Game One Box Score
Game Two Box Score

The Fairleigh Dickinson baseball team took a pair of seven-inning contests against Wagner Friday afternoon at the Naimoli Family Baseball Complex in Teaneck, NJ.  The Knights took game one, 4-0, before completing the sweep with a 5-3 victory in the nightcap.  FDU improves to 13-14-1 (9-6 NEC) on the season, while the Seahawks fall to 12-20 (8-7 NEC) overall. 

With its 13th victory of the season and ninth in conference play, the squad has already surpassed last year's win total of 12 and tied last season's conference win total of nine.

Freshman Joe Borelli (Wallingford, Conn./Mark T. Sheehan ) (2-0) put together his second consecutive complete-game shutout in the opener.  The righty allowed only a fourth-inning single as he walked five and struck out three.  Wagner starter Ryan Casey was charged with the loss as he went the distance, allowing four earned runs on five hits, while walking two and striking out five.

Junior Eric Anderson (Allendale, N.J./Northern Highlands) collected two of the Knights' five hits as he doubled and blasted a towering three-run home run over the right field fence in the bottom of the third inning.  He also scored two runs.

FDU scored its first run in the bottom of the second to take a 1-0 lead.  Anderson doubled to lead off the inning, and junior Kyle Weeks (Middle Island, N.Y./Longwood) followed with a first-pitch double down the left-field line to score Anderson.  Senior co-captain Mike Eliasen (Swedesboro, NJ/Gloucester Catholic) sacrificed Weeks to third, who was left stranded when the inning ended.

In the bottom of the third, freshman Jordan Ritz (Newport News, Va./Woodside) singled with one out and advanced to second when senior co-captain Ryan Kresky (Freehold, NJ/Freehold) walked.  Anderson then knocked a 1-0 pitch out of the park for his team-leading sixth home run of the season, giving the Knights a 4-0 lead, which would be all the runs they would need as Borelli retired the last six batters he faced to seal the win.

In game two, freshman Brandon Butler (2-3) was great on the mound as well in picking up the win.  He went 6.0 innings, allowing three earned runs on eight hits, while allowing one intentional walk and striking out four.  Fellow classmate Eric Snyder (Slatington, Pa./Northern Lehigh) pitched the seventh inning to pick up his sixth save of the season.

Kresky went 2-for-3 with a solo home run in the bottom of the first and drove home two more as he just missed a grand slam with a double off the top of the fence in the Knights' four-run second inning.  As a team, FDU collected seven hits.

Wagner's Ian Miller led off the game with a double, advanced to third on a sacrifice bunt and scored on Eddie Brown's RBI groundout to put the visitors up 1-0.

Kresky's two-out bomb in the bottom of the first tied the game at one.  The round-tripper was his fourth of the season.

The Seahawks answered with a run in the top of the second to take a 2-1 lead on Chris Smith's RBI single.

In the bottom of the second, FDU scored all the runs it would need the rest of the game as they scored four times to take a 5-2 lead.  Eliasen singled to left field to start the inning, and freshman Riley Moonan (Syracuse, N.Y./Cicero North) followed with a walk.  Senior JT Sherba (Binghamton, NY/Binghamton) executed a sacrifice bunt down the third base line to advance the runners to second and third.  Freshman Shane Siebler (Nazareth, Pa./Nazareth Area) blooped a RBI single to right-center to score Eliasen, and senior Matt Holsman (Coral Springs, FL/Stoneman Douglas) ripped a RBI single to right-center to give the Knights a 3-2 lead.  After Ritz singled to right field to load the bases, Kresky hit the first pitch he saw off the top of the fence to drive home Siebler and Holsman, which extended the lead to 5-2.  FDU had a chance to tack on more runs but the next two batters were retired in order to end the threat.

Wagner got a run back in the top of the third to cut the Knights' lead to 5-3 as Hayden Hunter delivered a two-out double to the gap in right-center field.

The turning point of the contest came in the top of the fourth as Butler ran into a bit of trouble as he allowed back-to-back singles to start the inning.  Both runners then moved up a base on a wild pitch, putting men on second and third with no outs.  Butler buckled down and got the first out on a groundout to third and followed with strike out for out number two.  After an intentional walk to load the bases, he got a strike out to end the inning, and in the process, crushed the Seahawks' hopes of tying the game.

Neither team did anything on offense in the fifth and sixth innings.  Snyder relived Butler to start the seventh and got the first two men out before allowing a single to Brown.  Hunter then reached on a fielding error by Eliasen at third to bring the go-ahead run to the plate.  However, Snyder induced a groundball to end the game to give the Knights a 5-3 victory and a sweep of the doubleheader.

Wagner starter Max Schmardel was charged with the loss as he allowed five earned runs on six hits over the first two innings.  Dakota Dvorak pitched the final four innings for the Seahawks and limited FDU to only one hit as he walked one and struck out three.

Miller, Nick Dini and Smith each had two hits to pace Wagner's nine-hit attack.

“After yesterday's loss, coming back to take both games today, especially with two freshman pitchers starting, says a lot about our tenacity,” Head Coach Gary Puccio said.  “We continue to show great signs of growing as a team.  Of course having (Eric) Anderson and (Ryan) Kresky homer doesn't hurt either.”

The Knights and the Seahawks will conclude their four-game series with a 1:00 p.m. game on Saturday at the Naimoli Family Baseball Complex.