Box Score

TEANECK, N.J. -- The Fairleigh Dickinson baseball team dropped its series finale with Bryant, 9-3, on Sunday at the Naimoli Family Baseball Complex. With the victory, the Bulldogs sweep the four-game Northeast Conference series and improve to 37-12 (17-3 NEC) on the season, while the Knights fall to 13-30 (4-16 NEC) overall.

FDU pounded out 13 hits on the day but was unable to string many together. After Bryant scored three in the first and two in the second to take an early 5-0 lead, the Knights answered with one run in the bottom of the second to trim the deficit to 5-1. Freshman Zach Tondi (Wood-Ridge, N.J./Bergen County Technical) doubled with one out and scored on sophomore John Giakas (Staten Island, N.Y./Tottenville)' RBI double. After fellow classmate Joel Roman (East Hartford, Conn./East Hartford) singled to put runners on the corners, back-to-back strikeouts would end the scoring threat.

The offense on both sides would remain mostly silent over the next five innings, but each team scored twice in the eighth inning. After the Bulldogs scored on a squeeze play and a two-out single to move in front 7-1, FDU registered five singles, with four coming with two outs in the bottom half of the frame. Junior Patrick McClure (Fayetteville, N.Y./Fayetteville-Manlius ) singled home freshman Matt McCann (West Windsor, N.J./West Windsor-Plainsboro ), and with the bases loaded, Giakas drove home junior Riley Moonan (Syracuse, N.Y./Cicero North), which brought the tying run to the plate. However, sophomore Joel Roman (East Hartford, Conn./East Hartford) lined out to right field to end the inning.

Bryant tacked on two more runs in the top of the ninth on a pair of weak infield choppers back to the mound and third base that resulted in RBI singles and a 9-3 lead, as the Knights were unable to mount a ninth-inning rally.
Giakas paced the offense with three hits and two RBI, while McCann added two hits, a run and a stolen base. McClure, Tondi and junior Shane Siebler (Nazareth, Pa./Nazareth Area) all registered two safeties as well for FDU.

Junior Joe Borelli (Wallingford, Conn./Mark T. Sheehan ) (1-3) was charged with the loss on the mound. The righty tossed 5.2 innings, scattered eight hits, allowed five runs – four earned – walked two and struck out one.

Vaughn Hayward earned the victory on the bump after going 7.0 innings, as he limited the Knights to one earned run on seven hits while walking none and striking out six. Trevor LaCosse came into a save situation with two outs in the eighth inning and pitched the final 1.1 innings to earn the save.

Carl Andrerson placed the Bryant offense with three hits, including a pair of solo home runs, three runs and two RBI. Matt Albanese added three hits and two runs, while both AJ Zarozny and Tom Gavitt had two hits and two RBI. The Bulldogs finished with 15 as a team.

The Knights will conclude their season next weekend when they travel to Emmitsburg, Md. to take on Mount St. Mary's in a four-game NEC series. Game one's first pitch on Friday, May 16 is slated for 3 p.m.