NEC Baseball Tournament: Bryant Clinches Conference Crown with 47th Win 5/28/2016 Click Here For NEC Tournament Headquarters Click Here for Game 6 Box Score Click Here for Game 6 Highlights Norwich, CT -- It won’t be up to the Committee to decide. Bryant, which has been widely recognized as a serious contender for an at-large bid to the NCAA Regional, put an exclamation point on its historic season by securing the NEC Tournament crown and the NCAA berth that comes with it. Winning for the third consecutive day, the Bulldogs rolled past Fairleigh Dickinson, 8-3, to clinch the title on Saturday evening at Dodd Stadium. The Bulldogs will enter the 64-team NCAA Championship bracket carrying a Northeast Conference record 47 victories. At 47-10, Bryant owns the highest win percentage (.825) of all 300 NCAA Division I teams. Back manning the leadoff spot in Bryant’s lineup, second baseman Cole Fabio was a productive force throughout the weekend. The third-year Bulldog recorded four hits, four walks, three RBI and a tournament-high seven runs scored during the three-win weekend. Bryant skipper Steve Owens noted Fabio’s emergence following Friday’s victory over No. 2 seed Sacred Heart. “He’s had an up-and-down year for us offensively, but it is playoff time and we put him right back where he belongs in the leadoff spot,” said Owens after Fabio scored three runs in a 5-1 victory over the defending NEC champion Pioneers. Fabio was joined by three Bulldogs on the nine-member NEC All-Tournament Team. Outfielder AJ Zarozny (.455 BA), Buck McCarthy (6 H, 6 RBI) and starting pitcher/designated hitter Brandon Bingel (7.0 IP; .357 OBP) earned the honor. After a scoreless first inning, Bryant broke the ice with two outs in the top of the second. AJ Zarozny, who earned his way on via hit-by-pitch, turned on the burners and scored from first base on a misplayed single to centerfield. The Bulldogs add two more in the third inning and another three in the fourth frame to take and 6-0 lead and Fabio was in the middle of both rallies. The second baseman sparked a third-inning surge with a one-out walk followed by a steal of second. One batter later, NEC Player of the Year Robby Rinn doubled Fabio home. Fabio did not need a teammate to drive him in during the fourth inning; he took care of that himself. He blasted a two-out, three-run homer deep into the trees behind the leftfield fence. 2016 NEC ALL-TOURNAMENT TEAM Cole Fabio, Bryant (MVP) AJ Zarozny, Bryant Brandon Bingel, Bryant Buck McCarthy, Bryant Ryan Brennan, FDU Bobby Romano, FDU Corey Zeller, FDU Jason Fatzinger, FDU PJ DeFilippo, SHU GAME 5 #3 FDU 11, #2 SACRED HEART 8 Click Here For Boxscore Click Here For Highlights Norwich, CT -- It’s now official. The 2016 campaign stands as Fairleigh Dickinson’s most-fruitful season in more than two decades. The Knights won their second consecutive elimination game on Saturday and matched the single-season program record for victories (28) in the process. After staying alive by bouncing Central Connecticut on Friday, the Knights returned to defeat another Nutmeg State-based team fewer than 24 hours later. FDU out-slugged defending NEC Tournament champion Sacred Heart, 11-8, to advance to the conference championship round for the first time since 1999. Fairleigh Dickinson, which matched its record win total from the 1993 season, denied Sacred Heart an eighth consecutive trip to the tournament's final round. Securing at least two victories during NEC Tournament play for the fourth time in program history (2016, 1999, 1997, 1993), FDU continued to receive production from the bottom of its lineup. Batting seventh and eighth, respectively, Bobby Romano (2-for-2, 3 RBI) and Jason Fatzinger (3-for-4, 5 RBI) combined to drive in eight of the team’s 11 runs. Romano has recorded at least two hits and one RBI during each of his three NEC Tournament starts at third base. Although Fatzinger took an 0-for-3 during Friday's 2-0 triumph over CCSU, the sophomore outfielder contributed three hits during Thursday's 9-8 setback to Sacred Heart.