Box Score

TEANECK, N.J. -- The Fairleigh Dickinson baseball team pounded out 16 hits, as every player in the lineup collected at least one safety in a 12-4 victory over Lehigh on Saturday at the Naimoli Family Baseball Complex. With the victory, the Knights improve to 5-7 on the season, while the Mountain Hawks fall to 5-7 overall.

Junior Riley Moonan (Syracuse, N.Y./Cicero North) paced the FDU offense by going 3-for-5 with a double, his first home run of the season, a career-high five RBI, two runs and a stolen base. Fellow classmate Shane Siebler (Nazareth, Pa./Nazareth Area) went 3-for-4 with three runs, one RBI and two stolen bases, while freshman Matt McCann (West Windsor, N.J./West Windsor-Plainsboro ) added two hits, a career-best four RBI and a stolen base. Freshman Zach Tondi (Wood-Ridge, N.J./Bergen County Technical) also collected two hits for the Knights.

Junior starter Brendan Butler (W. Sayville, N.Y./Sayville) (1-2) earned his first victory of the season after tossing 6+ innings. He limited Lehigh to only three hits and three earned runs while striking out five. Fellow classmate Anthony Calise (Pearl River, N.Y./Pearl River) came into a jam in the seventh inning with the score 7-3 and runners on the corners with one out, before tossing the final 2.2 innings to record his first save of the season, yielding no runs and two hits.

"Offensively, we are starting to jell much better, and we are playing much better team baseball," Head Coach Gary Puccio said. "We still have to work on the pitchers throwing strikes, especially with big leads and not walking people. The defense is not up to the par I want it to be, but we are definitely fighting hard and scoring runs, and that definitely helps."

FDU took a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first when Siebler scored from second on Moonan's RBI single down the left-field line. The Knights then extended their lead to 3-0 in the bottom of the second on McCann's RBI sacrifice fly to right field, plating sophomore Ryan Brennan (Mooresville, N.C./Mooresville), and Siebler's RBI single to left field, which scored redshirt sophomore Patrick McClure (Fayetteville, N.Y./Fayetteville-Manlius ).

After the Mountain Hawks scored a pair of runs in the top of the fourth with two outs to trim the FDU lead to 3-2, the Knights answered with four runs in the bottom half of the frame to go in front 7-2. McCann drove home McClure for the first run on an RBI fielder's choice, before Moonan delivered the big blow with a two-out-three-run bomb over the right-field fence.

Lehigh would score twice in the top of the seventh slice to the Knights' advantage to 7-4, but FDU got a run back in the bottom of the inning, before constructing its second four-spot of the contest in the bottom of the eighth to put the game away.

Mountain Hawks' starter Kevin Long was charged with the loss, as he allowed seven runs, three earned, on six hits in 4.0 innings of work.

The two sides will meet on Sunday for an 11 a.m. contest at the Naimoli Family Baseball Complex.