Box Score 1 | Box Score 2

EMMITSBURG, Md. -- The Fairleigh Dickinson baseball team found itself on the wrong end in a pair of one-run contests with Mount St. Mary's at Straw Family Stadium, as the home team rallied in both games of the Northeast Conference doubleheader to earn the sweep and keep their NEC Tournament hopes alive. The Knights dropped the nine-inning opener, 3-2, before seeing their last-inning rally come up just short in the seven-inning nightcap, 6-5. With the sweep, the Mount improves to 17-22 (10-12 NEC) on the season, while FDU falls to 13-32 (4-18 NEC) overall.

Game one featured a scoreless pitcher's duel between junior Brendan Butler (W. Sayville, N.Y./Sayville) and the Mount's Vincent Molesky through the first five innings until sophomore Dylan Sprague (Brunswick, N.Y./Averill Park) knocked a one-out solo shot over the right-center field fence in the top of the sixth for his second homer of the season. But the Mount would answer with in the bottom half of the frame on Kory Britton's two-out RBI single.

The Knights took back the lead in the top of the seventh to go in front, 2-1. Sophomore John Giakas (Staten Island, N.Y./Tottenville) singled to lead off the inning, advanced to second on fellow classmate Ryan Brennan (Mooresville, N.C./Mooresville)'s sacrifice bunt and took third on a wild pitch. Sophomore Joel Roman (East Hartford, Conn./East Hartford) then knocked home Giakas with a RBI double to center field. However, the next two batters could not knock Roman in, as he was left stranded at second base.

Junior Anthony Calise (Pearl River, N.Y./Pearl River) relieved Butler to start the bottom of the eighth and yielded a lead-off single to Tommy Quealy, who moved to second on a wild pitch. The next batter, Andrew Frazier, singled down the left-field line to plate Quealy and knot the game at 2-2 while ending Calise's day. Junior Eric Snyder (Slatington, Pa./Northern Lehigh) then came in and got the first out on a sacrifice bunt, before issuing the game-winning hit to Andrew Clow, which put the home team up, 3-2. FDU would go down in order in the top of the ninth to give the Mount the victory.

Butler received the no decision after tossing 7.0 strong innings. He allowed one earned run, scattered five hits, walked one and struck out two. Calise (0-3) was charged with the loss. Molesky earned the victory after going 8.2 innings, as he let up two earned runs on seven hits, walked two and fanned three. Chad Diehl recorded the final out for the save.

Junior Riley Moonan (Syracuse, N.Y./Cicero North) and Roman each had two hits to pace the Knights' offense, while Clow led the Mount's offense with a pair of safeties.

In game two, FDU quickly took an early 1-0 lead in the top of the first after Sprague scored an unearned run with two outs when freshman Matt McCann (West Windsor, N.J./West Windsor-Plainsboro ) reached safely on a fielding error by the shortstop.

The Mount used another two-out hit in the bottom of the second, as Chris Del Veccio delivered a RBI double to tie the game at 1-1.

Roman found some two-out magic for the Knights in the top of the fourth with a RBI double to right-center field that score Brennan and put the visitors back on top, 2-1. But the Mount quickly took their first lead of the contest in the bottom of the inning on Britton's two-run homer with nobody out for a 3-2 advantage.

FDU then scored two runs of its own in the top of the fifth to grab the lead right back at 5-4. Junior Shane Siebler (Nazareth, Pa./Nazareth Area) led off the frame with a double to the left-center field gap and scored on Sprague's RBI double down the right-field line. Sprague would then take third base on a wild pitch with one out and scampered home on Moonan's RBI sacrifice fly to left field.

But the Mount once again answered in rapid fashion, as they tied the game at 4-4 on Brandon Scott's RBI sacrifice fly, before Clow followed with a two-run double to put the Mount on top, 6-4.

After the Knights failed to score in the top of the sixth when Giakas and Brennan singled to start the inning, the visitors started a comeback in the top of the seventh with one out, as McCann and Moonan both singled before moving up 90 feet on a groundout. Giakas then came to the dish and delivered a clutch RBI single through the left side to plate McCann, but Moonan was thrown out at the plate to end the game and give Mount the victory and the sweep.

FDU's offense pounded out 11 hits in the contest, as all nine starters collected at least one safety. Sprague and Giakas each had two hits and one RBI, with Sprague scoring two runs. Britton and Kenny Post both had a pair of hits for the Mount, who only had seven in the game. Britton also scored twice and collected two RBI, while Clow added two more RBI.

Freshman Joe Flack (Staten Island, N.Y./St. Peter's Boys) (1-8) was tagged with the loss after going 4+ innings. He allowed five earned runs on five hits, walked one and fanned three. Karl Lamont received the no decision after pitching the first 4.1 innings, as the Knights tagged him for four runs – three earned – on six hits, but he did strike out four and did not issue a walk. Jordan Lawson earned the victory after recording the final two outs of the fifth inning, before Nick Riley earned the save after tossing the final 2.0 innings on the bump.

FDU will conclude its season on Sunday when the two sides play another doubleheader starting at 1 p.m. Game one is slated for seven innings, while the nightcap will go the full nine.