FAIRFIELD, Conn. – The winner of the first place showdown for the MAAC will come down to the rubber game. The Fairfield University baseball team split a home doubleheader against Canisius by picking up a 5-3 win in the opener before falling 12-3 in the finale. The victory in the first game did more than just give the Stags a brief moment all alone in first place in the MAAC, it also made history. The win was the 900th of the program's history.

Kevin Radziewicz would not get a hit in the game, which broke his 13-game hitting streak, but he did get the Stags (23-22, 12-5 MAAC) on the board first with a sacrifice fly in the first. Fairfield would score four more times in the second inning with RBI hits from Jack Gethings and Drew Arciuolo setting the scene for Michael Conti's two-run single. That base knock gave the Stags a 5-1 lead.

That would be all the scoring the Stags offense could muster against statistically the best pitching team in the MAAC in Canisius (26-22, 12-5 MAAC). But the team directly behind them in the pitching statistics is Fairfield and they showed that today. John Signore lowered his league leading ERA to 2.40 by allowing one earned run in his six innings of work. The nation's leader in strikeout-to-walk ratio walked one and struck out six in that span.

Aaron Howell took it from there. The senior who has found his dominance in the pen, got the save by securing the lead over 2.1 innings.

Arciuolo led the Stags offensive attack with three hits.

The second game started the Stags way with the Stags leading 1-0 in the fourth after Troy Scocca scored on a Tyler Gambardella single. Gavin Wallace had some momentum after three runs of scoreless baseball. But Canisius scored six runs in the fourth and fifth innings to break the game open.

With Monmouth sweeping Iona, the winner of tomorrow's noon game will not decide first place.