Box Score
TEANECK, N.J. – The Fairleigh Dickinson baseball team closed out their four-game sweep of Mount St. Mary's in emphatic fashion as they routed the Mountaineers 15-2 at Naimoli Family Baseball Complex on Sunday afternoon.
The Knights (8-14, 6-1 NEC) pounded 15 hits on the day including senior first baseman
Ryan Brennan's perfect 5-for-5 afternoon and junior third baseman
Bobby Romano's two-homer, six-RBI performance.
With the win, the Knights earn their first four-game NEC series sweep since they took all four from LIU Brooklyn back in 2009.
On the mound, sophomore right-hander
Corey Zeller earned his first victory of the season by tossing seven innings of two-run baseball, while allowing six hits and striking out seven. Zeller (1-3) pounded the strike zone all afternoon and did not issue a single free pass.
The Knights wasted no time setting off the fireworks as Romano launched an opposite-field, two-run home run over the right field fence in the bottom of the first. Romano's blast came on the first pitch he saw and the Knights led 3-0 after one inning of play.
In the bottom of the second, Romano walked and stole second before Brennan promptly plated him with a sharp single to center field. Brennan then extended the Knights' lead to 5-0 with an RBI double in the fourth.
The big inning came in the fifth when the Knights exploded for six runs on four hits. A pair of walks sandwiched a
Jorge Iza double and FDU tallied runs on a sacrifice fly by
Hunter Reeser and a base hit by
Brandon Seltzer.
The Knights netted one more on a Romano ground out before Brennan laced a two-run double, which one-hopped the Naimoli Family sign in left-center field and gave the Knights a double-digit lead.
Evan McDonald followed with a run-scoring double of his own and FDU led 11-0 through five innings.
The Knights scored their final four runs in the seventh, highlighted by Romano's second blast of the day – this one a three-run, no-doubter over the left field fence. The junior third baseman now leads the team with five homers on the campaign.
Romano finished the day 2-for-4 with six RBI and four runs scored, while Brennan knocked in four and scored three times to complement his five-hit game.
McDonald went 4-for-5 with an RBI and Iza added two hits in the win.
The Knights will look to build on their momentum when they continue NEC action next at Sacred Heart. The four-game series begins with a single-game on Thursday, April 13 at 3:00 p.m. in Fairfield, Conn. The teams will then play a doubleheader on Saturday, April 14 before wrapping up the series at 11:00 a.m. on Saturday, April 15.
