TEANECK, N.J. - The Knights christened the newly renovated grounds of Naimoli Family Baseball Complex with a 19-2 win over the Iona Gaels. The Burgundy and Blue's stadium received a $1.3 million improvement that includes a fully artificial playing surface, new scoreboard, and full bullpens and batting cages.
Nicholas Feretic got the start for
Manny Roman's squad in the midweek battle versus the Gaels. The last time he pitched in a game was 2/24 against Wofford. The first two innings for the Knights starter saw him face some bad luck as he surrendered four of his eight hits and a run on a ton of weak contact from the Iona lineup. Feretic settled down and was able to silence the oppositions bats with a solid outing to earn himself his second win of the year; he went five innings while giving up only two runs and striking out seven batters.
Iona surrendered their early lead in the second inning after FDU senior
TJ Werner ripped a single to left field to drive in
Brian Sanders and
Joey DiMotta; the Knights did not give up the lead for the rest of the afternoon. Sanders broke the game open in the third inning when he sent an Andrew Gaines pitch to dead center field for a two-run home run to extend the Knights lead to 5-1. The day unraveled for the Gaels in the fourth inning when their pitching staff walked in four consecutive runs and saw
Ben Avila and Werner drive in runs with
Brelon Harden capping off the inning with a two run single to push the FDU lead to 13-2.
The Knights bullpen relieved Feretic in the sixth inning and dominated the Iona hitters for the final 12 outs.
Dante Edwardi,
Jake Simon, and
Cole Vida combined for four scoreless innings, giving up only two hits and striking out three. The FDU pitching staff was impressive on the day giving up only one free pass in comparison to Iona's 12 walks.
The icing on the cake for the day came in the eighth inning when Werner drove in a career high fourth and fifth runs and
Justin Sierra blasted his first home run of the season to bring the Knights to their eventual final score of 19-2.
FDU is back in action this weekend against Stonehill for a three game NEC battle beginning on Friday afternoon at 3 P.M. Knights fans can tune into NEC Front Row to listen to the voice of FDU Baseball Charlie Carbonetto or take the trek down to the newly renovated Naimoli Family Baseball Complex.
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