Box Score

BROOKLYN, N.Y. -- The Fairleigh Dickinson baseball team withstood a late LIU Brooklyn rally to hang on for an 8-7 victory on Friday in game one of the four-game Northeast Conference series at LIU Field. With the victory, the Knights improve to 13-23 (4-9 NEC) on the season, while the Blackbirds fall to 20-20-1 (7-10 NEC) overall.

FDU pounded out 13 hits on the afternoon, with eight of the nine starters in the lineup collecting at least one. Sophomore Ryan Brennan (Mooresville, N.C./Mooresville), junior Riley Moonan (Syracuse, N.Y./Cicero North), redshirt sophomore Patrick McClure (Fayetteville, N.Y./Fayetteville-Manlius ), sophomore Joel Roman (East Hartford, Conn./East Hartford) and junior Shane Siebler (Nazareth, Pa./Nazareth Area) all collected two hits apiece. Brennan, Siebler and sophomore Dylan Sprague (Brunswick, N.Y./Averill Park) each drove home a pair of runs, while McClure and freshman Matt McCann (West Windsor, N.J./West Windsor-Plainsboro ) both scored twice.

Early on in the contest, the Knights' defense shined in the bottom of the second after LIU put runners on first and second with one out. Moonan made an unbelievable catch scaling the wall in left-center field for the second out. After Harrison Preschel singled to left field, Brennan hit the cutoff McCann at shortstop, who turned and threw to Roman at third for the final out, just before LIU would have scored to take a 1-0 lead.

FDU then went to bat and took a 1-0 lead in the top of the third with an unearned run. McCann singled to right field with one out, advanced to second on a balk and was fortunate to be safe at third on Siebler's fielder's choice he hit to the shortstop. The shortstop threw to third base to get McCann, but the third baseman was unable to secure the throw, resulting in runners at the corners.

Sprague walked to load the bases and after a strikeout, before Moonan lined a rocket off the pitcher's foot that bounced toward the third-base line, allowing McCann to score. But the Knights would leave the bases loaded after sophomore John Giakas (Staten Island, N.Y./Tottenville) ended the inning with a deep fly out to right field.

Junior Ryan MacDonald (Bethpage, N.Y./Island Trees), who got the start on the bump, ran into some two-out trouble in the top of the fourth, as the Blackbirds placed runners on first and second before moving up 90 feet on a wild pitch. Anthony Capo then doubled off the left-field wall to put the home team in front 2-1.

But FDU quickly answered in the bottom half to knot the game at 2-2. Siebler singled deep in the hole at shortstop to begin the frame and advanced to second on a groundout to third. Brennan then found the right-center field gap after roping a RBI double to plate Siebler. Brennan then advanced to third on a passed ball, but Moonan or Giakas could not drive him in.

The Knights offense went to work in the top of the sixth, as they scored three times to take a 5-2 lead. Freshman Zach Tondi (Wood-Ridge, N.J./Bergen County Technical) led off with a walk, and McClure followed with a sharp single to left field. Roman moved both runners into scoring position with a sacrifice bunt, before McCann was plunked on the first pitch to load the bases. Siebler then gave the Knights a 4-2 lead after hitting a bouncer over the third baseman's head for a two-run single that scored Tondi and McClure to end LIU's starter Nick Freijomil's day. Brennan then made it 5-2 with a RBI sacrifice fly to center field, as McCann scored from third.

Sophomore Nick Cuono (Hawthorne, N.J./Montvale Saint Joseph ) relieved MacDonald to start the bottom of the sixth and tossed a 1-2-3 inning to keep the momentum going for FDU.

The Knights would then score three more times in the top of the seventh to extend their advantage to 8-2. Giakas started the frame with a single, moved to second on Tondi's sacrifice bunt and advanced to third on McClure's single to right field. Roman followed with a RBI double down the right-field line to score Giakas. Three batters later, Sprague crushed a two-run ground-rule double with the bases loaded to the gap in right-center field, as McClure and Roman came around to score to make it 8-2.

But things would get dicey in the bottom of the seventh, with the Blackbirds scoring five times – all with two outs – to trim the deficit to 8-7. 

FDU wasted a lead-off triple from Moonan in the top of the eighth after he was left stranded at third base. And in the bottom of the ninth, LIU put runners on the corners with one out, but junior Eric Snyder (Slatington, Pa./Northern Lehigh) recorded back-to-back strikeouts to close the door on the Blackbirds for his sixth save of the season.

MacDonald (1-1) earned thefirst victory of his career after yielding two earned runs on four hits in 5.0 innings of work, as the southpaw walked one and struck out one. Snyder pitched the final 2.1 innings for the save. He scattered three hits, walked one and struck out two in the scoreless stint.

Freijomil was charged with the loss after the Knights scored five runs, four earned, on eight hits in 4.1 innings. Carpo led LIU's 11-hit attack with two hits and three RBI, while John Ziznewski added two hits and two RBI.

The two sides will play a pair of seven-inning contests on Saturday at LIU Field beginning at 1 p.m.