TEANECK, N.J. - Today was a day for milestones at Naimoli Family Baseball Complex as the Knights hosted the Merrimack Warriors in the final NEC matchup of the season. FDU needed one win to secure their postion in the NEC tournament and got just that with a come from behind 9-8 victory.
Newly inserted Friday starter,
Nicholas Feretic, got the start for the Knights and got off to a shaky start by allowing two runs in the first three innings of play. Frankie Ferrentino drove in the first run for the Warriors on his first hit of four hits to open the scoring in the early part of the game; only before Michael Golankiewicz smakced a home run to extend the Merrimack lead to 2-0.
The Knights battled back every time they trailed and a big reason was because of slugging first baseman
Luke Cantwell; he went 3-for-3 on the day with five runs batted in. He picked up his first two RBI's in the fourth inning on a double that drove in
Hunter D'Amato and
Tom Ruscitti to knot the game at 2-2. Merrimack singled home a run in the top of the next inning to take back the lead and knock Feretic out of the game; he was relieved by Brednan Medoro who escaped the Warrior threat in the fifth.
After trailing 3-2 heading into the bottom of the fifth the Knights put up three runs combined in the fifth and sixth innings which was led by a
Justin Sierra home run to center field to tie the game at 3-3 at the time and give the FDU offense a jolt. The very next inning
Brelon Harden and Cantwell followed each other up with doubles to put the Knights ahead 5-3.
The seventh and eighth innings did not fare well for Medoro out of the 'pen; he surrendered five runs, four being earned which put the Warriors back in the lead 8-5 heading into the bottom of the eighth inning. Despite being in another deficit on the day the Knights offense continued to fight back and strike against the Warriors pitching staff.
The eighth inning was one of the best half innings of ball the Knights have had all season; it began with
Brian Sanders getting on due to an error. With Sanders on first base D'Amato deposited his third base hit into center field on the day which moved him into sole possession of the FDU single-season hits lead with 72 hits. Harden dropped down a perfect sacrifice bunt to move the runners into scoring posltion for Cantwell to single down the right field line to drive in his fourth and fifth RBI's on the day and bring the Knights to within one run; Merrimack still held onto a 8-7 lead.
With Cantwell on first as the tying run
Manny Roman went to the bench to look for a pinch hitter and he called on
Tommy Verga to hit for
Anthony Chiappetta. Verga, who had not had an at bat since April 4th, stepped up for FDU and blasted his first home run of the season to put the Knights in front of the Warriors 9-8.
Ian Barrett came out of the bullpen to secure the win for the Knights. He surrendered a single to lead off the inning but eventually struck out Jake Macchi to win the game and strand the tying run at third base; the win helped Barrett pick up his first save of the season and secured the ninth win of the season and 20th career win for Medoro. This win for Medoro moved him into sole possession of the single-season and career wins lead for the Knights.
Today marked the 29th win for the Knights which moved them into first place as the winningest team in FDU program history. They will be back in action tomorrow afternoon at 1 p.m. as they take on the Warriors in game two of their three game set.
