SALISBURY, MD - The Knights and Hawks matched up on Saturday afternoon for game two of their three game weekend set. The Knights were powered by good pitching and the long ball to give them the edge in today's victory. FDU and UMES went to extra innings for the second straight day and the Knights were victorious again with a 5-3 win in 11 innings.
Luke Cantwell got the Knights going early with a two-run blast in the second inning to jump out to an early lead on the Hawks starter; this was Cantwell's NEC leading 13th home run of the season. FDU head coach
Manny Roman gave the ball to
Rich Racobaldo who has been Mr. Reliable for the Knights this season; he has thrown five or more innings in every start while leading the pitching staff in ERA. Today was the same story for Racobaldo as he stifled the Hawks lineup for six innings, only allowing two runs and striking out five batters. The two runs came just an inning after the Knights took the 2-0 lead on the Cantwell home run; UMES battled back in the bottom of the third inning with a single and a bases loaded walk to tie the game at two a piece.
Both teams offenses went quiet for the next three innings until FDU broke the 2-2 tie in the top of the seventh inning. Freshman
Anthony Chiappetta who got a rare weekend start for Roman's squad delivered a huge base hit to drive in
Hunter D'Amato and give FDU a 3-2 lead with only needing nine outs to record the win. However, the Hawks picked up an unearned run in the eighth inning off of Knights reliever
Grant Goodlad to tie the game at 3-3.
The 3-3 tie forced free baseball for the second day in a row as the two teams went to extra innings. In the top of the 11th inning FDU's designated hitter,
Brian Sanders, stepped up to the plate with
Tom Ruscitti on first base and drilled a go-ahead home run and give the Knights a 5-3 lead. The advantage was enough for
Patrick Gardner to pick up three final outs in the bottom of the 11th to secure the win for FDU.
The bullpen for the Knights played a crucial role in today's victory as Goodlad and Gardner combined for five innings in relief and only allowed one unearned run; the pair struck out four UMES batters they faced.
The two teams will be back in action tomorrow afternoon at 12 p.m. as they will battle it out in the final game of the series as the Knights will be looking for a much needed series sweep.
