Fairfield Baseball has a busy week ahead of it, traveling to Elon, North Carolina, to play Elon University in a three-game set from Friday to Sunday, before coming back home and playing Central Connecticut State away at New Britain, Connecticut, on Tuesday at 3:00 p.m.
The team is 0-5 to start this year after a three-game series against sixth-ranked Coastal Carolina University and a two-game series against Davidson University. Even though the record isn’t where the Stags want it so far this season, they have still shown promise in multiple outings where they’ve played well.
“Baseball is a game of inches; messing up one thing can mess up the entire game. We had one error at Davidson, and we lost by one run, which sucks, but we need to make it constructive,” said senior outfielder Payten Wawruck.
The Stags open up the weekend series against Elon on Friday at 4:00 p.m. They will play Elon two more times over the weekend, with a game on Saturday at 1:00 p.m. and on Sunday at 12:00 p.m.
Elon is 4-3 so far this year at the time of print. To start their season, they swept a weekend series against the University of Delaware, then won a mid-week game against Presbyterian 6-4.
However, they lost their momentum after being swept by Charleston Southern University over the past weekend. Fairfield is preparing for Elon by “focusing on intent in practice in terms of swing decisions and pitch decisions and everything involved in what we’ve lacked last weekend,” Wawruck said.
Some of the players that Fairfield needs to look out for include senior infielder Jackson Alford, who has been on a tear so far, playing in all seven games and racking up a .500 batting average with ten hits and a homer. He has also tallied four walks so far this season.
Graduate outfielder Brian DuRoff has been another bat on fire for Elon so far this season with a .348 batting average in 23 at-bats. He currently sits at eight hits, 2 home runs, and seven runs-batted-in.
On the pitching staff, senior pitcher Sam Nomura has made four appearances, pitching 8.1 innings and not allowing any runs. Junior pitcher Mike Staiano has made three appearances with 5.2 innings pitched and has allowed zero runs.
Then Fairfield will play a midweek game against Central Connecticut State on Tuesday at 2:00 p.m. At the time of print, the Blue Devils haven’t played a game yet, opening up their season this coming weekend against Florida A&M.
The Blue Devils will be led by junior outfielder Antonio Ducatelli, who racked up a .348 batting average in 41 games last year. He also tallied 49 hits with 48 RBIs and four homers on the season. On the pitching staff, returning junior pitcher Richie Kerstetter was one of the bright spots on the team last year, ending with a 3.25 ERA in 27.2 innings pitched.
Some players on Fairfield have had their own success this season, with some of the guys winning awards already, including senior pitcher Ben Alekson winning Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference Pitcher of the Week. Against Coastal Carolina, he pitched in four innings, striking out six batters and allowing only three hits.
In the batting lineup, players like Wawruck and senior outfielder T.J. Schmalzle have come up clutch for the Stags so far this season. Schmalzle has tallied a .350 batting average with seven hits and two home runs. Wawruck is clocking in at a .333 batting average throughout this season.
The goal for the team this season is to “run it back to the regionals again this year and give coach Currier a good send-off. He’s done everything for this program,” said Wawruck, showing that Fairfield is motivated this year with something more than just the game.
Fairfield will play their next game on Friday at Elon, North Carolina, at 4:00 p.m. against the Elon Phoenix.
