POMONA, N.Y. – Colin McVeigh went seven strong innings and Bowen Baker struck out five in the final two frames to lead the Fairfield University Baseball team to a 6-2 win over the Manhattan Jaspers on Friday night. At the plate, Matt Bucciero drove in three and Ethan Hibbard plated a pair in the victory.

"Colin had very good life on his fast ball tonight and didn't make many mistakes with location," Head Coach Bill Currier said. He did a great job getting length out of a good pitch count. 
We jumped out early by taking advantage of hits and free bases, but then weren't aggressive enough to keep the hits coming. We needed to do a better job tonight staying aggressive and not taking too many strikeouts."
 
McVeigh was excellent during his seven innings of work allowing just two runs on three hits while striking out nine with just one walk. The right-hander struck out at least one hitter in the first five innings and had five punch outs through three. He allowed just four base runners and allowed the two runs with two solo homers.
 
McVeigh improved his season record to 4-0 and lowered his ERA to a team-best 4.26 ERA.
 
The Stags (17-11, 6-1 MAAC) got all the runs they would need in the first inning as they plated four in the opening frame. Fairfield would load the bases on walks to Mike Becchetti and Noah Lucier in front of a Matt Bergevin single. Mike Handal worked out the third free pass of the inning, forcing in the game's first run. Bucciero would get the big hit of the inning as he cleared the bases with an opposite field double.
 
Hibbard would give the Stags two more insurance runs with a two-run, two-out double in the sixth.
 
Baker would come in for relief of McVeigh and shut down the Jaspers through the final two innings. He got through a jam in the eighth with a strikeout as he got the batter looking with two runners in scoring position.
 
The lone hit Baker allowed was an infield single in the ninth. He struck out five batters, accounting for the six outs he needed.
 
Becchetti picked up the 150th hit of his career with a single in the fifth and also extended his hitting streak to 20-straight games.
 
Bergevin paced the Stags with two hits and two runs scored.
 
As was announced before the game, the location and time for the series finale has changed. The two teams will play at Alumni Diamond – with Manhattan as the home team – on Saturday afternoon at 1pm.