Box Score 1 | Box Score 2

TEANECK, N.J. -- Behind a two-hit-game-complete-game shutout from junior John Chalupa (Monroe, N.Y./Monroe-Woodbury) in game two, the Fairleigh Dickinson baseball team earned a split with Central Connecticut in the two side's seven-inning Northeast Conference doubleheader on Friday at the Naimoli Family Baseball Complex. The Knights won the nightcap, 9-0, after dropping the opener, 3-0. With the split, FDU moves to 8-21 (2-9 NEC) on the season, while the Blue Devils go to 13-13 (5-6 NEC).

Chalupa (2-2) was fantastic in recording his first career complete game and first career shutout. Besides allowing just the two singles, both to J.P. Sportman in the first and third innings, he walked two, struck out three and retired the final 10 batters he faced going back to the top of the fourth when he issued a walk with two outs.

The Knights' offense pounded out 16 hits in the game, with 1-7 in the order all collecting at least one safety. Sophomore Ryan Brennan (Mooresville, N.C./Mooresville), junior Riley Moonan (Syracuse, N.Y./Cicero North), sophomore John Giakas (Staten Island, N.Y./Tottenville) and redshirt sophomore Patrick McClure (Fayetteville, N.Y./Fayetteville-Manlius ) all collected three hits, while sophomore Joel Roman (East Hartford, Conn./East Hartford) added two. Giakas drove home a career-best four and scored twice, while McClure added three RBI. Brennan scored a career-high three runs, and Moonan came around to score twice.

FDU did all the scoring it needed in the bottom of the first with four runs off Blue Devils' ace Tom Coughlin to take a 4-0 lead. Giakas started the scoring with a ringing two-run double with one out to the left-center field gap, which scored Brennan and Moonan, who both singled. Two batters later, McClure hit a first-pitch RBI single through the left side to plate Giakas, and Roman followed with an RBI single up the middle that scored freshman Zach Tondi (Wood-Ridge, N.J./Bergen County Technical).

After Brennan singled and Moonan doubled to begin the bottom of the fifth, Giakas came through again with a two-run single up the middle. With one down, McClure knocked Coughlin out of the game, as Giakas came around to score on his RBI single to left field to make it 7-0.

The Knights then recorded four consecutive hits to start the bottom of the sixth, and Moonan, who hit third in the inning, drove home sophomore Dylan Sprague (Brunswick, N.Y./Averill Park), who started the inning with a double to right field. After Giakas singled to load the bases, McClure knocked in Brennan with an RBI sacrifice fly to right field to cap the scoring for a 9-0 lead and the final score.

FDU roughed up Coughlin, who allowed seven earned runs on 11 hits in 4.1 innings. He walked one and struck out five in the loss.

In game one, freshman Joe Flack (Staten Island, N.Y./St. Peter's Boys) (0-6) suffered his third consecutive tough-luck loss in conference play. He went 6.2 innings and yielded three earned runs on six hits, walked one and struck out one. His two mistakes both came to Sportman, who hit a solo home run with two outs in the top of the third and a two-run homer with nobody out in the top of the sixth. Flack was pulled when Sportman came to bat with two outs in the top of the seventh.

The Knights managed just five hits off of Nick Neumann, who went the distance to record the shutout while walking three and striking out three. Junior Shane Siebler (Nazareth, Pa./Nazareth Area) collected two of the five hits to lead FDU's offense.

The home team had their opportunities to score but stranded nine runners on base. The Knights had runners on first and second with one out in the bottom of the second but failed to score, before stranding the tying run at third base in the bottom of the fourth.

In the bottom of the fifth, the tying run at the time reached second base with two outs, but FDU could not come through with the big hit to tie the game. After CCSU went ahead 3-0 in the sixth, the Knights were unable to drive in runners in scoring position over the final two innings.

FDU will look to earn a series split on Saturday when the two sides complete their four-game series at the Naimoli Family Baseball Complex. First pitch is scheduled for 1 p.m.