Games #18-19 vs. FDU (NEC)
Info: March 24 | Teaneck, N.J. | Naimoli Family Baseball Complex
Game One: Sunday at 12 p.m.
Game Two: Sunday at 3 p.m.
Watch: NEC Front Row .... Live Stats: fduknights.com
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FDU Links: Schedule | Roster | News | Stats

Syracuse, N.Y. – Due to inclement weather, the NEC series between Le Moyne and FDU, originally scheduled to be played at Dick Rockwell Field on Friday, Saturday and Sunday, will instead be a doubleheader played at FDU's Naimoli Family Baseball Complex on Sunday beginning at 12 p.m.

Game one of the series, which would have been Le Moyne's first home game of the season, has been canceled.

Series History:
Le Moyne and FDU played two games against one another during the 1993 Eastern College Athletic Conference Tournament. Le Moyne bested the Knights 16-8 in the first-ever meeting between the two sides, then the Dolphins claimed a 12-11 win over FDU the next day before falling to Fordham in the final.

The Matchup:
In both their NEC series at LIU and Delaware State, the Dolphins dropped the first two games before claiming a win in the series finale.

Redshirt-junior right-handed pitcher Jordan Goldmann (Encinitas, Calif./Canyon Crest Academy/Palomar College/Grossmont College) has been credited with the win in both of Le Moyne's NEC victories this season.

During an 8-6 win at LIU on March 9, Goldmann went 6.0 innings with four strikeouts and three earned runs allowed to collect his first win of the season, while freshman right-hander Billy Canale (Niskayuna, N.Y./Niskayuna) tallied eight strikeouts in 3.0 innings in relief to record his first career save.

Le Moyne erased a 5-0 deficit during that win in Brookville to avoid a sweep in its first Northeast Conference series. Senior catcher Brady Fureno (Canajoharie, N.Y./Fort Plain) provided a go-ahead home run during Le Moyne's six-run fifth inning to put the Dolphins in front for good.

Le Moyne dropped its first two game at Delaware State by scores of 12-10 and 7-3 before bouncing back in game three on Sunday with a 15-4 win. Goldmann started on the mound and went 8.0 innings for the second time in his Le Moyne career while allowing five hits, three runs and zero walks with eight strikeouts.

Sophomore Brody Keneston (Ballston Spa, N.Y./Ballston Spa) smashed a grand slam, his second home run of the season, in the ninth inning, and finished the game with a career-high six runs batted in, while freshman infielder Mike Whelehan (Hilton, N.Y./Hilton) recorded a season-high four runs batted in with two two-RBI singles.

Junior catcher Benji Ries (Buffalo Grove, Ill./Adlai E. Stevenson) added three runs scored and three hits, including a solo home. Ries was named an NEC Prime Performer for week five after tallying six hits, six runs and two home runs during the series at Delaware State.

Graduate first baseman Dewey Roden (Sherrill, N.Y./Vernon-Verona-Sherrill) and fifth-year center fielder Zach Brush (New York Mills, N.Y./Utica Notre Dame) both registered career highs during Le Moyne's 12-10 loss in game one at DSU.

Roden recorded a career-best six runs batted in during the setback with a single, a double, and his first home run of the season, while Brush recorded a career-high five hits and reached base in all six of his at bats with two doubles, three singles, one walk, a stolen base, three runs scored and two runs batted in.

FDU is led by second-year head coach Manny Roman. The Knights went 31-21-1 overall and 20-10 in NEC play during the 2023 season to finish third in the conference standings before being eliminated by fourth-seeded Sacred Heart on day three of the Northeast Conference Baseball Championship.

2023 All-NEC honorees Hunter D'Amato and Brian Sanders both returned for the Knights this season. Hunter, a senior infielder, is leading the Knights in RBI so far this season with 16 in addition to 18 hits, 11 runs and 10 stolen bases. He was a first team all-conference selection last season after tallying 86 hits, 57 runs, 12 doubles, six home runs, 54 runs batted in and 28 stolen bases. During conference play he led all NEC batters in hits with 50.

FDU began conference play with a three-game series at home against Sacred Heart. The Pioneers took both games of a Friday doubleheader by scores of 2-0 and 5-0 before the Knights claimed three on Sunday, March 8 by a score of 8-7. Catcher Nick Quagliato went 3-4 at the plate with two RBI and two runs scored during the win. Quagliato drove in the game-winning run with a bases loaded walk in the bottom of the ninth to lift the Knights to their first NEC win of the season.

FDU then claimed a three-game sweep at home against Stonehill.

FDU won game one 7-3 with the help of three RBI from D'Amato, then they claimed a 7-5 win in game two with the help of three RBI from designated hitter Franklin Gomez Jr. During game three of the Stonehill series, starting graduate right-handed pitcher Zac Capps limited the Skyhawks to two hits, zero walks and zero runs with 10 strikeouts in 7.0 innings of work as the Knights registered a 9-0 win to complete the sweep.

Capps, who was credited with his first win of the season, was subsequently named the NEC Pitcher of the Week, while Quagliato and Zack Will, who went 6-10 with two home runs during the series, were both named Prime Performers.

Graduate outfielder Justin Sierra leads FDU in hits with 20 after going 6-14 during the Stonehill series. FDU junior left-handed pitcher Patrick Gardner leads the Knights' pitching staff with 28 strikeouts through five starts and 25.0 innings pitched so far this season.

Up Next:
Le Moyne will now play its first home series next week. Following the FDU series, the Dolphins will play a road game at St. Bonaventure on Tuesday, then Le Moyne will host Coppin State for a three-game NEC series at Dick Rockwell Field beginning on Thursday, March 28 at 3 p.m.

Le Moyne will play its first midweek non-conference home game on April 2 against Canisius, then they will meet an old NE10 foe, Stonehill College for a three-game series at home beginning on Friday, April 5.