TEANECK, N.J. – The Fairleigh Dickinson baseball team dropped a slugfest to Saint Peter's in non-conference action on Tuesday afternoon at the Naimoli Family Baseball Complex.  The Knights (11-17, 5-7 NEC) jumped out to an early lead, but the Peacocks (7-24-1, 5-7 MAAC) battled back and won the game 13-7.

The Peacocks scored11 of their 13 runs between the third and sixth innings with five runs in the sixth giving Saint Peter's the lead for good after the teams had gone back and forth over the first five innings.

FDU scored in the first inning with a two-out rally when senior Riley Moonan (Syracuse, N.Y./Cicero North) ripped a hard ground ball that the first baseman dove for and knocked down, but Moonan beat the pitcher to the bag to reach with two outs.  Junior Pat McClure followed with a double that one hopped off the wall in right center to score Moonan and junior Joel Roman (East Hartford, Conn./East Hartford) lined a double down the right field to plate McClure and give the Knights a 2-0 lead.

Freshman Ryan MacNaughton (River Vale, N.J./Pascack Valley) doubled to the gap in left center to leadoff the second and he came around to score two batters later on a double by senior Shane Siebler (Nazareth, Pa./Nazareth Area).  Siebler would eventually come around and score on a base hit by junior Dylan Sprague (Brunswick, N.Y./Averill Park).

The Peacocks tied the game with two runs in the third inning and then tied the game on a two-run home run in the fourth off FDU reliever Jose DeLeon (Paterson, N.J./Eastside).  The Peacocks took the lead an inning later on a two-run home run Chris Micak.

The Knights retied the score the following inning scoring a run on a double play ball and then on a second RBI double by MacNaughton.  The next batter, sophomore Chris Grupp (The Woodlands, Texas/The Woodlands College Park) would give the Knights the lead with an RBI single up the middle.

Saint Peter's plated five more runs in the top of the sixth inning with the big blow coming on a three-run home run by Chris Hugg.

The Peacocks added a single runs in the seventh and eighth innings.

DeLeon (0-1) took the loss for the Knights allowing nine runs, five earned, over four innings.  He walked three batters and scattered five hits while striking out one.

Seniors Anthony Calise (Pearl River, N.Y./Pearl River) and Yonah Perline (Dix Hills, N.Y./St. Dominic) each allowed one run over an inning of relief and freshman Justin Esteves (Garfield, N.J./Queen of Peace) pitched a scoreless ninth.

Senior Nick Cuono (Hawthorne, N.J./Montvale Saint Joseph ) started and pitched into the third inning, but did not record an out in the frame.  He allowed two runs and just one hit, but walked seven Peacock batters.

Jason Midkiff earned the victory in relief for the Peacocks.  He improves to 1-0 on the season with the win.

The Knights collected 15 hits with eight going for extra bases, but Saint Peter's connected for three home runs among their 10 hits.  FDU walked 12 Peacock hitters, while drawing just two base on balls of their own.

The Knights also made three errors in the field.

Moonan, McClure, Roman, Fatzinger, MacNaughton and Siebler all had two hits in the game.  With Roman, Fatzinger and MacNaughton each double two times.

FDU will return to action tomorrow at Iona and then will host NJIT on Saturday in a non-conference doubleheader.