NORFOLK, Va. – The FDU Knights (17-27, 12-13) opened a three-game road series at Norfolk State (11-34, 6-20) with a doubleheader. Game one resulted in an 11-1 win and game two resulted in a 28-5 win for the Knights.
The doubleheader was opened by junior left-hander,
Patrick Gardner, who pitched seven successful innings. Gardner collected a career-high of 12 strikeouts while only issuing one walk and allowing four hits in the outing.
The Knights got on the board first with two homeruns in the third innings.
Jeremy Cheeseman started it off with a solo shot to give the Knights a 1-0 lead.
Justin Sierra smashed one over the left field wall with one runner on to bring FDU's lead to 3-0.
The lone Norfolk run of the day was scored off a wild pitch in the bottom of the third inning. The Spartan trailed 3-1.
TJ Werner drove in a run in the fourth inning off a single to extend the Knights lead to 4-1.
With two sacrifice flies in the fifth inning from
Nick Quagliato and
Brelon Harden, the Knights pushed the score to 6-1.
In the sixth inning,
TJ Werner went yard with a major solo blast over the left field wall resulting in a 7-1 lead.
The eighth inning was home to the last runs of the game with
Hunter D'Amato doubling to left center to score two runs and a single from
Joan Sosa to score the last two runs of the game.
The Knights ultimately came away with an 11-1 victory for game one.
We saw
Ben Pika make a relief appearance pitching the final two innings.
The Knights managed to pick up 14 hits and five walks in today's game. Five Knights picked up a multi-hit game with
Hunter D'Amato leading the charge with four hits with one being a double.
Brian Sanders,
Justin Sierra,
Joan Sosa and
TJ Werner all recorded two hits apiece.
Jeremy Cheeseman and
Brelon Harden both recorded one hit each.
Sophomore right-hander
Jeremy Cheeseman started the game on the mound for the Knights pitching the first two innings putting three batters away via strikeout.
Despite Norfolk getting on the board first, FDU answered in the second inning with four runs to give them a 4-1 lead.
The Spartans tied the game up with a three-run homerun in the second inning but could not hold onto control of the game as the Knights put up two more runs in the third inning.
Norfolk scored one more time in the game off a solo homerun in the third inning, but it was not enough to take a lead.
The Knights found momentum in the sixth and seventh innings where they plated seven runs to take a 13-5 lead. FDU followed it up with a massive 14-run eighth inning which was home to a
Brian Sanders homerun to close the inning.
FDU scored one more run in the ninth inning to cap off a 28-5 win over Norfolk State in game two.
We saw
Chris Mattioli make a relief appearance pitching the final seven innings. The junior put away eight batters through strikeouts.
The Knights managed to pick up 24 hits and eight walks in the second game. Nine Knights picked up a multi-hit game with
Brian Sanders leading the charge with five hits with two of them being a homerun and a double.
Justin Sierra,
Joey DiMotta and
Ben Avila all tabbed three hits each in game two.
Jeremy Cheeseman,
Hunter D'Amato,
JR Bozek,
Nate Dudeck and
TJ Werner all tacked on two hits each as well.
UP NEXT
The Knights will return to action to close their three-game series at Norfolk State on Saturday, May 4. First pitch is scheduled for 3 p.m.
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