NORFOLK, Va. - FDU Baseball (29-16-1, 22-6 NEC) fell in the opening game of their series with the Norfolk State Spartans (19-26, 15-13 NEC) at Marty L. Miller Field Friday afternoon in Syracuse.
The Spartans jumped on the Knights starter
Chris Mattioli in the first couple of innings, as Norfolk State grabbed the opening five runs on the ballgame, in total tagging Mattioli for 11 hits and six runs, all of which were earned.
FDU faced a five run deficit heading into the fifth inning, where the Knights would push back, plating three in the fifth inning with
Jeremy Cheeseman's 13th homer of the season, a
Caleb Walker RBI double, and a
Travis Stroh RBI to get the Norfolk State lead down to a pair of runs.
The Spartans answered with a run in the with a sacrifice fly in the bottom of the fifth, and then the teams would trade zeros until the eighth inning where
Garryn Plummer would plate two runs on a RBI single, to cut the Spartan lead to just one run, as Norfolk State held a narrow edge heading into the bottom of the eighth.
The Spartans added two runs of their own in the eighth against FDU reliever
Chris Messina, leaving the Knights to face a three run deficit heading into their last chance in the top of the ninth.
Johnathan Gomez would add an RBI single in the top of the ninth, but the Knights could not muster any more damage, as Spartan closer Yassel Samboy locked down his fifth save of the year, as FDU was defeated in the series opener.
The Knights lost their sixth NEC game of the season on Friday, and are now in a first place tie with the LIU Sharks, as LIU has four games left to play, and the Knights have five.
The Knights will look to even the series tomorrow afternoon, as FDU will take on Norfolk State at Marty L. Miller Field at 4 p.m.
Jeremy Cheeseman is the scheduled starter for the Knights.
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