FAIRFIELD, Conn. – Don't look now but there might be some special magic building on Alumni Diamond. For the fourth time this season, the Stags found a way to gut out a victory when trailing after seven innings. In this episode of the so-far exciting and dramatic 2016 season, Fairfield tallied three sacrifice hits in the eighth inning and got a big two-run single from Michael Conti to post a 4-2 victory over Niagara, completing their second-straight MAAC sweep. Fairfield, a team who was picked eighth in the preseason, has now won seven-straight MAAC contests, their longest such streak since 1997. The Stags currently hold the best conference winning percentage in the MAAC.

“Every coach wants to coach a team that does well with the game on the line,” Head Coach Bill Currier said. “Last year we let a lot of tight games get away. This year we seem to have been in quite a few already and fortunately we've been on the high side of those close games.”

The Stags (15-17, 7-2 MAAC) could not find anything through the first seven innings offensively as they had as many runners picked off (two) than they had hits (two). But just like they have all season long, they just relied on their pitching to keep the game close until they could find that magical inning.

That frame came in the eighth. Kevin Radziewicz led off the frame with a single and then the Stags started to put pressure on the Niagara defense. Mac Crispino laid down as perfect as a bunt as you can see, right between the pitcher and the third baseman, and the ball went untouched allowing him to reach first. Jack Gethings would reach after he laid down his own sacrifice bunt, but Niagara (10-23-1, 6-6 MAAC) elected to try for the lead runner, but the ball was dropped and then got away from the fielder, allowing the tying run to score. Tyler Gambardella's bunt attempt was picked up and thrown away as the Purple Eagles tried to gun the runner out at home.

Conti followed with a clean single up the middle, scoring two runs and after trailing for three innings, the Stags all of a sudden had a 4-1 lead.

With the bats struggling in the beginning, the weight was put on the Stags right-handed junior pitcher Kyle Dube who out-powered the Niagara bats for seven innings. Dube struck out 10 batters, two more than his previous career-high. Dube got stronger as the situation got bigger, striking out Niagara's best hitter Michael Fuhrman in the third with the bases loaded and then recording back-to-back strikeouts with a runner at third in the fifth.

“He's competitive like that,” Currier said. “He gets more competitive and throws better with guys on base and wants to overcome. Whatever he gives up, he gets tougher, and that's what he did today.”

“That's really our jobs as pitchers,” Dube said. “Go out there and keep us in the game. We know our hitters are going to come through in the end.”

Dube made one mistake all day and Greg Cullen drove that pitch the other way for a RBI triple in the fifth, which was the lone run for seven innings.

In his second-straight appearance, Aaron Howell made that lead stand up as he went the final two innings allowing one unearned run in two innings.

The Stags have now won seven-straight MAAC games, their longest conference winning streak since 1997. After being picked eighth in the preseason poll, the Stags will enter next weekend with the best winning percentage in the MAAC.

“I think the conference is going to start noticing us,” Dube said. “7-2 is a good start, but that's all it is. It's just a good start. We have five more series to go, so we got to keep grinding and keep winning close games.”

The Stags will take a break from the conference slate when they hit the road for a couple of weekday games against a couple of rivals. Fairfield starts the trip on Tuesday at 6pm at Fordham.