Wilkes-Barre, Pa. – The FDU-Florham baseball team fell 2-0 in game one and 5-2 in game two of a Freedom Conference doubleheader against the King's College Monarchs on Saturday afternoon in Wilkes-Barre, Pa.
In game one, the hard throwing Bobby Bray (Fairfax, VA) got the start for the Devils (9-23, 7-12 Freedom) and he pitched brilliantly, striking out five batters and not allowing an earned run through six innings. However, Bray's dominant effort was matched by Andrew Fisher of the Monarchs (9-19, 4-13 Freedom), who hurled a complete game shutout and struck out nine hitters.
After striking out his first batter of the game, Bray surrendered a single to Joe Zito. Zito stole second and advanced to third on a wild pitch before scoring on a Bruce Breithaupt ball that was hit to the right side of the infield and bobbled by a Devils' infielder.
In the top half of the fourth, Frankie Tassielli (Florham Park, N.J.) kicked off the inning with a double to center field. He then advanced to third on a wild pitch. Fisher found himself in a jam after he walked Nick Meoli (East Meadow, N.Y.). However, with no outs and two runners on, Fisher worked his way out of the inning by striking out three straight Devils' batters.
The Monarchs added an insurance run in the bottom of the fourth once Sean Padden led off the inning with a single through the left side and advanced to second on a wild pitch. The Devils then had a costly error and Padden scored on the play to give the Monarchs a 2-0 lead.
Fisher then cruised in the final three innings, not allowing a Devils' batter to reach base safely the rest of the way to seal the 2-0 victory.
In game two, the Devils managed to get on the board early. Following back-to-back walks to Tassielli and Meoli, Reynaldo Diaz (Monroe, N.Y.) shot an RBI single into right center to give FDU-Florham a 1-0 lead.
Senior Joe Hofmann (Colonia, N.J.) was dealing in the first three innings for FDU-Florham, as the Monarchs hitters were not able to reach base once. However, in the bottom half of the fourth, Zito notched a single into center and came around to score on a Breithaupt RBI double to right center. After the second out of the inning was recorded, Kyle Lupas singled into center and Breithaupt crossed the plate for the score.
The Monarchs then loaded the bases with two outs following two consecutive walks. Ryan Hydock then came up to bat and he drew a base on balls, enabling a runner to score and King's grabbed hold of a 3-1 lead.
After allowing two more runs to the Monarchs, the Devils found themselves trailing by four in the final inning of play. The Devils got two runners on in the seventh and a run managed to cross the plate once Kevin Sinclair (Fairfield, CT) rifled an RBI single up the middle. However, FDU-Florham was unable to plate another run and ultimately fell to the Monarchs, 5-2.
The Devils will be back in action on Wednesday, April 29, when they head on the road to square off with Western Connecticut State. First pitch is scheduled for 4 p.m.
