TEANECK, N.J. - FDU Baseball (13-7, 8-1 NEC) used a brilliant outing from freshman starter
Drew Cisney to get past the New Haven Chargers (1-14, 1-5 NEC) on Sunday afternoon, as the Knights won their eighth consecutive ballgame.
FDU starting pitcher
Drew Cisney was the story of the day in the early going for FDU, as Cisney struck out five of his first six batters, despite giving up a solo home run. Knights first baseman
Jeremy Cheeseman would pick up Cisney in the second inning as he launched his seventh home run of the season, plating himself and
Jimmy Mantuano, flipping the scoreboard as FDU went from down a run, to ahead by a run with one Cheeseman swing.
The Knights continued to add more runs in the third inning, as
Garryn Plummer scored the nation's run scored leader,
Johnathan Gomez on a sacrifice fly to make the score 3-1 FDU. Just two batters later,
Jimmy Mantuano doubled home
Hunter Ray to push the Knights lead out to three runs, but the lead would continue to grow when Cheeseman launched his eighth homer of the season and his second of the ballgame to make it 6-1 FDU.
Cisney would hold down the Charger offense, as his final line read 6 IP, 7 H, 1 ER, with ten strikeouts, setting a new career high, as well as setting a season high for strikeouts by an FDU hurler.
Derek Bartek came into the ballgame in the seventh inning and shut the door from there, allowing no hits while striking out two batters, to log a nine out save, his second this season.
This win marks the eighth in a row for FDU, moving the Knights record to 13-7 on the season, and the Knights are 8-1 through the first nine games of NEC play. Sunday afternoon concluded a ten game long homestand for FDU, where the Knights scored 140 runs over the ten game stretch, good for 14 runs per ballgame. The Knights outscored opponents 140-59 in the homestand, winning nine of the ten games at Naimoli Family Baseball Complex.
FDU will embark on a five game road stretch, that includes two mid-week matchups, starting with a bout against the Big East's St. John's. The Knights and the Red Strom are set to square off on Tuesday at 3 p.m. at Jack Kaiser Stadium.
