Fairfield baseball will look to rebound after dropping two of three in its series against Rider University over the weekend. The Stags will go into this weekend with a series against Mount Saint Mary’s at home, followed by a trip to play at Fordham University on Tuesday.
Fairfield has a 15-14(10-5) record at the time of print before their out-of-conference game against Columbia University.
Mount Saint Mary’s sits in fifth in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference standings right now with a 17-15(10-8) record. This puts them two spots behind Fairfield, who sits in third.
The Mountaineers faced Rider University earlier this year, but failed to win a game, getting swept across three matchups.
The Mount relies heavily on their hitting, which is the best part of their team. They have multiple guys who are excelling at the plate, including graduate outfielder Christian Bauman, who at the time of print leads the team in batting average with a .325. He also leads the team in doubles and triples with eight and two, respectively.
Another key batter for the Mount is redshirt sophomore infielder Bryce Rudisill, who leads the team in home runs with six and posts a batting average of .318. Senior infielder Alex Mendes is another strong bat for the Mount with a .319 batting average.
While the Mountaineers’ pitching staff isn’t as strong as their lineup, they still have guys like redshirt junior pitcher JB Manarchuck, who has an earned run average of 1.85 with 24.1 innings pitched. Another notable arm is senior pitcher Maximus McCrary, who has an ERA of 3.82 with 35.1 innings pitched.
Fairfield will have to exploit the weakness in pitching depth for the Mount in order for them to win the weekend series.
The Stags will then travel to Bronx, New York, to play Fordham University on Tuesday at 3:00 p.m. Fordham is 14-21(6-9) at the time of print, with some games left to play before their game against Fairfield.
Fordham has faced some MAAC opponents already this season, losing to Manhattan University 12-8 while beating Iona and Marist 14-2 and 10-5. They also failed to win a weekend series against another common opponent of the Stags, Davidson University, dropping two of three to the Wildcats earlier in the season.
Fairfield went 0-2 against Davidson back in February.
The Rams have struggled this season on both sides of the ball, but they still have some notable players doing well. One of them is sophomore infielder Anthony Grabau, who is one of the best on the team for batting average with a .300. Senior catcher Tommy McAndrews leads the team in home runs with seven and runs batted in with 30.
On the pitching side, first-year pitcher Declan Cawley has an ERA of 2.90 in 31 innings pitched. Additionally, senior pitcher Aric Berg has a 4.11 ERA in 15.1 innings pitched, which gives him one of the best ERAs on the team.
Even though the Stags lost the series against Rider University this weekend, they showed the MAAC that they’re one of the better teams in the conference this year. The Stags came out firing in the first game with four home runs in the first inning, hit by senior outfielder Matthew Bucciero, senior outfielder TJ Schmalzle, senior catcher JP Kuczik and sophomore infielder Nolan Colby. Backed by a great pitching performance by junior pitcher Ben Alekson, the Stags never looked back, winning the game 10-3. Alekson finished with seven innings pitched, three earned runs and five strikeouts.
“Ben is one of the most effective pitchers I’ve ever seen. It’s crucial when you’re trying to make a statement on Friday to set the tone for the whole weekend,” said senior infielder Luke Nomura.
Then, during the second game, graduate outfielder Zach Stephenson started the scoring in the third inning with a two-run home run. After giving up a run in the fourth inning, sophomore infielder Connor Scanlan smashed a double, building the Stags’ lead to 3-1. But after letting Rider score five unanswered runs, they lost the game 6-3.
In the rubber game, the Stags fell to Rider in extra innings 9-8 after an amazing third inning that saw them score seven runs and take a 7-3 lead. Rider was able to tie the game up in the sixth inning, 7-7, which was the score going into extra innings.
Fairfield let up two runs in the 13th inning, making the game 9-7, and failed to make a comeback after scoring one run back on a Bucciero hit by a pitch.
“We haven’t played our best baseball yet, and we’re leading to that now. We need to get back to work and get some more wins,” said Nomura.
The Stags will play their next game on Friday at 3:00 p.m. against Mount Saint Mary’s at home.
