Myrtle Beach, SC. (March 8) – The FDU-Florham baseball team (4-5) kicked off their time in Myrtle Beach against Pitt-Bradford in a doubleheader. Unfortunately, they dropped both games by scores of 4-1 and 8-7, despite a late comeback attempt in game two.
 
Ryan Johnston (Garden City, NY) went 3-4 on the day with two RBIs. Xavier Diaz (Wanaque, NJ) went yard, hitting a solo home run. Nicholas Colbert (Belmar, NJ) also scored two RBIs on the day.
 
Game One
After a scoreless first inning, Pitt-Bradford got on the board first with a single up the middle.

FDU came right back at them in the top of the third, when Diaz crushed a solo homerun over the right field wall to get FDU on the board.

Pitt-Bradford earned two more runs, one from a home run in the bottom of the third, and another from an error in the fourth. FDU did not put up another run, and lost game one 4-1.

Chris Kaponis (Burlington Twp., NJ) started the match for the Devils, and pitched for three innings, giving up 2 runs and striking out five batters. Tyler Gaetano (Staten Island, NY) pitched the remainder of the game, giving up only one earned run while striking out one batter.
  
Game Two
The first inning was scoreless between the two, but the Panthers struck in the second inning, scoring four runs. They put another one up in the top of the third to make the score 5-0.

FDU put their first run up in the bottom of third. The inning started to get going with a walk from Peter Longo (Cherry Hill, NJ). After Jack Giovenco (Allentown, Pa.) and Diaz made base from fielding errors, Colbert hit a sacrifice fly to score Longo to cut the lead to 5-1.

Pitt-Bradford put up another run in the top of the fourth, but the Devils responded once again, loading the bases off of hits from Johnston and Giovenco, while Longo walked. Diaz brought in Johnston on a RBI single to make the game 6-2.

FDU continued to try and come back in the bottom of the fifth. Aaron Santos (Bridgewater, NJ) slapped a double to start it off. John Rolli (Long Valley, NJ) singled and Daniel Cowles (Colts Neck, NJ) walked to load the bases. Johnston hit a single to score Santos, and a wild pitch scored Rolli to make it a two run game.
The Panthers put up one more run in the top of the seventh, but the Devils struck in the bottom half of the inning.

Colbert started off the inning with a single down the left field line and Rolli singled to left field. Zach Ganca (Merrick, NJ) came in to pinch hit, and hit a single down the middle which scored Colbert and Rolli. Johnston singled to score Ganca, and all of a sudden, the game was tied at seven a piece.

Unfortunately, the Panthers scored a run in the top of the seventh, and after FDU failed to respond, Pitt-Bradford picked up game two by a score of 8-7.

Alex DeSimone (Long Valley, NJ) started the second game, and threw for one inning. Trenon Stanard (Long Valley, NJ), Jack Kopera (Jefferson Twp., NJ), and Jake Stollar (Flemington, NJ) all threw for meaningful innings out of the bullpen.

FDU will take a day break before facing Wilmington College on Monday March 10^th at Griffiths Field. First pitch will be at 9:00 AM.

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