MADISON, N.J. (April 17, 2021) – The Stevens Institute of Technology baseball team took an early 8-1 lead and held on to win 8-6 in game two of Saturday's doubleheader against Fairleigh Dickinson University-Florham Campus to earn a split after falling in game one 7-2.

Nate Zuckerman led the Ducks in the game two victory, going 2 for 5 with four RBIs and a double while Jacob Buurman and Anthony Pron combined to shutout the Devils over the final two innings to move to 14-7 overall and remain in second place in the MAC Freedom standings.

FDU-Florham, meanwhile, went to 8-14 with the split and currently sits in sixth place in the conference.

"Not exactly the result we were looking for today, but I am pleased to get the win in game two as we are nearing the end of a busy week of baseball," head coach Kristaps Aldins said. "Hats off to the FDU-Florham pitcher in game one, he kept us off the scoreboard the majority of the way."

The Devils' pitcher Aldins is referring to is Christian Capuano who tossed a complete game in the seven inning game. Capuano (2-2) allowed two runs on just three hits while striking out 10 in the win.

In the top half of the second of game one, FDU-Florham got on the board first with three runs in the bottom of the second on an RBI groundout and back-to-back RBI singles into center off starting pitcher Chandler Brierley.

The Devils tacked on single runs in the fourth and fifth innings to extend the lead to 5-0 with single runs on a fielder's choice and a passed ball, respectively.

The Ducks got on the board with their first hit and run in the top of the fifth as Ben Tobio ripped his fourth extra-base hit in his last seven games with a one-out triple. Tobio then raced home to make the score 5-1 on an RBI single off the bat of Christian Kreiser.

In the sixth, Stevens cut the deficit down to three thanks to a double off the bat of Michael Reyes that brought home Zuckerman.

FDU-Florham got the two runs back in the bottom half of the sixth on an RBI double from Michael Tufano and a wild pitch to swell the lead back to five at 7-2.

Capuano slammed the door in the seventh, punching out a pair for his ninth and 10th strikeout of the day to give the Devils the win.

Brierley (3-2) was saddled with the loss after tossing four innings, allowing five runs, four earned, on just four hits. The graduate student walked six and hit a batter in the loss.

In the second contest of the day, Stevens made sure to avoid the same fate as game one by jumping ahead and scoring eight of the first nine runs of the game.

Ryan Wall doubled in the third and then Chris Silos and Brett Mendez both singled to load the bases with nobody out in the top of the third.

Zuckerman then stepped to the plate and gave the Ducks a three-run lead with a bases-clearing double into the right-center field gap. Two batters later, Johnny Albrecht made the score 4-0 on a one-out RBI single to left.

The Devils managed to score a run in the bottom of the fourth on an RBI single to left. The damage was limited by some stellar defense by Albrecht as he threw out AJ Yurista trying to go from first-to-third on a single to end the inning.

Stevens responded with a run in the top of the fifth as Chris Silos led things off with a double and scored on a one-out single from Zuckerman.

Another crooked number came in the top of the sixth for the Ducks as Ryan Wall singled home Kreiser, Silos tripled to center to plate Wall and Brett Mendez ripped a single to bring home Silos.

The three-run sixth for Stevens was topped by a five-run bottom half by FDU-Florham.

After Tufano hit an RBI triple and came home on a two-RBI single by Yurista.

Buurman then came on in relief of Alex Smith with runners on first and second and nobody out and was able to limit the damage, giving up only a two-RBI single while getting a strikeout and two pop outs to end the inning.

With the score 8-6, Buurman was fantastic in his next two innings as he retired six straight in the seventh and eighth with four strikeouts to keep the lead at two.

In the bottom half of the ninth, Stevens brought on Pron out of the bullpen who was able to work around a pair of singles to earn his conference-leading sixth save of the season.

The Ducks had five different student-athletes with multi-hit games as Mendez and Silos had three hits apiece and Zuckerman, Albrecht and Wall added two each.

Smith (3-0) earned the win on the hill after giving up six runs on seven hits while striking out a pair.

The series with FDU-Florham finishes Sunday as the teams will play a doubleheader in Hoboken at the Dobbelaar Field starting at 12:00 p.m. Live stats and video will be available on StevensDucks.com.

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