Thomas Shea/The Mirror
Coming off a three game sweep of conference rival Niagara, the Stags appeared to be gaining momentum heading into the heart of conference play. That momentum was halted over the weekend, however, as Central Connecticut took two of three games from Fairfield.
The team’s four game winning streak was snapped by the Blue Devils, who took both games played at Alumni Diamond.
In Friday’s game, the Stags led early by scoring in the bottom of the second on a Ryan Furbeck RBI single. Tucker Nathans would bring the lead to 2-0 in the bottom of the sixth with an RBI single of his own, plating Furbeck.
Scott Warwick pitched seven innings, giving up just one run on two hits while striking out six.
The Blue Devils came back in the top of the ninth, with a leadoff homerun to left field off sophomore Kyle Capaldo, tying the game at 2-2. Central pushed across two more runs with two outs in the inning to go ahead 4-2, and ended up winning by the same score.
After the game, head coach John Slosar said he liked the outing put together by Warwick.
“He was able to throw three pitches for strikes,” said Slosar, “which is normally the formula for success.”
On Saturday, Fairfield hitters were able to get on base, but struggled mightily to bring any runners home. The Stags stranded 13 runners on base in a 3-0 shutout loss.
Brett Shulick turned in another good pitching performance by the Stags’ starting pitching, going seven strong innings and striking out seven. Nevertheless, Shulick (2-2) took the loss, surrendering three runs on four hits.
Nick Picarillo, Tyler Wosleger and Ryan Furbeck each had multi-hit games on Saturday, but none were able to drive in any runs for the Stags.
Senior Tucker Nathans attributed the lack of runs to good pitching by Central Connecticut.
“We had runners in scoring position…we just were never able to get that one big hit,” said Nathans.
“We had two situations with the bases loaded and less than two outs, and we couldn’t get anyone in,” said Nathans. “It was a real rally killer.”
Fairfield won the third game of the three game series on Sunday, with a 5-0 shutout win of their own.
The pitching was dominant on Sunday, as the Stags’ pitchers didn’t allow a Central base runner to advance past second all game. Scott Gussaroff threw eight scoreless innings and struck out six, as he earned his third win of the season.
Gussaroff was given a lead before he stepped on the mound, as Fairfield scored four times in the top of the first, sending nine batters to the plate. Nick Picarillo, Tucker Nathans, Carmine DeVito, and Ryan Plourde all had RBI doubles in the inning.
DeVito was a homerun short of the cycle, finishing the day 3-for-4 with two runs scored, one batted in, and a stolen base. Ryan Furbeck went 3-for-5 with a double and a run scored, extending his hitting streak to nine games and has reached base in 15-straight games.
Despite the two losses, coach Slosar has been impressed with his starting pitching over the last couple of games.
“These pitchers are just naturally talented,” said Slosar, “and they have been able to limit a well-balanced, good-hitting Central team.”
Fairfield starting pitchers have gone at least six innings and gave up less than 3 runs in five of their last six games.
The Stags’ next game is scheduled for April 19 at UCONN, and the next conference game scheduled for April 23 at Rider.
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