Box Score

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- The Fairleigh Dickinson baseball team fell short in its Northeast Conference series opener at Wagner, 5-3, Friday afternoon at Richmond County Bank Ballpark on Staten Island, N.Y. With the victory, the Seahawks improve to 10-14 (3-2 NEC) on the season, while the Knights fall to 3-19 (0-9 NEC) overall.

Wagner took an early 1-0 lead in the bottom of the second when Dan Wasilick delivered an RBI single up the middle with two outs before the advantage increased to 3-0 in the bottom of the third on Nick Alfano's RBI sacrifice fly and Ben Ruta's run-scoring single to center field.

FDU got a run back in the top of the fourth when senior Kyle Weeks (Middle Island, N.Y./Longwood) scored on a two-out error by the Seahawks' first baseman, who booted the slow roller off the bat of freshman Dylan Sprague (Brunswick, N.Y./Averill Park).

Wagner answered with another run in the bottom of the fourth to retake a three-run lead at 4-1 after Ian Miller's RBI single to right field with one out. The home team then extended the score to 5-1 in the bottom of the fifth on Tommy Mazurkiewicz's two-out RBI double down the right-field line.

FDU used some two-out magic in the top of the seventh to cut the deficit to 5-3. Sophomore Jordan Ritz (Newport News, Va./Woodside) delivered a RBI single up the middle to score freshman John Giakas (Staten Island, N.Y./Tottenville), who was safe on a bang-bang play at the plate, as the ball got bounced away from the catcher, which allow Ritz to advance to second and freshman Joel Roman (East Hartford, Conn./East Hartford) to move to third.

Sophomore Ryan MacDonald (Bethpage, N.Y./Island Trees) followed with a run-scoring single to right field to plate Roman, but Ritz was thrown out on a very close play at the plate on a perfect throw from the right fielder to end the inning.

The Knights put the tying runs on base in the top of the ninth and brought the go-ahead run to the plate but fell short, dropping the opener, 5-3

Freshman Nick Cuono (Hawthorne, N.J./Montvale Saint Joseph ) (2-3) was charged with the loss after throwing a career-high 7.1 innings. The righty allowed five earned runs on eight hits while walking four and striking out four.

Ryan Casey, who was high school teammates with Cuono at Saint Joseph Regional in Montvale, N.J., went the distance for Wagner, as he improved to 2-3 on the season. The righty allowed three unearned runs, walked one and struck out four.

Five Knights each collected a hit, with Ritz and MacDonald each registering an RBI. Ruta and Mazurkiewicz each had two hits and an RBI to lead the Seahawks.

“I thought we played better, and I thought Nick (Cuono) did a good job of keeping us in the game,” Head Coach Gary Puccio said. “They are a running team, and we have to stop their running game A couple times we did and a couple times we didn't, which was how they got a run here and a run there, and that was the difference in the game. We definitely played hard and have been there the right there the last couple of games. Hopefully, we are about to turn the corner.”

The two sides will return to action Saturday afternoon with a pair of seven-inning contests in a doubleheader scheduled for 1 p.m.