After a 2-3 week for the Fairfield University Stags Baseball team, going 1-2 in the weekend series against Siena College, Fairfield is reaching the homestretch of the season with pressure to win some conference games. Fairfield split their mid-week games with a 4-3 against fellow Jesuit school; the Fordham University Rams, and a 6-3 win against cross-town rivals; the Sacred Heart University Pioneers. Fairfield jumped out to a 3-1 lead against Fordham, after a homerun by shortstop Jake Gethings ‘19. Fordham pushed ahead 4-3 with a clutch pinch hit double by pinch-hitter Justin Bardwell off of Fairfield reliever Brendan Harkin ‘19.
The Fordham bullpen held the Stags to only three hits and allowed only one earned run. A day later, Fairfield used a four run third inning to power them to a 6-3 win. Trey McLoughlin ‘21 got his first career win, throwing five innings, giving up three hits and striking out four. Right fielder Dan Ryan ‘20 went 2-4 with two runs batted in. Closer David Sacco ‘18 came in and shut the door in the ninth inning, getting his second save.
Fairfield then arrived at another important three game conference series, this time against the Siena Saints. In the first game in the Saturday doubleheader, Siena blanked Fairfield, 5-0. Siena’s starting pitcher, Tommy Miller, threw a complete game shutout, striking out eight batters. Siena leadoff hitter, shortstop Marcus Campos ‘19, went 3-4 with two runs and a run batted in. Fairfield starting pitcher, Josh Arnold ‘20, threw a good game in a losing effort, throwing six innings, only allowing two earned runs and striking out six.
In the second game of the Saturday doubleheader, Fairfield was behind after a big first inning and a strong performance of star pitcher John Signore ‘19. Signore threw a seven inning shutout, allowing two earned runs in the first innings and striking out five. An RBI single by SS Jake Gethings ‘19 and a three run scoring double by Drew Blake ‘18 opened up a 4-2 first inning lead for Fairfield and they never looked back.
In the final game of the weekend series, a grand slam by Siena’s pre-season and reigning MAAC player of the year, Joe Drpich ‘18, powered Siena to a 6-0 win. Siena starter Ryan Bellomo threw seven shutout innings, only allowing three hits, and striking out nine. Drpich went 4-4 with the grand slam that broke the game open. Sophomore Austin Pope threw six innings, only allowing one run in a losing effort for the Stags. This weekend series brought Fairfield to 15-21, with a 7-8 conference record.
Fairfield completed the season sweep of Sacred Heart on Tuesday at Alumni Diamond, winning the contest 11-4. One day later, the Stony Brook Seawolves will also come into Alumni Diamond at 3:30 p.m. for a game against the Stags. Then, Fairfield travels to Poughkeepsie, N.Y. to play conference rivals the Marist College Red Foxes in a vital three game series.
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