Box Score

TEANECK, N.J. -- The Fairleigh Dickinson baseball team came from behind and tied the game in the bottom of the ninth, before winning it in the bottom of the 10th on sophomore Ryan MacDonald (Bethpage, N.Y./Island Trees)'s walk-off single, to defeat Monmouth, 6-5, in Northeast Conference action on Sunday at the Naimoli Family Baseball Complex. With the victory, the Knights split the four-game set and improve to 8-26 (4-16 NEC) on the season, while the Hawks fall to 23-15 (14-6 NEC) overall.

Neither side scored after the fourth inning until FDU came up with the tying run in its last at-bat in the bottom of the ninth. With one out, MacDonald singled up the middle, and freshman John Giakas (Staten Island, N.Y./Tottenville) was hit by a pitch to put runners on first and second. Senior Kyle Weeks (Middle Island, N.Y./Longwood) then came up clutch for the Knights, as he hit the first pitch towards the hole on the left side. Monmouth shortstop John Guida made a diving attempt but knocked the ball with his glove into shallow left field, allowing MacDonald to scamper around third to tie the game, 5-5.

After a fielder's choice put runners on the corners with two outs, FDU failed to score, advancing the contest into extra innings.

Freshman Logan Frait pitched his third 1-2-3 inning in the top of the 10th to keep the momentum with the Knights, and fellow classmate Joel Roman (East Hartford, Conn./East Hartford) was plunked to lead off the bottom of the inning. Freshman Ryan McGrath (Lansingburgh, N.Y./Lansingburgh) followed with a single to right field, and sophomore Jordan Ritz (Newport News, Va./Woodside) laid down a sacrifice bunt to advance the runners to second and third.

Sophomore Riley Moonan (Syracuse, N.Y./Cicero North) was then intentionally walked to load the bases, and MacDonald smacked a 1-0 pitch through the right side to give FDU the 6-5 victory.

“This was a very impressive win for us,” Head Coach Gary Puccio said. “We were down 5-0 against a very quality Monmouth team, and the guys chipped away and got one run back before getting three more. The guys then rallied to tie the game in the bottom of the ninth with a good team effort and came through in the bottom of the 10th with quality base running, a good bunt by (Jordan) Ritz and Ryan
MacDonald singling through the right side to give us a well-earned and much-need win.”

Frati (3-1), who earned his second victory of the week, was brilliant in relief. In 6.0 innings of work, the 6-3 righty allowed only one hit, an infield single with two outs in the ninth, walked two and struck out one.

“Logan came in and did a phenomenal job and gave up only an infield hit over six innings of work,” Puccio said.

Sophomore Joe Borelli (Wallingford, Conn./Mark T. Sheehan ) started on the bump for the Knights and went 4+ innings before being pulled in the fifth after running into trouble.
The righty was charged with five runs, three earned, on six hits, walked three and struck out none in the no-decision.

The Hawks struck first on a two-out double off the bat of Joe Bamford in the top of the first to take an early 1-0 lead.

In the top of the second, the visitors scored on a pair of RBI singles and two RBI sacrifice flies to extend their advantage to 5-0, with two of the runs being unearned.

FDU got a run back in the bottom of the third when Ritz scored on Giakas' check-swing RBI single down the right-field line to cut the deficit to 5-1. MacDonald, who advanced to third on the play, was left stranded when the inning ended.

After Borelli pitched a 1-2-3 top of the fourth, the Knights scored three times in the bottom half to cut Monmouth's lead to 5-4. With runners on first and second and nobody out, Roman stroked an RBI double to left-center field to plate freshman Dylan Sprague (Brunswick, N.Y./Averill Park) with the first run while advancing senior Eric Anderson (Allendale, N.J./Northern Highlands) to third.

With one out, Ritz drove home Anderson with an RBI groundout, and Moonan capped the scoring with an RBI double down the left-field line that scored Roman.

Borelli started the fifth and walked the first two batters on 3-1 pitches and was lifted in favor of Frati with a 2-0 count. Frati was able to induce a groundball for the first out, which put runners on second and third. After an intentional walk loaded the bases, Frati recorded a lineout to Sprague at shortstop and a second one to Ritz in left field to end the threat.

Both sides had runners in scoring position with two outs in the seventh inning but failed to score. In the bottom of the eighth, FDU has the tying run at second base with one out but could not knock the runner home before the exciting finish over the final two innings.

Moonan, MacDonald, Roman and McGrath each had a pair of hits to lead the Knights' 12-hit attack, while Roman scored a pair of runs. Eight of the nine starters collected at least one safety.

The Hawks were limited to only seven hits, with six coming over the first two innings. Bamford was the lone Monmouth player to record multiple hits.

Dan Smith started on the mound for the Hawks and allowed four earned runs on five hits in 4.0 innings on the bump. The southpaw issued three walks and struck out one before giving way to Stephen Frey, who did not allow a run while being touched for three hits in 3.1 innings of work. Jeff Paglione (1-1) was charged with the loss and was tagged for two earned runs on four hits over the final 2.0 innings.

FDU will have a day off before a quick turnaround when it hosts Siena in a nonconference game on Tuesday, April 23, which will conclude the Knights' 10-game homestand. First pitch at the Naimoli Family Baseball Complex is scheduled for 3:30 p.m.