POUGHKEEPSIE, N.Y. – The Fairfield University Baseball team's bats stayed hot as they plated 19 runs in a 19-7 victory over Marist, clinching their 10th straight series victory. Ten different Stags got a hit and scored a run, led by five different Stags who tallied three hits.
Noah Lucier,
Matt Bergevin,
Mike Handal,
Matt Bucciero, and
Ethan Hibbard all tied for the team lead with Hibbard pacing the team with a career-high five RBI.
"McVeigh pounded the zone for six innings and pitched especially well with runners on base," Head Coach
Bill Currier said. "Our hitters, especially the lower guys in lineup, had a good power day. We did a good job staying to our zone and hitting in hitters counts."
The Stags scored 14 of their 19 runs in the first four innings, highlighted by a seven spot in the third. Hibbard got the Stags on the board with a ground rule double to left.
Paul Catalano would follow with a two-run triple to give Fairfield their first lead at 3-1.
Marist would tie the game with two runs in the second, but Fairfield found their footing and never looked back. The Stags would score 14 unanswered runs, starting with a Handal grand slam in the third. Hibbard and Catalano would follow with back-to-back RBI doubles and Lucier added a run with a run scoring single.
The Stags added four more runs in the fourth starting with a Bucciero RBI single and punctuated by a Hibbard three-run homer. Fairfield would show some more power in the eighth as
AJ Donofrio crushed a two-run homer to put the score at 17-3.
On the mound,
Colin McVeigh earned his team-leading seventh win of the season as he fired six innings while striking out eight. He improves his record to an unblemished 7-0 on the season.
In total, the Stags pounded out a season-high 21 hits while only drawing three walks. It is the 33rd time this season that Fairfield has tallied double-digit base knocks and the 19th time they have reached double-digit runs in a game.
Fairfield also improves their overall record to 30-15, their third-straight season reaching the 30-win plateau (fourth straight excluding the 11-game 2020 season that was canceled due to Covid-19). Fairfield also keeps their first-place position in the MAAC with a 13-4 mark.
The Stags will look for a sweep in the series in the finale on Sunday at 1pm.
