Box Score

The Fairleigh Dickinson baseball team dropped the first contest of its four-game series with Mount St. Mary's, 7-4, Friday afternoon at the Naimoli Family Baseball Complex in Teaneck, NJ.  With the victory, the Mount improves to 13-34 (6-19 NEC) on the season, while the Knights fall to 21-22-1(15-10 NEC) overall.
 
Freshman Riley Moonan (Syracuse, N.Y./Cicero North) paced the Knights' 13-hit attack by going 3-for-4 with a double and a run scored.  Freshman Jordan Ritz (Newport News, Va./Woodside), senior co-captain Ryan Kresky (Freehold, NJ/Freehold), junior Eric Anderson (Allendale, N.J./Northern Highlands) and senior co-captain Mike Eliasen (Swedesboro, NJ/Gloucester Catholic) each collected two hits on the day, while Kresky and Eliasen each added two RBIs.
 
Junior Craig Warner (Coral Springs, Fla./Stoneman Douglas) (2-5) was charged with the loss on the mound.  In 6.2 innings of work, he allowed five runs, three earned, on seven hits, while walking two and striking out none.
 
FDU took an early 1-0 lead in the bottom of the third on Kresky's one-out solo home run over the right-center field fence for this fifth round-tripper of the season. 
 
In the bottom of the fourth, the Knights tacked on another run to extend their lead to 2-0 and were robbed of another run.  With two outs and runners on first and third, Kresky lined a single to right field to score freshman Shane Siebler (Nazareth, Pa./Nazareth Area).  Anderson followed with a ringing single to right field.  On the play, Ritz was called out at home as he tried to score from second.  It looked like he was never tagged out, but the umpire called him out to end the inning, which turned out to be a crucial turning point in the game.
 
The Mount answered with a pair of unearned runs in the top of the fifth to tie the game at two.  The first run scored on a throwing error by Eliasen at third base with one out as the runner took off from third after the ball got past first base.  The second run scampered home after the runner on the first was thrown out at second trying to steal.
 
With two outs in the top of the seventh, the Mount Scored four times to take a 6-2 lead as Michael Foster and Mark Quaranta each delivered two-run doubles.
 
The visitors extend their lead to 7-2 in the top of the eight on Mo Moriarty's lead-off home run over the center-field fence.
 
FDU showed some signs of life in the bottom of the ninth.  Junior Kyle Weeks (Middle Island, N.Y./Longwood) walked with one out and advance to third on Moonan's double off the center field fence.  Eliasen followed with a two-run single to center to cut the deficit to 7-4, but that was all the Knights would get as freshman Pat McClure (Fayetteville, N.Y./Fayetteville-Manlius ) hit a hard ground ball down the third-base line that was fielded by the third baseman diving to his right, which followed with a 5-4-3 double play to end the game.
 
Two defensive errors by FDU and 13 runners left on base were two keys in the contest.
 
The Mount picked up 10 hits on the day and was led by Quaranta's 3-for-5, two-RBI effort.  Moriarty and Clow each had two hits with Clow scoring two runs.  Foster added two RBIs out of the lead-off spot. 
 
Karl Lamont picked up the win on the bump for the Mount.  The lefty went 7.0 innings, scattering 10 hits, while allowing two runs with one being earned.  He walked one, struck out two and plunked two batters.
 
“On any given day, any team can beat any other team,” Head Coach Gary Puccio said.  “The Mount is a good hitting team and showed that today.  We also opened the door for them with sloppy defense.  We cannot play that way if we are going to win games.”
 
The series will continue Saturday with a pair of seven-inning contests beginning at 1:00 p.m. at the Naimoli Family Baseball Complex.  Before the first game, baseball alums are invited to come for a spring reunion beginning at Noon.