Live Stats

The Fairleigh Dickinson baseball team will look to move above the .500 mark on Wednesday when they travel to West Point, NY to take on the Black Knights of Army.  First-pitch is scheduled for 3:30 p.m. at Doubleday Field.
 
Last Time Out: FDU (14-14-1) is riding high after its third consecutive NEC series win after taking three of four from Wagner at home (L 3-1, W 4-0, W 5-3, W 4-3, 12 inn.) this past weekend.  The Knights have now won 11 of their last 15 games, including the last three.
 
Senior co-captain Ryan Kresky (Freehold, NJ/Freehold) was named NEC and NJCBA Player of the Week after hitting .692 (9-for-13) in the series with a home run, two doubles, five RBIs, four runs scored and two stolen bases.
 
Pitching was strong all weekend as FDU's starting pitchers pitched every inning but one.  Junior Craig Warner (Coral Springs, Fla./Stoneman Douglas) was tagged with a tough-luck loss in the series opener as he struck out a career-best six over his 9.0 inning of work, yielding three earned runs on six hits, while walking only one.  Freshman Joe Borelli (Wallingford, Conn./Mark T. Sheehan ), who was named NEC and NJCBA Rookie of the Week for the second consecutive week, pitched his second straight complete-game shutout in his second career start.  He allowed only a fourth-inning single and no runs, while walking five and striking out three in his seven-inning stint.  Freshman Brendan Butler (W. Sayville, N.Y./Sayville) kept the momentum riding in the second game of the doubleheader as he allowed three earned runs on eight hits coupled with four strike outs and one walk in 6.0 inning of work before giving way to fellow classmate Eric Snyder (Slatington, Pa./Northern Lehigh), who pitched a scoreless seventh for his NEC-leading sixth save of the season.  Senior co-captain Mike Eliasen (Swedesboro, NJ/Gloucester Catholic) move to 5-1 on the season with one of the gutsiest pitching performances one will ever see.  The righty pitched all 12 innings in the series-finale victory over the Seahawks for his third complete game of the season.  He scattered 12 hits and allowed three earned runs in the fifth inning, while walking one and striking out six.   
 
Scouting Army: The Black Knights (23-8), who are picked to win their fourth straight Patriot League championship, have won four games in a row and 13 of their last 15, while going 9-1 at home this season.  Army has played five common opponents with FDU.  Both teams defeated Sacred Heart, Quinnipiac, Lehigh and Lafayette with the Black Knights taking every game played.  The Knights took three out of four against SHU and Quinnipiac, while splitting with both Lehigh and Lafayette.  FDU defeated Manhattan, and Army lost to the Jaspers in its only home loss of the season.  The Black Knights are coming off a four-game Patriot League sweep of Lafayette at home this past weekend to move to 8-0 in league play.  Army plays at Siena on Tuesday in a non-conference tilt before hosting the Knights on Wednesday.
 
The Black Knights currently feature three players hitting over .300, including senior infielder Kevin McKague.  He leads the team in nearly every offensive category including batting average (.402), hits (45-for-112), doubles (12), home runs (3), RBI (30), slugging (.589), on-base percentage (.507), while stealing six-of-nine bases and committing only one error on defense all season.
 
As a team, Army is hitting .300 (295-for-983) and has scored 195 runs (6.3 runs per game).  They have struck out 161 times, drawn 121 walks and have committed 31 errors (.974 fielding percentage) on defense.  Opponents are hitting .251 (241-for-961) off Black Knights' pitching and have scored 124 runs (4.0 runs per game), drawn 85 walks and struck out 176 times as their pitching has recorded a team ERA of 3.79.
 
All-Time Series: Army leads the all-time series 11-2.  The last time FDU played the Black Knights was during the 2006 season when the Knights dropped both contests in Bradenton, FL.  Army has won the last five games in the series, which were all played in Bradenton.  The last FDU win came during the 1999 season, a 5-1 victory in West Point.

Next Up: The Knights will step out of conference play this weekend with a three-game series at Radford in Radford, VA.  Friday's series opener will be played under the lights beginning at 6:00 p.m.  Game two's first pitch is scheduled for 4:00 p.m., while the series finale will start at 1:00 p.m.