BROOKVILLE, N.Y. — The LIU baseball team began a celebratory weekend by welcoming back Luke Turner and maintaining first place in the Northeast Conference.

Seth Surrett doubled and scored the tiebreaking run on EJ Exposito's sacrifice fly in what became a two-run seventh as the Sharks defeated Fairleigh Dickinson, 4-2, in Friday's series opener.

With the victory, LIU improved to 30-16 overall and 15-7 in the NEC.

The overall win total is one shy of matching the program's Division I record. And the win, coupled with Central Connecticut State's loss, gave the Sharks sole possession of first place in the NEC.

"You're coming down to the last two weekends. Every game matters. We have a chance to be conference champs," coach Dan Pirillo said. "It was a fundamentally sound game where we scratched across runs when we needed and made plays when we needed and made some pitches."

Joshua Loeschorn, who entered the weekend tied for the NCAA lead in wins, departed the game in position for his 10th victory. However, the Knights manufactured a run in the seventh to even the score at 2.

Loeschorn, who graduated summa cum laude on Tuesday and is an Academic All-America candidate, received a no-decision. He limited FDU to a lone unearned run on three hits and two walks while striking out six in five innings. He was returning on four days' rest.

Earlier, Colin Adams' go-ahead two-run homer in the second had provided Loeschorn with a 2-1 lead.

Turner (0-for-2, walk) played the opening seven innings in his first game since departing April 1 against Merrimack, when he had suffered an arm injury reaching into the runner at first base.

Turner had been hitting a torrid .397 (29-for-73) before being sidelined for six weeks.

Bentley Boekhout and Ryan Mullahey had been capably handling first base in Turner's absence, and Boekhout replaced Turner for the eighth inning on Friday.

"It was great to see Luke back," Pirillo said. "He had an injury that might have kept most guys out for the rest of the year. He worked to get back in there. It was great to see him get three at-bats. I know he wanted to come through a little bit more, but I'm really proud of how he came back."

The Sharks had taken a 4-2 lead in the top of the eighth when Carlton Harper followed Exposito's sacrifice fly with one of his own.

This is the final home weekend of the season for LIU. They will honor 13 student-athletes on Senior Day, before Sunday's series finale: Adams, Giovanni Ciaccio, Victor DeNicola, Nick DeSalvo, Michael Edelman, Josh Gainer, Kurt Lange, Loeschorn, Mullahey, Ryan Neuweiler, Turner, Jarod Wade and Christopher Wasson.