Box Score

CINCINNATI, Ohio -- The Fairleigh Dickinson baseball team was unable to stymie the Musketeer offense as Xavier rolled in the series opener 22-9 on Friday afternoon at Hayden Field.

The Musketeers (14-12) launched seven home runs on the day led by Rylan Bannon's two-home run day. For the Knights (4-12), junior third baseman Bobby Romano led the way with a 3-for-5 effort, while Ryan Brennan and Evan McDonald each tallied a pair of knocks in the loss.

The Knights amassed 14 hits of their own on the day, however, it was not enough as the Musketeer bats were locked in from the outset and finished with 20 hits and won their seventh game in their last nine outings.

Brennan gave FDU an early 1-0 edge in the top of the first by plating Matt McCann with a single to left field. The RBI was Brennan's team-leading 17th of the campaign and the senior first baseman 10th RBI in his last six games.

The Knights' lead proved to be short-lived as Xavier immediately answered back with three tallies of their own off FDU starter Logan Frati in the home first.  The home team tacked on three more runs in the second to open up a 7-1 lead after two.

FDU fought valiantly to cut into the deficit by plating four runs in the in the top of the third. Freshman center fielder Brandon Seltzer opened the scoring with a run-scoring double and later scored on a sacrifice fly by McCann. Two batters later, McDonald smacked his fourth home run of the season -- a two-run jack -- which made it a 7-5 ballgame.

Despite the Knights' resilience, the Musketeers' bats remained undeterred as they netted one run in the fifth before breaking the game wide open in the sixth. Bannon hit one of three Musketeer home runs in the frame as they enhanced their cushion to 10 runs, 15-5.

Trailing 22-7, the Knights tallied a pair of runs in the ninth via run-scoring at bats by Owen Vonesslinger and Mike Veit. Vonesslinger finished with two hits on the day, while McCann and Hunter Reeser  also had two-hit games.

These two squads square off again tomorrow in the second of three games this weekend. Danny Demetrops will take the mound for FDU, while Garrett Schilling will take the ball for Xavier. First pitch is set for 1 p.m. at Hayden Field.