FAIRFIELD, Conn. – On a cold, windy afternoon at Alumni Diamond the top two teams in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) fought to a doubleheader split as the Fairfield University Baseball team responded with a 3-2 victory in the nightcap to force a rubber game in the pivotal series. Canisius, who remains one game ahead of the Stags in the standings, ran away with a 9-2 opening victory.
Anthony Boselli and
Justin Guerrera led the offense by tallying five hits apiece while
Michael Sansone went the distance in the seven-inning contest to pick up his fourth victory of the season.
"The difference was Sansone going out there and pounding the strike zone," Head Coach
Bill Currier said. "He was mixing speeds and keeping them off stride. He kept us in the game and we scrapped a few runs off their good lefty. He might have gotten a little tired in the end because he got the ball up more than he did earlier. But he did a great job at pounding the zone and giving us a chance to hold that lead."
Game Two: Fairfield 3, Canisius 2
Sansone was the difference on the mound as he retired the first nine batters he faced and would surrender just the two runs on six hits while striking out five.
Going against the conference leader in wins in Nolan Hunt, the Stags (26-16, 12-5 MAAC) scraped across a run in the second as
Tom Ryan led off the frame with his 12th double of the season.
Nick Weyant would move Ryan to third with a sacrifice bunt, which proved important as Ryan would score on a wild pitch to the next batter.
The Stags would get two big hits in the bottom half of the third as
Dan Ryan singled home Boselli and
Tom Ryan would plate
Dan Ryan with a RBI single to cap the Fairfield scoring. Fairfield would tally just two hits in the final three innings, but their pitching and defense kept them in the game.
The defense showed their importance in the seventh as Canisius started the inning with back-to-back singles. The last of their base hits went to the right field wall, which was chased down by
Mike Handal, who had entered the game for defense. Handal would retrieve the ball near the wall and fire a high throw to second where
Jack Gethings was able to corral the throw and tag out the runner, who had represented the tying run. Canisius would make the score 3-2 on a RBI groundout but Sansone was able to force a fly ball to center to end the game and give the Stags a doubleheader split.
Guerrera led the team with three hits while Boselli and
Tom Ryan each picked up a pair.
Game One: Canisius 9, Fairfield 2
Canisius held the lead the entire game as the first four men of the contest reached base and the Griffs scored three times in the opening inning.
Fairfield tried fighting back in the third as Guerrera and Boselli both tallied RBI doubles to put the score at 3-2. Canisius' starter Andrew Sipowicz would get the final two outs to end the threat.
The Griffs added a pair of runs in the next half inning as Mark McKenna singled up the middle to drive in two and extend the advantage to 5-2. Canisius would score the final four runs of the contest for the 9-2 final score.
Boselli led the Stags in that contest with three hits with Guerrera also tallying a multi-hit game.
The two teams will meet in the rubber game scheduled for Sunday at noon with first place in the standings on the line.
