SAVANNAH, Ga. – Despite leading for most of the game, the Fairleigh Dickinson baseball team was edged 3-2 by Savannah State University on Saturday afternoon at Tiger Field.
The Knights (0-2) held a 2-0 lead after three innings but the Tigers (2-0) fought back with two in the sixth and one in the seventh to capture the lead and the win.
Danny Demetrops got the start for FDU and went 5.1 innings allowing four hits and two earned runs, while striking out a career-high seven batters. The senior southpaw earned a no decision as
Evan Layne came on in relief and took the loss.
Bobby Romano led the Knights' offense with a 2-for-4 day including an RBI and a double. The Knights totaled six hits on the afternoon with
Matt McCann,
Ryan Brennan,
Mike Veit, and
Brandon Seltzer each tallying one knock.
Following the loss, head coach
Gary Puccio said, "Today, it came down to timely hits. We played well but in the end just could not come up with the big hit when we needed it."
The Knights jumped on top with a pair of runs in the third thanks to an opposite-field RBI single by Seltzer and a base hit up the middle by Romano.
The frames flew by as both teams went quietly until the top of the sixth when the Knights threatened with two men in scoring position. However, Savannah State starter Austin Robinson escaped the one-out jam with a foul out and a strikeout.
In the home sixth, Savannah State junior first baseman Marcus Mitchell delivered a game-changing blow with a two-run homer off of Demetrops.
Then in the seventh, the Tigers took advantage of a pair of Knights' miscues to net the go-ahead run. A pair of bunt singles and a wild pitch put runners in scoring position with nobody out. Next, the Tigers grounded out to second but after the Knights retired the batter at first, the first baseman Brennan attempted to throw behind the runner at second and his throw sailed into the outfield, allowing the runner on third to score, which proved to be the winning run.
A two-out double by Romano gave the Knights hope in the eighth but Tigers reliever Alex Wright induced a flyout to center to end the inning.
Wright closed out the ninth with a double play to complete the three-inning save for the Tigers.
The Knights will look to avoid the sweep when these two teams square off tomorrow in the series finale at noon.
