Box Score 1 | Box Score 2

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. – The Fairleigh Dickinson baseball team swept a doubleheader from Wagner on Saturday afternoon to earn a split of a Northeast Conference series.  The Knights (21-23, 11-12 NEC) won the first game 6-4 and then came from behind to defeat the Seahawks (13-28, 8-16 NEC) by a score of 6-3 in the second game.

The victory in Saturday's first game was the 400^th win of head coach Gary Puccio's collegiate coaching career.  The win was also the 20^th of the season for the Knights, making 2016 the 15^th 20+ win season in program history and third in six seasons under Puccio.  The 2015 and 2016 seasons also are the first back-to-back 20-win campaigns since the 1994 and 1995 seasons.

GAME ONE
The FDU offense got on the board with four runs in the top of the second inning.  Redshirt junior Ryan Brennan (Mooresville, N.C./Mooresville) connected on a leadoff single and stole second before moving to third on a bunt hit by senior Patrick McClure (Fayetteville, N.Y./Fayetteville-Manlius ).  Senior Joel Roman (East Hartford, Conn./East Hartford) followed with a sacrifice bunt to advance McClure and score Brennan for the first run of the game.  Freshman Evan McDonald (Circleville, Ohio/Logan Elm) followed with a walk and sophomore Jason Fatzinger (Macungie, Pa./Emmaus) singled to load the bases.  Senior Shane Siebler (Nazareth, Pa./Nazareth Area) singled to drive in a pair of runs before sophomore Bobby Romano (Philadelphia, Pa./Archbishop Ryan ) plated the fourth run of the frame with a sacrifice fly.

FDU added its fifth run the following inning as Brennan tripled and scored on a throwing error by the shortstop.

Wagner made it 5-1 with a single run in the bottom of the fourth, but the Knights answered back in the top of the fifth as Giakas belted his 10^th home run of the season to left field.

Redshirt junior Logan Frati (Manorville, N.Y./Eastport/South Manor) delivered a complete game victory to improve to 6-1 on the season as he limited the Seahawks to four runs on nine hits and two walks.  Frati worked with men on base in most of the late innings, but continuously got out of jams by inducing ground balls and weak pop ups.

Nick Pavia falls to 0-5 with the loss.

The Knights pounded out 12 hits in the game with Sprague, Giakas, Brennan and McClure all picking up two hits.
Brennan and Siebler also both stole bases in the game.
 
GAME TWO
The Knights used ninth inning heroics to win the series finale with runners on first and third and two outs, Romano connected on a single down the right field line to score the tying run from third and drive in the go-ahead run from first.  The next batter, Giakas, added some insurance by smashing a two-run home run to left to put FDU up 6-3.

The homer was the 11^th of the season for Giakas.  He is the first FDU baseball player to hit 11 home runs in a season since Mike Boyette in 1993.

FDU's first two runs of the game came on RBI singles by Fatzinger in the fifth and seventh innings.

Freshman Corey Zeller (Carroll, Ohio/Bloom Carroll) (4-3) picked up his fourth win of the season with a complete game performance.  Zeller tossed a career-high nine innings and limited the Seahawks to just three runs.  He scattered nine hits and did not walk a batter, while punching out seven batters.

Zeller pitched five scoreless innings before surrendering three runs in the sixth.  He followed that by tossing a scoreless seventh, eighth and ninth to close out the win.

Fatzinger finished the game with a team-high three hits.
 

The Knights will return to action on Friday, May 6 against Central Connecticut.  FDU will host the Blue Devils for a four game series at the Naimoli Family Baseball Complex.