Teaneck, N,J. (March 18, 2016) – Mount St. Mary's University baseball dropped its opening pair of Northeast Conference games to Fairleigh Dickinson on Friday, 4-3 and 9-4. Outfielder Ryan Owens went 4-for-7, including a double and a home run, with three RBI and two runs in the two games.

GAME ONE: The Mountaineers tallied three runs in the first three innings, but were held scoreless in the final six as they fell to the Knights by a 4-3 final in the opening game of the series.

The Mount jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first inning as Tyler Post scored Ryan Owens with a sac fly to center and Dalton Clouser crossed the plate on an RBI single by Patrick Causa. The Knights responded with a run in the bottom of the first and a pair in the second to take a 3-2 advantage.

An inning later, the Mountaineers tied the game at 3-all on Post's second RBI of the contest, but Jose DeLeon plated the go-ahead run for Fairleigh Dickinson in the bottom of the fourth on a sac fly to right.

Corey Zeller and Ryan Brennan combined to allow just one hit in the final five innings to close out the 4-3 victory for FDU.

Owens registered a pair of the hits, including a double for the Mount's lone extra extra-base knock of the contest, while Post and Causa each recorded one hit and combined for three runs batted in. Clouser walked three times and came around to score twice. Starter Chad Diehl went six innings on the mound, striking out four and allowing four earned runs, and Josh Little followed with two scoreless in relief.

Eric McDonald and Sprague each went 2-for-4 for the Knights, while John Giakas, Craig Alleyne and DeLeon posted an RBI apiece. Zeller recorded the win with four scoreless innings, and Brennan picked up the save, going one scoreless.

GAME TWO: The Mount dropped the second game of the doubleheader by a 9-4 final despite outhitting Fairleigh Dickinson by a 7-5 margin.

Owens clubbed a three-run homer and finished the game 2-for-3, and Tommy Quealy collected the team's other RBI, going 1-for-3. Causa registered a pair of hits as he joined Owens as the two Mountaineers with multi-hit performances. Freshman Pat Daly took the loss despite giving up just one earned run in 2.0 innings of work.

Patrick McClure led the Knights with three RBI, while Matt McCann added a pair of RBI and two runs. Chris Kachmar picked up the win, going 4.2 innings while striking out seven and allowing four earned.

The Knights opened a 4-0 lead after two innings, scoring one in the first and three in the second. They added to their advantage with a five-run fourth inning as McClure's three-run double to right-center powered the rally.

The Mount scored four times in the top of the fifth inning to cut the FDU lead to 9-4. Quealy singled to right to get the Mount on the board, and Owens followed with a three-run homer for his first of the season to bring the Mountaineers within five.

Fairleigh Dickinson held the Mount scoreless in the final two innings to hold on for the 9-4 win.

UP NEXT: Mount St. Mary's wraps up the series with FDU with a doubleheader on Saturday, March 19 beginning at 1 p.m.