FAIRFIELD, Conn. – The Fairfield University Baseball team scored three runs in the top of the 11th inning to clinch an exciting victory in the MAAC opener with a 13-10 victory at Marist.
Colin Kelly and
Dean Ferrara led the Stags with three hits a piece including back-to-back RBI hits in the 11th, leading to the win. On the mound,
Colin McVeigh and
Nick Grabek combined to throw the final five scoreless innings.
"We had 17 hits today and a lot of those were clutch hits," Head Coach
Bill Currier said. "The last three or four pitchers came in and slowed down the run scoring pace. That was the story of the game."
The two teams combined for 20 runs in the first six innings with the score knotted at 10-10 after a Marist sacrifice fly in the sixth.
The Stags were the first team to jump ahead scoring four runs with all of them coming with two outs.
Matt Venuto highlighted the four-run frame with a two-run homer to left center.
After Marist answered with a run in the second,
Ryan Strollo brought home his second run of the day with a RBI double down the right field line.
The Stags made some key defensive plays to keep the lead through the first two innings with a double play in both of the first two frames. Kelly started the 6-4-3 double play in the first and
Matt Zaffino was able to throw out an advancing runner at the plate to end the second.
Marist, however, would take the lead with a five-run third inning and grab a 6-5 advantage. Fairfield would take a brief lead in the fourth on a
Matt Bergevin two-run homer but still trailed 9-8 heading into the sixth.
Evan Berta would tie the game with an infield single to the pitcher and
Mike Becchetti brought him home with a RBI double down the left field line.
With the score tied at 10, the scoring would cool off for the next five innings. McVeigh did not allow a hit through his first three innings with the only base runner reaching base by a hit by pitch to lead off the ninth. He would strike out two batters including a huge strikeout to force extra innings.
After a leadoff hit in the 10th, Grabek came on in relief and would strikeout the first batter he faced. He would then get a 6-4-3 double play, the fourth one turned for the Stags.
Becchetti would reach first to leadoff the final inning on an error and would advance to second on a Strollo sacrifice bunt. Zaffino had the first big hit of the inning with a single to right, plating the go-ahead run. Kelly would follow with a double down the left field line and Ferrara capped the inning with a RBI single to center.
Every Stag starter picked up a hit with Kelly and Ferrara leading the way with three.
Mike Caruso, Becchetti, Strollo, and Bergevin added a pair of hits with Bergevin also scoring a team-high three runs.
Grabek picked up the victory with the Fairfield bullpen combining for all nine innings. Grabek retired all five batters he faced.
Bowen Baker was also impressive in his 2.1 innings of work.
The Stags and the Red Foxes will play the middle game of their three-game set tomorrow at 11am. The time change was announced after the game with inclement weather in the forecast.
