Box Score

The Fairleigh Dickinson baseball team won a thrilling game Wednesday afternoon at Siena, 9-8 in 10 innings, at Siena Field in Loudonville, NY.  With the victory, the Knights snap a three-game losing streak and improve to 16-17-1 on the season, while the Saints fall to 13-25 overall.

Trailing 5-4 heading into the top of the seventh inning, FDU scored four times to take an 8-5 lead.  However, the Knights saw Siena comeback to tie the game at eight in the eighth inning.

After FDU got out of a one-out, bases-loaded jam in the bottom of the ninth, freshman Pat McClure (Fayetteville, N.Y./Fayetteville-Manlius ) led off the top of the 10th with his first career home run to put the Knights ahead 9-8.  Fellow classmate Eric Snyder (Slatington, Pa./Northern Lehigh) (1-1) pitched a 1-2-3 inning in the bottom of the 10th to clinch the victory.

Senior Matt Holsman (Coral Springs, FL/Stoneman Douglas) paced the FDU offense (12 hits) out of the lead-off spot with a 3-for-5 effort with two runs scored and a walk.  Junior Kyle Weeks (Middle Island, N.Y./Longwood) broke out of a slump with two hits, including a double, scored two runs and collected a RBI. 

Freshman Shane Siebler (Nazareth, Pa./Nazareth Area) added two hits and two RBI's, and fellow classmate Riley Moonan (Syracuse, N.Y./Cicero North) collected three RBI's with a bases-loaded double in the seventh inning, while senior co-captain Ryan Kresky (Freehold, NJ/Freehold) drove home two runs with a pair of sacrifice flies.  Kresky also collected his 200^th career hit to extend his hitting streak to 11 games and is the third FDU player to record at least 200 hits in program history.

Freshman Ryan MacDonald (Bethpage, N.Y./Island Trees) started on the mound for the Knights and allowed three runs, two earned, on four hits in 4.0 innings of work, while striking out one and not issuing a walk.  Junior Eric Anderson (Allendale, N.J./Northern Highlands) threw 2.0 innings of relief as he allowed two runs, none earned, on three hits.  Freshman Anthony Calise (Pearl River, N.Y./Pearl River) pitched the seventh inning and allowed one earned run on two hits, while recording a strike out.  Fellow classmate Yonah Perline (Dix Hills, N.Y./St. Dominic) started the eighth inning and recorded only one out as he allowed two runs, none earned, on three hits.  Snyder pitched the final 2.2 innings as he did not allow a run on two hits, walked one and struck out one.

FDU scored a run in the top of the first to take a 1-0 lead.  Holsman led off the game with a single down the right field line and advanced all the way to third on a failed pick-off attempt by the pitcher.  With one out, Kresky drove home Holsman with a RBI sacrifice fly to right field.

In the top of the second, the Knights scored two more times to extend their lead to 3-0.  Weeks doubled to left field to start the inning and advanced to third when Moonan reached on an error by the second baseman.  With one out, McClure walked to load the bases, and Siebler followed with a two-run single up the middle, scoring Weeks and Moonan.  Holsman's single loaded the bases with still only one out but a pair of fly outs ended the FDU opportunity to tack on more runs.

The Saints cut the lead to 3-1 in the top of the second on fielding error by first baseman Mike Eliasen (Swedesboro, NJ/Gloucester Catholic) with two outs.  In the bottom of the fourth, Siena tied the game on Vincent Citro's one-out, two-run double.

The tie was short-lived as the Knights scored a run in the top of the fifth to regain the lead, 4-3.  Holsman began the inning with a walk, moved to second on a wild pitch and advanced to third on Eliasen's groundout to the left side.  Kresky then drove home Holsman with his second RBI sacrifice fly of the game.

Still leading by one heading into the bottom of the sixth, FDU saw the Saints score twice in the inning to take their first lead of the game, 6-5.  The home team scored their first run with two outs on an error by Holsman at third base to tie the game and took the lead on Ryan Metzler's RBI single.

In the top of the seventh, the Knights responded in a big way as they scored four times, all with two outs, to retake the lead at 8-5.  Holsman once again reached base to start the inning but was quickly erased when he was thrown out stealing at second base.  Eliasen then grounded out to second base for the second out.

Kresky came to the plate and started the rally with his 200th career hit, an opposite-field single to left.  Anderson followed with a single to right field, which moved Kresky to third.  After a pitching change, Weeks singled home Kresky to tie the game at five.

Both Anderson and Weeks moved up 90 feet after a wild pitch to put runners on second and third.  Freshman Mike Hewson (Sayville, NY/Sayville) worked a walk to load the bases for Moonan, who promptly cleared the bases with a three-run double to left-center field to give FDU a 8-5 lead.

Siena got a run back in the bottom of the seventh to cut the lead to 8-6 as the Knights' defense turned a double-play to sacrifice a run for outs.

Perline entered the game to pitch the eighth inning and induced a lineout to center field for the first out.  The next batter hit a groundball to Kresky at shortstop for the potential second out, but he booted the ball.  The hit parade started for the Saints as they put together a string of three singles with the last one cutting the deficit to 8-7.  Snyder then came in and gave up a RBI sacrifice fly to Ken Kirshner, which tied the game at eight.  He got the next batter to line out to end the inning with runners on second and third.

After FDU went down in order in the top of the ninth, Snyder got himself into trouble in the bottom half of the inning.  He gave up a lead-off single to Larry Balkwill, who advanced to second base on a sacrifice bunt.  Mike Fish then hit an infield single to put runners on the corners before Snyder walked Citro to load the bases with one out.  However, he was able to get out of the jam by getting a pop up to second base and a strike out.

McClure, who came to the plate 0-for-2 on the day with two walks, hit the first home run of his young career barely over the left field fence for the eventual game-winning RBI.  Snyder retired the top of the Siena lineup to give the Knights the 9-8 victory.

C.J. Sohl, who pitched the final 3.1 innings for the Saints, was charged with the loss, despite only allowing one earned run on three hits, while walking one and striking out four. 

Siena pounded out 14 hits off FDU pitching and was led by Fish's 4-for-5 performance and two runs scored.  Ted Trymbiski and Metzler each added two hits and a RBI, while Citro drove home two runs.

Both teams struggled defensively, committing three errors apiece.  Five of the runs FDU allowed were unearned.

“We did everything wrong today and ended up on the right side of the scoreboard,” Head Coach Gary Puccio said.  “Credit goes to kids for not giving up.  It was not pretty, but ugly wins always beat pretty losses.”

The Knights will return to action on Friday, April 20 when they welcome Central Connecticut State to the Naimoli Family Baseball Complex for the start of a big four-game NEC series.  FDU currently holds the No. 2 playoff spot, while the Blue Devils are in a tie for third.  Game one's first pitch is scheduled for 3:00 p.m. in Teaneck, NJ.