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TEANECK, N.J. -- The Fairleigh Dickinson baseball team will continue its 11-game road swing this weekend when it travels to Bridgeport, Conn. to take on Sacred Heart in a four-game Northeast Conference series at The Ballpark at Harbor Yard starting with a 3 p.m. contest on Friday.
The two sides will play a pair of seven-inning contests on Saturday, with game one's first pitch scheduled for 11 a.m., while Sunday's series finale will take place at 1 p.m.
FDU (11-28, 6-18 NEC) has gone 8-7 over its last 15 games to climb out of the basement in the NEC and is currently in a seventh-place tie with Quinnipiac. The Knights are coming off a split at Mount St. Mary's after winning the final two contests of the four-game set.
Sophomore
Jordan Ritz (Newport News, Va./Woodside) hit .421 (8-for-19) in five games last week with four extra base hits, six RBI and three stolen bases. Over his last 10 games, the FDU starting left fielder is hitting .389 (14-for-36) with eight RBI.
Overall, sophomore
Riley Moonan (Syracuse, N.Y./Cicero North) leads the team in hitting (.291), runs (25), hits (43), doubles (11), triples (4), total bases (62) and slugging percentage (.419). He is second on the team in RBI (17) and also leads the team with 148 at-bats.
Senior
Kyle Weeks (Middle Island, N.Y./Longwood) leads the team with 11 doubles, 19 RBI, 18 walks and a .404 on-base percentage while trailing Moonan in average (.289) and hits (39).
In NEC play, freshman
Joel Roman (East Hartford, Conn./East Hartford) is hitting .338 with nine doubles and a .494 slugging percentage. Ritz and freshman
Dylan Sprague (Brunswick, N.Y./Averill Park) are hitting .313 and .307, while sophomore
Ryan MacDonald (Bethpage, N.Y./Island Trees) has scored 16 runs.
Offensively, FDU is hitting .267 and averages 3.8 runs per game but are connecting at a .293 clip over its last 10 contests. On the mound, the Knights have pitched to a 7.29 ERA in 317.1 innings of work while walking 187 and striking out 171.
In conference action, FDU is hitting .271 and averages 3.9 runs per game. On the bump, the Knights have posted a 7.88 ERA in 192.0 innings.
Freshman
Logan Frati (Manorville, N.Y./Eastport/South Manor) has become the ace of the pitching staff and leads the team with a 3-1 record and a 5.12 ERA. The 6-3 righty has tossed the second-most innings (45.2) and ranks second on the team with 26 strikeouts. Over his last 35.1 innings, Frati is 3-0 with a 2.29 ERA with 21 strikeouts and seven walks, with opponents hitting only .235.
Sophomore
Brendan Butler (W. Sayville, N.Y./Sayville) also has three wins on the mound and leads the pitching staff with 31 strikeouts and one complete game in 41.0 innings. He is 2-0 with a 4.50 ERA over his last two starts.
Sacred Heart (20-21, 15-9 NEC), who was picked to finish fourth in the nine-team NEC, is currently in third place in the conference standings. The reigning back-to-back NEC champs have split its series with Wagner, took three of four against LIU Brooklyn, Quinnipiac, Central Connecticut State and Bryant, while losing the final three games of their series at Monmouth last weekend.
The Pioneers saw their losing streak reach four games earlier this week after falling at Connecticut, 10-6, on Tuesday.
As a team, Sacred Heart is hitting .262 and averaging 4.5 runs per game. Senior John Murphy leads the Pioneers in hitting (.355), hits (50), at-bats (141), runs (22), doubles (9), triples (6), home runs (4), RBI (33), walks (19), stolen bases (18) on-base percentage (.439) and slugging (.589).
Defensively, Sacred Heart has a .961 fielding percentage and has committed 57 errors. Opponents are averaging 4.4 runs per game while hitting .250 off Pioneers' pitching. In 339.0 innings on the mound, the pitching staff has allowed 319 hits and 120 walks while striking out 246 and posting a 3.80 ERA.
Senior Troy Scribner is Sacred Heart's No. 1 pitcher and has posted a 3-2 record and a 3.21 ERA. In 61.2 innings, he has thrown three complete games, walked 11 and has struck out 68 while recording one save. Freshman lefty Jeff Stoddard is 5-2 with five complete games and a 2.61 ERA. He has walked only nine and has struck out 32 in 51.2 innings of work.
FDU and Sacred Heart have met 44 times in the all-time series, with the Pioneers holding a 30-14 advantage. The Knights won three of four last season at the Naimoli Family Baseball Complex against the eventual conference champions.
After its weekend series, FDU will step out of conference play to play a three-game set at Delaware State next weekend to conclude the road trip.