Live Stats

TEANECK, N.J. -- The Fairleigh Dickinson baseball team will start Northeast Conference play this weekend with a four-game series at Central Connecticut State, March 22-24. The Knights and the Blue Devils will play a single contest Friday at 3 p.m., a seven-inning doubleheader on Saturday at 1 p.m. and a single game Sunday at 1 p.m.

The Burgundy and Blue is picked to finish seventh in conference play this season but will look to build upon its fifth place finish a season ago when they won a program-record 18 games in the NEC.

FDU (3-9) won the final contest of its three-game set against NYIT last weekend, 10-4, at the Naimoli Family Baseball Complex in the 2013 home-opening series, as the victory snapped an eight-game losing skid.

Senior Kyle Weeks (Middle Island, N.Y./Longwood) and freshman Ryan McGrath (Lansingburgh, N.Y./Lansingburgh) each hit .300 (3-for-10) in the series. Weeks and sophomore Riley Moonan (Syracuse, N.Y./Cicero North) each scored three runs, while Weeks collected three RBI.

On the mound, sophomore Joe Borelli (Wallingford, Conn./Mark T. Sheehan ) pitched well despite being charged with the loss in a 2-1 setback in the second game of the series. The righty posted a 3.38 ERA, allowed only two hits, walked two and struck out two in 5.1 innings of work.

Freshman Nick Cuono (Hawthorne, N.J./Montvale Saint Joseph ) moved to 2-0 on the season after throwing 7.0 innings in the finale. After running into trouble over the first two frames and allowing three earned runs, he settled down and did not give up a run the rest of the way. He scattered nine hits, walked two and struck out five en route to recording a 3.86 ERA.

Through 12 contests, Weeks leads the team with a .405 batting average (17-for-42) and has a team-best five doubles and ranks second in runs (7) and RBI (8). Senior Eric Anderson (Allendale, N.J./Northern Highlands) leads the squad with nine RBI, while Moonan has scored a team-high 11 runs.

On the mound, Cuono (2-0) and sophomore Brendan Butler (W. Sayville, N.Y./Sayville) (1-2) have the lone victories for the Knights, with both throwing 15.2 and 14.2 innings, respectively, to lead the team. Butler has only allowed 11 hits and has a team-high 13 strikeouts. Senior southpaw Matt Cadigan (Freehold, N.J./Freehold) has posted a 2.35 ERA in eight appearances (7.2 innings) out of the bullpen.

CCSU (5-6) is projected to finish second in the nine-team NEC this season and received three (out of nine) first-place votes. The Blue Devils have played 10 of their 11 games on the road this season and opened the season taking three out of at Navy before dropping a doubleheader at Saint Joseph's. CCSU then won at Villanova but lost at home to Connecticut. Last weekend, the Blue Devils lost two out of three at High Point, winning the series finale, 7-1.

CCSU is led by senior first baseman Tyler McIntyre, the current NEC Player of the Week who has won the award twice this season. He is hitting .511 (24-for-47) with eight runs, six doubles, two home runs and 16 RBI. Junior outfielder Dylan Delacruz is hitting at a .378 clip (17-for-45) and has scored a team-high 12 runs, while junior outfielder J.P.Sportman adds five doubles, one home run, 10 RBI and six runs to go along with his .286 batting average (12-for-42).

As a team, the Blue Devils are hitting .273 (103-for-377) while being outscored, 50-46. They have struck out 96 times and have totaled 29 extra-base hits.

Pitching wise, CCSU has a team ERA of 4.47. Senior lefty Jack Greenhouse (2-1) has posted a 3.10 ERA in 20.1 innings of work over three starts, while sophomore southpaw Cody Brown (1-2) has struck out a team-high 12 in 20.0 innings during his three starts. In 15.0 innings, junior righty Nick Neumann (1-1) has a 4.80 ERA in three starts, and junior Josh Ingham has two saves out of the bullpen.

The Blue Devils lead the all-time series, 29-15, but FDU won four out of five contests last season, including a 3-2 victory in an elimination game in the NEC Tournament on May 18, which ended CCSU's season. The Knights won the first three contests of their four-game set on April 20-21 before the Blue Devils salvaged the season finale.

Following the weekend series with CCSU, FDU will return to action March 28-30 with a four-game set against NEC-favorite Bryant at the Naimoli Family Baseball Complex.