HANOVER, MD - FDU and Coppin State wrapped up their three game weekend series with a doubleheader on Sunday. Game one was kicked off at 11 a.m. with game two following it up with a first pitch at 2:08 p.m. The 18 innings played today had ups and downs for the Knights who won the first game by a score of 7-4 but dropped game two 16-5 after struggling on the mound. The Knights took two of three games from the Eagles to push their overall record to 12-9-1 on the season. 
 

how it happened

GAME ONE

Manny Roman gave the ball to Rich Racobaldo to kick off the doubleheader and he gave the Knights an outing that earned him his second win of the season. Racobaldo surrendered two runs in the first inning but settled down nicely after. The Knights offense responded quickly by dropping a four spot on Eagles starter Marcos Herrand in the 3rd inning. The scoring outburst in the 3rd inning was led by Hunter D'Amato and Brian Sanders who both singled in runs before the pair executed a perfect double steal of second base and home plate to notch the third run of the inning. Joan Sosa wrapped up the inning with a sacrifice fly to center field to extend the Knights lead to 4-2. 

Racobaldo gave up his final two runs in the 3rd and 4th inning on singles from Brody Black and Sebastien Sarabia that tied that game at 4-4 heading into the 5th inning. D'Amato and Luke Cantwell put Racobaldo back in line to pick up the win when they both picked up RBI singles in the 5th inning to regain the lead and extend it to 6-4. After a scoreless bottom of the 5th from the Knights starter he gave the ball to the bullpen to close out the last four innings; Racobaldo finished five innings while giving up four runs and striking out five which was good enough to pick up the win. 

Relieving Racobaldo was Knights pitcher Nicholas Feretic who mowed down the Eagles bats for the final 12 outs. Feretic's final line was four scoreless innings to pick up his first save of the season; he also punched out five Coppin State hitters. Eight of the nine FDU position players were able to pick up a hit in the contest including Tom Ruscitti, George Rosales, and D'Amato picking up two each. The solid offensive performance paired with good pitching was the reason that FDU was able to pick up the 7-4 victory and take two of three games from Coppin State. 

GAME TWO 

The second game of the doubleheader went very differently for the Knights. They gained a quick 1-0 lead in the first inning after Tom Ruscitti and Justin Sierra pulled of a perfect double steal of second base and home plate. However, the lead did not last long when Knights starter Jeremy Cheeseman struggled in the first inning giving up five runs that was capped by a Josh Hankins double. Cheeseman was only able to get through two innings on the mound before Grant Goodlad was tasked with slowing down the Eagles bats. Goodlad was just what the Knights needed, he stiflied the Coppin State bats for 3.1 innings while only giving up one run and striking out three. The solid relief outing allowed FDU to attempt a comeback when Hunter D'Amato drilled a base hit to left field that drove in three runs to cut the Eagles lead to 6-4.

Despite the comeback from the offense the Knights pitching staff continued to struggle getting outs and they surrendered 10 combined runs in the 6th and 7th innings. The hole was too steep for the Knights to crawl out of and they dropped the second game of the doubleheader 16-5. Cheeseman was handed the loss to drop his record to 0-3 on the season. Head coach Manny Roman will try to find solace in the Knights picking up nine hits in the contest which was led by Sierra who notched two hits and now has six hits in his last four games and his catcher George Rosales extending his hitting streak to five games. 
 

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The Knights will trek back home to host Siena on Wednesday evening at 3 p.m. Knights fans can watch the game on NEC Front Row or follow live updates on Twitter @FDUKnightsBASE.