PROVIDENCE, R.I. – The Fairfield University Baseball team posted a pair of 6-0 comebacks as they faced that deficit in both ends of a doubleheader but rallied to record their first doubleheader of the season with victories of 7-6 and 13-8.
Giacomo Brancato provided the heroics in the opener as he launched a game-deciding triple as he was down to his final strike.
Tom Ryan recorded the biggest hit of the nightcap with a three-run homer to turn a 6-4 deficit into a 7-6 lead.
"We stayed with the plan of figuring out the pitcher's routines," Head Coach
Bill Currier said. "Mid-game we exploded offensively in order to overcome six run deficits. Horn did a good job throwing up 0's in game one and Arnold followed that performance in game two."
Game One: Fairfield 7, Brown 6
Down to their final strike, Brancato provided the Stags their most exciting victory of the season as he lined a 3-2 pitch to left center to plate the tying and go-ahead runs with a triple in a 7-6 Fairfield victory. Brancato's triple capped a three-run seventh inning where the Stags had two outs and just one runner on. After
Tim Zeng started the frame with a walk, Brown was able to retire the next two hitters forcing the Stags to their final out. Zeng would advance to second on defensive indifference and would be followed by a
Jack Gethings RBI single.
Anthony Boselli would follow with a single before Brancato's heroics.
The Stags actually had to fight back from a 6-0 deficit as Brown tallied all of their six runs in the first four innings.
Peter Horn, who picked up the victory, kept the deficit at six by pitching three scoreless frames, allowing just one hit over that stretch.
Fairfield got four of those runs back in the fourth, highlighted by a two-run homer by
Eric Cerno. Zeng started the frame with a single and would advance to third on a
Justin Guerrera double. Gethings would plate Zeng with a RBI ground out.
Nick Grabek would record his second save of the season with a scoreless seventh. Grabek would allow just a two-out double before stranding the tying run in scoring position by ending the game with a swinging strikeout.
Game Two: Fairfield 13, Brown 8
The Stags would fall behind 6-0 inside the first two innings, forcing the squad to mount another comeback.
Gethings would get the Stags on the board with a two-run triple in the third, plating Zeng and Guerrera to put the score at 6-2. The base knock was the 200th in Gethings' career as he became the ninth Stag in program history to reach that number. It would be the first of three hits for the senior on the game, putting his career number at 202, to place him eighth on the all-time list.
The Stags would take the lead in the sixth, highlighted by
Tom Ryan's first homer of the season. Brancato would drive in the first run of the frame as his single brought home
Mike Caruso to put the score at 6-4. Ryan's homer came on the first pitch he saw at the at-bat as he launched it over the left field wall.
Fairfield would add two runs in the seventh as Zeng scored on a wild pitch and Caruso brought home a run with a sacrifice fly.
The Stags would cap their scoring in the eighth as they loaded the bases twice in the frame. Guerrera brought two home with a single up the middle and Boselli capped the scoring with an infield single.
Josh Arnold would get the victory in the nightcap as he, much like Horn in the opener, kept the Stags within striking distance. The junior would toss three frames, surrendering just one run on two hits in that stretch.
Nine different Stags tallied at least one hit with five players reaching multiple hits. Five different Stags also recorded multiple RBI in the contests.
Zeng led the Stags with four hits and five runs scored in the two games combined while Gethings tied for the team lead with four base knocks.
The Stags will try and take the four game series in the finale of the four-game set on Sunday at noon.
