Box Score

STONY BROOK, N.Y. -- The Fairleigh Dickinson baseball team fell in extra innings to Stony Brook, 6-5, Thursday at Joe Nathan Field. With the victory, the Seawolves improve to 5-10 on the season, while the Knights fall to 2-7 overall.

With the score tied at five in the bottom of the 10th, freshman Ryan McGrath (Lansingburgh, N.Y./Lansingburgh), who entered the contest to pitch in the inning, issued a lead-off walk to Austin Shives. The next batter, Michael Hubbard, sacrificed Shives to second base to put the winning run on second base with one out.

After a walk, McGrath allowed the walk-off RBI single through the left side to Anthony Italiano, scoring Shives, and giving Stony Brook the come-from-behind victory.

After six innings of play, the score was deadlocked at one, before FDU scored twice in the top of the seventh to take a 3-1 lead, as senior Kyle Weeks (Middle Island, N.Y./Longwood) came up with a clutch two-out, two-run single, with the bases loaded, to score freshman John Giakas (Staten Island, N.Y./Tottenville) and sophomore Jordan Ritz (Newport News, Va./Woodside).

The Knights still had a chance to tack on more runs in the frame after a wild pitch advanced the base runners to second and third, but Stony Brook ended the threat with a pop up to second base.

Sophomore Anthony Calise (Pearl River, N.Y./Pearl River) did his job on the mound after entering the game in the bottom half of the seventh, pitching a scoreless frame for FDU.

With one out in the top of the eighth, freshman Joel Roman (East Hartford, Conn./East Hartford) singled up the middle and advanced to third on fellow classmate Dylan Sprague (Brunswick, N.Y./Averill Park)'s double to right-center field, putting the pair in scoring position. Giakas then came through with an RBI groundout to score Roman, and Sprague scored on an error by the right fielder with two outs to extend the Knights lead to 5-1.

But in the bottom of the eighth and no outs, the Seawolves loaded the bases on a single, walk and an error off sophomore Yonah Perline (Dix Hills, N.Y./St. Dominic). Shives picked up an RBI on a fielder's choice, and Hubbard followed with a run-scoring single to right-center field to cut FDU's
advantage to 5-3.

Sophomore closer Eric Snyder (Slatington, Pa./Northern Lehigh) relived Perline and got a pop up to first base for the second out of the eighth inning. Italiano then came to the plate and tied the contest at five with a two-out single, which allowed Shives and Hubbard to plate a pair of unearned runs.

The Knights loaded the bases with one out in the top of the ninth but failed to score, while Snyder allowed the winning run to reach third base in the bottom half of the inning before getting a groundout to force extra innings.

In the top of the 10th, Sprague walked to lead off the inning, advanced to second base on Giakas' sacrifice bunt and reached third on a productive groundout to second base by Ritz. However, a fly out to right field ended the scoring chance and setup Stony Brook's walk-off victory.

FDU scored first in the game on Giakas' two-out RBI single to right field, giving the visitors an early 1-0 lead in the top of the second.

Senior starting pitcher Craig Warner (Coral Springs, Fla./Stoneman Douglas) pitched three scoreless innings before running into trouble in the fourth. After allowing a pair of singles to start the inning, he induced a 6-4-3 double play, which advanced the lead-off man to third base.

With two outs, Hubbard tied the game up at one with an RBI single to center field and then stole second base. Warner then gave up a single to right field, but sophomore Shane Siebler (Nazareth, Pa./Nazareth Area) gunned down Hubbard at the plate to end the inning.

Warner's defense picked him up again in the bottom of the fifth, as Weeks threw out Italiano at the plate from second base, after Italiano tried to score from second on an infield single with two outs.

Warner received a no-decision in his best outing of the year in three starts. He scattered eight hits over 5.0 innings of work while walking one and striking out three.

Senior southpaw Matt Cadigan (Freehold, N.J./Freehold), who relieved Warner to start the bottom of the sixth, continued his strong play out of the bullpen, striking out two and walking one, in his one inning on the bump.

Perline was charged with four runs, two earned, on two hits in his 0.1 inning of work before yielding to Snyder, who was charged with a tough blown save after being called on to get the final five outs. He allowed one hit, walked one and struck out one in 1.2 innings, before McGrath (0-1) took the loss.

The Knights defense also did not help matters with four errors on the day, with a pair coming Stony Brook's four-run eighth inning.

The FDU offense, which had eight hits on the day, left 11 men on base, including eight in scoring position. Seven of the Knights' starters collected at least one hit, with Roman lead the way with a 2-for-5 performance and two runs scored. Weeks and Giakas each added a pair of RBI.

The Seawolves collected 13 safeties and were led by Italiano's 4-for-5, three-RBI effort. Stony Brook pitched seven guys in the game, and G.C. Yerry earned the victory after pitching the final 2.1 innings.

FDU will return to action on Saturday, March 16 when it hosts New York Tech for its 2013 home opener. The Knights and the Bears will play a three-game series, starting with a doubleheader at 12 p.m. on Saturday, before playing one contest on Sunday at 1 p.m.