WAPPINGER FALLS, N.Y. – The key to the Stags' success this season has been their pitching keeping them in the game until their bats find a way to grab the victory. However, today the Stags could not get the big hit. The Fairfield pitching was stellar as John Signore became the first MAAC rookie of the season to throw nine-innings in a game and Aaron Howell gave another 4.2 innings of solid relief. But Manhattan was able to finally get the win with a Ryan Gronlier walk-off single in the 14th to take a 2-1 victory. 

The Stags (21-19, 10-3 MAAC) had the majority of chances in the marathon, but left 16 men on base and went 1-for-15 with runners in scoring position. This became most apparent in the top of the 12th when the Stags loaded the bases on a ground rule double from Jake Salpietro and walks from Brendan Tracy and Mac Crispino with one out. Manhattan's reliever Shawn Kanwisher capped off his 6.1 innings out of the pen by forcing a groundout and a strikeout to end the threat.

The only hit for the Stags in a RBI situation came when Kevin Radziewicz extended his hitting streak to 10-straight games with a single in the 13th inning. However, the Jaspers third baseman was able to recover and throw out the potential go-ahead run with a cutoff throw to the plate.

Howell was just as impressive out of the pen, making a major stride forward by showing his ability under pressure. Manhattan had game-winning run at third in both the 11th and 12th innings, but in both cases Howell was able to get the batter to fly out to end the frame.

Jason Patnick was the lone Jasper to have a great offensive game with four hits. His fourth knock was a one-out single in the 14th set up the game-winning run.

Brendan Tracy accounted for the lone run for the Stags in the fifth inning when he lifted a sacrifice fly into left with the bases loading, scoring Drew Arciuolo who reached base with one of the Stags' three triples today.

From that point on, the storyline turned to the Fairfield pitching. After allowing a Manhattan (14-25, 5-8 MAAC) first inning run on a Fabian Pena triple in the first inning, the rookie Signore found his rhythm and started to dominate. After the RBI double, Signore retired 10-straight Manhattan hitters and limited the Jaspers to just one lone single over the next five innings.  Signore would end up throwing a career-high nine innings, allowing six hits and struck out six without walking a batter.

The freshman had to work out of trouble in the bottom of the ninth when the Jaspers started the frame with back-to-back singles. Signore struck out the next hitter and then induced two fly outs to send the games into extra innings.

After both sides went quiet in the 10th, the Stags had the first opportunity to take the lead when Michael Conti tripled with two outs, but the Stags could not cash in.

That became the recurring theme throughout the game. Both teams combined to go 3-for-28 with runners in scoring position.

After going in order in the first inning, Fairfield stranded at least one runner in six-straight innings, stranding a pair in four of those frames.

Most of those hits came against the Manhattan starter Tom Cosgrove who would be lifted in the sixth after two-out hits from Jack Gethings and Michael Conti.

The 10-game conference winning streak was the second longest in the nation, and the longest in program history. The Stags and the Jaspers will conclude their series with a doubleheader on Saturday at 1pm.