Box Score

TEANECK, N.J. -- The Fairleigh Dickinson baseball team dropped the final game of its three-game series to LIU Brooklyn 13-5 on Saturday afternoon at the Naimoli Family Baseball Complex.

The Knights (7-12, 0-6 NEC) trailed 6-5 midway through the contest before the first-place Blackbirds (13-10, 5-1 NEC) broke the game open with seven runs in the final frame to complete the series sweep.

Four Knights were responsible for all eight of the team's hits as Jason Fatzinger, Brandon Seltzer, Oliver Tavares and Mike Veit each tallied two knocks in the loss. Fatzinger and Tavares also each plated a pair of runs, while Seltzer nabbed his team-leading seventh stolen base of the season.

Junior right-hander Corey Zeller started for the Knights and took his second loss the season, allowing six earned runs on 12 hits across his six innings of work, while striking out five in the contest. Jackson Svete earned the win for LIU, tossing 1.2 innings of scoreless relief. 

First baseman Dom Paiotti served as the catalyst for the Blackbirds' attack, amassing six RBIs -- four of which came with one swing of the bat when he launched a ninth-inning grand slam over the center field fence. The grand slam was Paiotti's second homer of the game and fourth of the season.

The Knights trailed 2-0 before their first turn at bat after Anthony Warneke knocked in a pair with a one-out single. Down by one in the home third, the Knights evened the score when Fatzinger smacked a double to center field, which chased home Jason Ortiz making it a 2-2 game.

Paiotti's first blast of the afternoon -- a two-run shot -- came in the fourth and gave LIU a 4-2 edge. Warneke stretched the lead to 6-2 by plating a pair with a fifth-inning single to left center but the Knights would chip away in the home half of the frame.

Seltzer followed a leadoff walk by Ortiz with a double and two batters later, Fatzinger came through with a run-scoring single. Following an LIU pitching change, Tavares welcomed Svete to the game by netting two runs on an opposite-field single. Svete would buckle down and retire the next two Knights in order to preserve a slim 6-5 lead for the Blackbirds. Tavares' two runs batted in were charged to LIU starter Cory Hart, who gave up four earned across his 4.1 innings on the mound.

Despite the fifth-inning surge, the Knights were only able to muster one more quality scoring chance in the contest. That opportunity came in the seventh when Veit and Fatzinger reached with a single and a walk to open the inning. But LIU reliever Baylor LaPointe settled in and sat down the next three Knights to quell the momentum.

In the ninth, the first three Blackbirds reached, which set the stage for Paiotti, who promptly unloaded the bases with his second homer of the contest. LIU would tack on three more as they salted away the victory.

Although he was 0-for-3 at the plate, Ortiz provided the Knights with a boost out of the leadoff spot by drawing a pair of walks and scoring twice in the loss. 

Reliever Mike Kreiger pitched the final two frames of the contest to net the save for LIU, his third of the campaign.

The Knights return to action this with a pair of mid-week non-conference games. First up is a home date with Iona this Tuesday, April 3 at 3:00 p.m.