TEANECK, N.J. - FDU played host to Merrimack on Saturday in the second to last game at Naimoli Complex for the season. Despite the Knights dominating 11-2 win there was much to cheer for at the ball field today as eight players graduating at the conclusion of the semester were honored for Senior Day. We want to thank these graduating players for their determination and loyalt to the FDU program; this team would not be the winningest team in program history without them.
Rich Racobaldo RHP
Thomas Spiwak RHP
Jake Simon RHP
Ian Barrett RHP
Zack Will UTL
Joan Sosa SS
Justin Sierra CF
Brelon Harden LF
Senior day was pitched by none other than
Rich Racobaldo who has been a key figure in this Knights rotation all season long. Today was no different as he gave
Manny Roman 6.1 innings while only allowing four hits and two earned runs on the day. One of the runs came on the first batter of the day when the Merrimack leadoff man took Racobaldo deep to give the Warriors an early 1-0 lead.
The Warriors did not hold onto the lead for very long as Knights three hole hitter
Tom Ruscitti came up to the plate in the bottom of the first. After a seeing some pitches, Ruscitti blasted a home run to center field and tied the game at 1-1. Once they relinquished their early lead they never got a chance to get it back as Racobaldo silenced the bats and held them scoreless until the seventh inning.
The FDU offense had an explosion of runs in today's matchup as they scored in each of the second, third, and fourth innings before piling on three more runs in the bottom of the seventh. The second inning saw the Knights pick up their first and only lead of the day when
Hunter D'Amato stayed hot and blasted a home run to put FDU ahead 2-1. The offense had their best inning in the third when they put up five runs; the scoring was started by
Justin Sierra who singled for an RBI only before
Luke Cantwell had a good eye and picked up a bases loaded walk and
Zach Kasperowicz and
TJ Werner each picked up RBI singles. Kasperowicz went 2-4 on the day with an RBI; this was his first ever Division I hit and RBI for his career.
The 8-1 lead after four innings was more than plenty for a win on the day even when Racobaldo ran into trouble in the seventh inning by loading the bases.
Patrick Gardner relieved Racobaldo and was able to pick up the final two outs of the inning while only allowing one run to cross the plate. Despite the huge lead the FDU offense was ready for more when Ruscitti singled home Werner in the bottom of the seventh only before
Brian Sanders drilled a two-run double into the left center gap to extend the lead to 11-2.
The nine run lead was more than enough for Gardner who pitcher a perfect 2.2 innings in relief to secure the 30th win of the season for the Knights. This continues their outstanding season as the winningest team in program history.
Tomorrow afternoon they will host Merrimack in the final game of the weekend series to wrap up conference play and home games on the season. The game will take place at Naimoli Family Baseball Complex at 1 p.m.
