FAIRFIELD, Conn. – The Fairfield University Baseball team will open up the 72nd season of competition when they take part in the Baseball at the Beach, starting with a Friday afternoon game against Coastal Carolina at 4pm. The Stags are coming off their second-straight MAAC Regular Season Championship and their sixth 30-win campaign in the last eight full seasons.
 
Fairfield will play in three games in the opening weekend, also taking on VCU on Saturday at 11am and Middle Tennessee State on Sunday at 10am.
 
The Stags found the success that built an 18-5 MAAC record with their high-powered offense. Fairfield had the best offensive season in program history as they set the program's single season record in: runs scored (390), slugging percentage (.483), while obliterating the program standard with 75 home runs. In fact, the 75 long balls was the third most by any MAAC team in history.
 
"I think we're going to play solid defense," Head Coach Bill Currier said when describing the strength of the team. "That's something that you have to do at a .970 clip and we did that last year. When you show up to play defense every day, it keeps the pitchers off the mound and I think we will make a lot of the routine plays like we did last year. I think we will hit well when we getting going. Our pitching has a lot of spots to fill and innings to be had by other pitchers. That's going to be the real eye of our preseason the first five weeks."
 
Fairfield will have many of those pieces returning as they bring back six starters. In total, the Stags will return 14 letterwinners from last season who accounted for 51 home runs and 237 RBI.
 
The offense will also be experienced as the Stags are projected to start seven seniors or graduate students in the lineup. Fairfield's biggest losses on the offensive front was graduate shortstop Colin Kelly, the 2021 MAAC Player of the Year and team captain Mike Caruso, and the single season RBI leader Matt Zaffino.
 
The Stags will replace those pieces with another graduate shortstop Noah Lucier, who batted .303 with 125 hits in his career at Stonehill. Fairfield will also welcome back a huge piece of their 2021 historic season in Mike Handal who was injured in the season opener and missed the entire 2022 season. Before being injured, Handal was the team catalyst and leadoff hitter who led the league in hits in 2021.
 
Three of the returners on the offensive front were also named to the Preseason All-MAAC squads with Charlie Pagliarini, Matt Bergevin, and Matt Venuto all receiving that honor. The trio combined for 32 homers and 107 RBI. Pagliarini led the group as he tied a program single season record with 13 home runs in just over 100 at-bats after missing five weeks with an injury. Venuto was one of the best hitters in the conference as he notched a .327 batting average with a .562 slugging percentage.
 
"We feel with the number of hitters back this year and a year older we are looking for guys to find the barrel on the ball," Coach Currier said. "That comes from working hard in the weight room, taking a lot of reps, thinking the right things at the plate and going up there with the right approach."
 
The Stags will also return Mike Becchetti who tallied a .305 batting average with a team-high 18 doubles last season. Ryan Strollo will also return to the team after missing the last month of the season with an injury. Griffin Watson will also return for his fifth season after a breakout 2023 campaign that saw him lead the team with a .337 average while scoring 37 runs.
 
Nick Sturino, Evan Berta, Dean Ferrara, and Paul Catalano also return to the mix with all four student-athletes cracking the starting lineup last year.
 
"It is a good experienced lineup," Currier said. "They shouldn't get too riled up if they have a bad game and should be able to bounce back and keep their attitude in the right area. We are looking for some good leadership and experience."
 
Fairfield will welcome five freshman bats into the lineup with Payten Wawruck, Luke Nomura, JP Kuczik, TJ Schmalzle, and Matt Bucciero, who was named to the D1 Baseball Impact Freshman list for the MAAC. Kuczik will join the catching group of Venuto, Tyler Kipp, AJ Donofrio, and Ethan Hibbard as the group tries to replace the contribution from the team captain Caruso.
 
The pitching staff, which was a big key factor into the 2021 historic season, will be anchored by fifth-year Jake Noviello who was also represented on the All-MAAC Preseason squad. Noviello will be looking for a bounce back year after fighting through a medical procedure done in the summer of 2021. Noviello did post a 3-0 record and holds an unblemished 11-0 career record in the MAAC.
 
For the first time in several years, the Stags will have an open competition for their weekend rotation after the departure of Michael Sansone (signed by the Tampa Bay Rays) and the graduation of Bryson Cafaro. Sansone was one of the top left-handed pitchers in program history and finished in the top-5 I Stags history with 19 wins, 227 strikeouts, and the third fewest walks per nine innings.
 
"The competition is good," Coach Currier said. "It's good to have everybody feel like that there are a lot of innings to be had and I'm better and I want to show it and I want to prove that I belong in getting the ball a lot more often. We have a number of guys thinking that is definitely possible and that can be a good thing for the whole staff."
 
To fill these voids, the Stags will be leaning towards several impact relievers from last year with Peter Ostensen, Colin McVeigh, and Jack Erbeck. The trio combined for 69 appearances in 2022.
 
McVeigh was the team's closer for the majority of the season and finished with five saves and 55 strikeouts in 48 innings. Erbeck finished the season with the best performance of his career as he tossed three dominant innings in the MAAC Championship Tournament against Rider.
 
Mike Marella, Bowen Baker, Billy Fitzgerald, Grant Smeltzer, Emmett Tolis, and Bo Buckley will also return to the fold with another year of experience.
 
The Stags will bring in nine new pitchers on to the staff with five freshmen and three transfers. Blake Helmstetter played his first two years at MAAC rival Iona and led the team with strikeouts last season. Luke Marshall pitched four seasons at Stonehill and was named to the NE-10 Third Team last year while also earning two NE-10 Pitcher of the Week awards. Rickey Erbeck will also make his Stags debut after recovering from injury last season.
 
Ryan Smith is a left-handed transfer from Boston College and will add experience to the team. Aidan Colagrande, Will Youngman, Jake Memoli, Ryan Taffe, and Kevin Kell round out the staff in their first season in collegiate baseball.
 
The Stags will look to become the first MAAC program ever to win three-straight regular season titles.