NORWICH, Conn. — The Northeast Conference's regular-season champion flexed its muscles in the tournament opener on Thursday.
EJ Exposito and
Giovanni Ciaccio delivered run-scoring hits in a four-run first inning and the LIU baseball team defeated fourth-seeded Fairleigh Dickinson, 10-2, on Thursday.
The Sharks (35-18) next face No. 2 seed Bryant on Friday at 3 p.m. in a winners' bracket game.
"It's good to get the first one out of the way," coach
Dan Pirillo said.
NEC Pitcher of the Year
Joshua Loeschorn followed with five scoreless frames after surrendering a first-inning run en route to earning his 11th win.
The victory pulled Loeschorn even with Campbell's Thomas Harrington for the NCAA wins lead, with Harrington receiving a no-decision in the Big South Tournament on Thursday against Charleston Southern.
After Loeschorn surrendered a two-out RBI single to Brelon Harden in the opening frame, the Sharks answered with four runs in the bottom half to chase Knights starter Nick Evangelista. Exposito's RBI double pulled LIU even and Ciaccio's run-scoring single provided the lead. Ciaccio and
Christopher Wasson each scored from third on wild pitches after Ethan Rembish entered with two outs.
Loeschorn allowed two runs on eight hits and one walk while striking out 10 in a 121-pitch outing spanning seven innings.
"Josh showed again why he's the conference pitcher of the year with that outing, going seven strong," Pirillo said. "In this kind of tournament, you need a long outing from one of your guys. Josh is definitely that guy who can do it. He did it today. He shut down a good FDU lineup, which hit well all year."
Seth Surrett's two-run single and
Michael Edelman's two-run homer in the sixth had opened an 8-1 lead. Surrett went 4-for-5 with three RBIs and two runs scored. He has reached base safely in each of his last 36 games.
"We got production up and down our lineup today," Pirillo said. "They were getting on base, moving runners, sacrifice bunting. There were no errors. It was a complete game for us. It's good to see those guys focused and come out ready to go."
Said Surrett: "We didn't lay down when they scored one in the first. We came back and scored four runs. It was really big. Loeschorn was very good for us. And we just kept it going after that."
