WILKES-BARRE, PA (March 13, 2021)- FDU Baseball went on the road on Saturday, falling to King's College in a doubleheader, 10-8 and 18-4. Due to construction on the baseball home field, FDU was the home team in both of these contests, at King's. With the losses, the Devils fall to 0-2 (0-2) and the Monarchs improve to (2-2) (2-2).
 
Game 1
Senior, Joseph Kastner started on the hill in game one for FDU. After King's scored two In the top of the first inning, the Devils responded by loading the bases in the bottom half. Senior, Nate Peacock led off with a single, followed by a senior, AJ Yursita hit-by-pitch and a junior, Tyler McCulloch walk, but FDU couldn't capitalize. The Monarchs added three more in the top of the second, grabbing a 5-0 advantage. The Devils didn't go down easy, responding with a big bottom half of frame two. Senior, Michael Tufano got the rally started with a base hit, followed by a single from sophomore catcher, Chris Kubas and another peacock hit, this time scoring Tufano for the Devils first run. Senior, Matt Nodoro hit a sac fly, followed by an RBI single from Yurista, cutting the King's lead to two, 5-3. From there, junior transfer, Tommy Moore, did the rest. Taking an inside fastball over the wall in left center to tie the game at five all.
 
Again, the Monarchs had a response with the bats. Answering with five of their own, thanks to help from the Devils defense, King's found themselves back on top by five, 10-5 after two and a half innings. In the bottom of the fourth, FDU began to chip away. Started off by another Peacock single and Yurista HBP, Moore got hit with a pitch to load the bases. McCulloch capitalized with a two-run, two RBI single, scoring Peacock and Yurista.
 
Credit goes to senior, Matthew Godlewski, who went the final 4.1 innings for the Devils, giving up only one hit and no earned runs while striking out four. In the bottom of the ninth, FDU rallied, plating one off the bat of Moore, but eventually, falling short. The final score, KC 10, FDU 8.
 
Game Two
First-year, DJ McGuinness started on the mound for the Devils in game two. FDU jumped out early, taking a 2-0 lead into the fourth inning. After a Nodoro single in the bottom of the first, Yurista roped a double. With two men on base, King's balked in the game's first run, scoring Nodoro. After three straight zeros from the young first-year, McGuinness, the Devils plated another. In the bottom of the third, with two outs, Moore doubled down the line to advance Nodoro to third. While reaching third base, King's committed an error, allowing Nodoro to score FDU's second run.
 
With a 2-0 lead in the top of the fourth, the Monarchs took over. Scoring six in the inning to gain a 6-2 advance, King's went on to score six more in the fifth, two in the sixth and four in the seventh to complete the 18-4 victory.
 
Lead Devil
The 2020 team MVP, Peacock, was everywhere for FDU. Reaching base five times and recording five hits, three runs, three RBI's, a walk and two stolen bases.
 
Bats Around
The Devils totaled 20 hits over the two games.
 
From Coach
"Not the outcome you would like an opening day to be, especially after 365 days away from the game. But, this is a resilient group, and we are accustomed to facing adversity on a daily basis. We need to turn the page & come out tomorrow relentlessly. Tomorrow's a new day." - Head Coach, Jamie Quinn.
 
Up Next
FDU returns to action tomorrow, Sunday, when they travel back to King's University (as the away team) for a DH starting at 12 pm.