Box Score

SOUTH ORANGE, N.J. -- The Fairleigh Dickinson baseball team played No. 22 Seton Hall to a 1-1 tie through the first 7.5 innings on Sunday at Owen T. Carroll Field, but the Pirates scored four times in the bottom of the eighth to earn a 5-1 victory and a series sweep of the three-game set. With the victory, Seton Hall improves to 15-4 on the season, while the Knights fall to 6-10 overall.

"We had a little bit of a breakdown in the bottom of the eighth inning, but it was my fault more than anyone else," Head Coach Gary Puccio said. "I tried to get more out of (Nick) Cuono on the mound, and he had already pitched on Friday.

Cuono (1-1) was tagged with his first loss of the season after tossing 1.2 inning of relief. He came on in and pitched a 1-2-3- seventh inning after inheriting a runner on first. But in the eighth, the Pirates would put runners on first and second with one out, before a fielding error by shortstop Matt McCann (West Windsor, N.J./West Windsor-Plainsboro ) allowed the game-winning run to score from second base and put runners on the corners. Seton Hall would take advantage and score its next three runs on a sacrifice fly, RBI double and RBI single to go up 5-1.

Cuono would be charged with four runs but none were because of the error. He walked one, struck out one and was touched for two hits.

FDU was retired in order over the first three innings but played small ball in the top of the fourth to take a 1-0 lead. Junior Shane Siebler (Nazareth, Pa./Nazareth Area) led off with an infield single, advanced to second on fellow classmate Riley Moonan (Syracuse, N.Y./Cicero North)'s sacrifice bunt, moved to third on sophomore John Giakas (Staten Island, N.Y./Tottenville)' groundout and scored on redshirt Patrick McClure (Fayetteville, N.Y./Fayetteville-Manlius )'s RBI single to center field.

Knights' starter John Chalupa (Monroe, N.Y./Monroe-Woodbury) would keep the advantage after tossing his third 1-2-3 inning in the bottom of the fourth while setting seven down in a row, before running into trouble in the fifth, where he allowed a leadoff walk that eventually came around to score on a sacrifice fly.

Chalupa would pitch a 1-2-3 sixth inning before being pulled after allowing a leadoff walk in the seventh. He pitched 6+ innings, allowed one earned run on three hits, walked two and struck out one.

FDU was able to put the potential go-ahead runs on second base in the seventh and eighth innings but failed to score. McClure had two of the Knights' seven hits and the only RBI.

The Pirates' Anthony Elia went 8.0 innings on the mound and allowed only one earned run on five hits while walking none and striking out five. Chris Seldon led the offense with two of his squad's six hits, one RBI and one run.

"I thought we played extremely well for the most part, and we played the entire series fairly well," Puccio said. "It gives me a lot of hope for when we play in our league. We played a highly-ranked Big East team and gave them good battles. Hopefully, this means that when we get to NEC play we will be very competitive."

FDU will return to action Wednesday, March 26 when it hosts former conference and in-state rival Monmouth for a 3 p.m. contest at the Naimoli Family Baseball Complex.