FAIRFIELD, Conn. – In their final conference series of the season, the Fairfield University Baseball team picked up a series win over in-state rivals Quinnipiac with a 3-0 shutout victory in the opener of the doubleheader before falling 15-11 in a slugfest for the nightcap. Austin Pope led the Stags to their 30th victory of the season with a complete game shutout in Fairfield's victory. Prior to the doubleheader, the Stags honored the Class of 2019 with a special pregame ceremony with the senior class picking up their 115th victory today.
 
Game One: Fairfield 3, Quinnipiac 0
 
Pope's pitching brilliance grabbed the headlines in the opener as he allowed just four hits while striking out eight in the seven-inning complete game shutout.
 
The only trouble Pope ran into came in the fifth as Quinnipiac loaded the bases with just one out and the tying run at second base. With the top of the lineup coming up, Pope was able to get out of the jam by striking out the final two hitters of the frame with high fastballs.
 
That would give the junior right hander some momentum as he would retire the next six hitters and finished the game with a three pitch strikeout.
 
The Fairfield offense needed only five hits to get the win with one of those coming in the first inning. Tim Zeng, who was one of nine seniors honored in the pregame ceremony, started the bottom half of the first with a bunt single on the first pitch he saw. After stealing second base, Zeng would advance to third on a passed ball and would score on Anthony Boselli's sacrifice fly.
 
The Stags would add a run in the fourth on a Giacomo Brancato RBI single and capped their scoring with a Tom Ryan run scoring single in the fifth.
 
Those three runs were more than enough for Pope who needed just 90 pitches to grab his third win of the season.
 
 
Game Two: Quinnipiac 15, Fairfield 11
 
In a polar opposite of the pitcher's duel in the opener, both teams combined for 26 runs and 34 hits, with Quinnipiac using two long home runs from MAAC Preseason Player of the Year Liam Scafariello to salvage the series finale.
 
The Stags led just once in the contest, when Zeng led off Fairfield's half of the first with his sixth home run of the season and the second in the series to give the Stags a 1-0 lead.
 
The Bobcats would score 12 runs, however, over the next four innings to grab a comfortable lead. The Stags tried to fight back numerous times with a two spot in the second and three more runs in the third. Dylan Reynolds doubled in a run in the second and would score as Quinnipiac caught Mike Caruso in a rundown.
 
Dan Ryan delivered a two run single with the bases loaded in the third and Brancato brought in another run with a fielder's choice.
 
The Stags would go quiet until the sixth when a Justin Guerrera RBI single got Fairfield back on the board. Brancato would add RBI singles in the seventh and eighth innings, sandwiched between a Boselli run scoring single.
 
Dan Ryan led the Stags with a 4-for-5 showing at the plate including two doubles and three RBI. Guerrera also added three hits and a RBI.
 
The Stags are the only MAAC team to complete conference play and they finish with a 15-9 mark in the league. Fairfield has already secured a spot in the MAAC Championships in Staten Island, N.Y., in a couple weeks with their seed yet to be determined.
 
Fairfield will play in one midweek affair at UMass on Tuesday at 2pm, with Jack Gethings still one hit shy of tying the program's all-time record for career hits.