac has struggled mightily on offense in the early going.  They are only hitting .210 (92-for-439) with 27 runs scored (1.9 runs per game).  No one on the squad is hitting higher than .277 with more than 12 at-bats, and no one has driven in more than three runs.  The Bobcats also have not hit a home run on the season, have struck out 71 times, drawn 31 walks and have made 16 errors on defense.  Opponents are hitting .291 (120-for-413) off Quinnipiac pitching and have scored 81 runs (5.8 runs per game), drawn 57 walks and struck out 80 times.
 
The Bobcats are scheduled to start RHP Derek Lamacchia (0-2, 0.86 ERA, 21.0 IP, 24 K's), RHP George Dummar (1-2, 6.32 ERA, 15.2 IP, 8 K's), RHP Spencer Kane (1-2, 5.29 ERA, 17.0 IP, 12 K's) and RHP Nick Fabrizio (0-2, 7.71 ERA, 11.2 IP, 11 K's) in the series.
 
All-Time Series: The Bobcats lead the all-time series, 26-15, and have won six of the last eight meetings.    

Next Up: The Knights will return home to the Naimoli Family Baseball Complex to meet Manhattan on Tuesday, March 27 in a non-conference tilt.  First-pitch in Teaneck, NJ is scheduled for 3:30 p.m.