TEANECK, N.J. - FDU Baseball (32-18-1, 25-8 NEC) capped off a record breaking season, by notching another record against the LIU Sharks (27-20, 26-7 NEC), as FDU broke the single season wins record for the second time under head coach
Manny Roman, as the Knights topped the previously set record from the 2023 club, who won 31 games.
The Knights were the first team to the scoreboard Saturday afternoon, as
Garryn Plummer made his senior day memorable, starting with an RBI single that scored
Jeremy Cheeseman. LIU would answer back with a run in the second inning, then FDU would pick up a pair of runs in the third with a
Jeremy Delamota SAC fly, followed by a bases loaded walk from
Travis Stroh.
FDU then exploded for six runs in the fifth, as
Jeremy Cheeseman,
Travis Stroh,
Garryn Plummer and
Diego Urreta all picked RBI's in the inning, highlighted by Stroh's 14th home run of the season, giving the Knights a stranglehold on the contest, leading the ballgame 9-2 after four innings.
Hunter Ray and
Jeremy Cheeseman didn't wait much longer before making their impact felt again, as the pair cranked back to back home runs, pushing the FDU lead to 12-2 FDU after the fifth inning of play.
The ballgame would then take a wild turn, as FDU relievers
Jay Creighton and
Derek Bartek struggled with command, and the Sharks plated the next 10 runs in the ballgame, scoring nine runs in the sixth inning, followed by another run in the seventh.
FDU would punch back in a big way in the seventh inning, scoring six more runs, making it the second inning of the game where the Knights plated six or more runs, the Knights big rally was capped by
Caleb Walker's fourth long ball of the season, as the graduate transfer infielder has been swinging one of the hotter bats in the FDU lineup down the stretch of the regular season.
The Knights got a shutdown inning from reliever
Drew Cisney, and then got to work in the bottom of the eighth, taking advantage of the LIU pitching staff's command issues, grabbing two bases loaded walks, as well as a bases loaded hit by pitch to salt the game away, ending the contest in the eighth inning due to a run rule.
FDU would go up by ten runs, to have the game tied, and then ended up winning the contest by 10 runs to notch their record breaking 32nd win of the season.
The Knights will head to the NEC Tournament for at least their next two ballgames as the Knights received the number two seed in the NEC Tournament bracket. FDU will take on the three seed Wagner in the first round of the tournament at Skylands Stadium. Action from Augusta, N.J. will start at 4 p.m. and the game can be streamed on ESPN+.
