Box Score

TEANECK, N.J. – The Fairleigh Dickinson baseball team dropped the first of four games with Bryant this weekend, 19-6 at the Naimoli Family Baseball Complex on Friday afternoon.
 
Freshman shortstop Oliver Tavares continued his hot-hitting of late with a 2-for-5 performance, which included two runs and two RBIs.
 
The Bulldogs (15-14-1, 7-4 NEC) pounded 22 hits on the afternoon led by leadoff hitting second baseman Ryan Ward, who finished 4-for-6 with six RBIs, four runs scored and a pair of home runs in the victory.
 
Left-hander Steve Theetge tossed seven frames allowing six runs (four earned) and striking out six to earn the win for the Bulldogs, while freshman Trent Valentine (1-4) took the loss for the Knights (8-17, 0-7 NEC), allowing 12 hits and seven earned across his four innings of work.
 
Valentine suffered through some tough luck in the game as three of the Bulldogs' hits dropped in near the foul lines just out of the reach of his defense.
 
The Bulldogs struck for a pair of runs in their first trip to the plate. Left fielder Shane Kelly knocked home the first run with a two-out single and another run crossed after an FDU throwing error.
 
A leadoff double by Tavares in the second set up the Knights' first tally of the contest as he came home on a Steven Yelin single up the middle.
 
In the third, six runs on four hits, highlighted by Nick Angelini's three-run homer, enhanced the Bulldogs' lead to 6-1.
 
The cushion ballooned to 11-2 in the fifth when Ward launched a three-run blast over the center field fence.
 
The Knights would get one back in the home half of the frame thanks to a solo shot by Jason Fatzinger, his third of the season, but the Bulldogs responded with one in the sixth and one in the seventh to make it a 13-3 game.
 
Tavares would cut into the deficit with a two-run double in the home seventh before the Knights netted another run thanks to a dropped throw at first base, which made it a 13-6 game before the Bulldogs put the finishing touches on the win with six more runs in the eighth.
 
Three home runs supplied the firepower with Ward, Mickey Gasper and the aforementioned Kelly all going deep.
 
In addition to Tavares' multi-hit performance, Fatzinger also logged two hits, finishing 2-for-5 with two runs scored in the loss.
 
These two teams will play a doubleheader tomorrow with first pitch set for 1:00 p.m.