POMONA, N.Y. – The Fairfield University Baseball team experienced a series of emotions on Saturday, forcing a decisive winner-take-all for the MAAC Championship, before falling to the Rider Broncs in the decisive nightcap by a score of 18-4. The Stags forced the decisive game by rallying after being down to their final strike, walking off for an 8-7 victory.
Game One: Fairfield 8, Rider 7
The Stags had one of their most exciting victories of the season at the right time, rallying from a one-run deficit as they were down to their final strike before
Mike Handal tied the game with a single up the middle to knot the score at 7-7. Fairfield would complete their comeback as
Paul Catalano raced home, scoring on a wild pitch for the walk-off victory and forcing the decisive final game.
With one out in the ninth,
Charlie Pagliarini and
Matt Bergevin walked to bring the tying run into scoring position. Rider's Danny Kirwin, the MAAC Relief Pitcher of the Year, would get the second out on a fly out setting the stage for Handal's heroics. On a 1-2 count, Handal hit the ball up the middle into centerfield, plating the tying run.
Matt Bucciero would walk to load the bases for
Ethan Hibbard. Hibbard would not even have to swing the bat as the 1-0 pitch skipped away from Rider's catcher allowing Catalano, who pinch ran in the inning to slide across for the game-winning run.
It was not the first time that Handal found magic at the plate in the game as the graduate outfielder launched a game-tying three-run homer in the sixth to knot the game at 5-5.
Noah Lucier would give the Stags their first lead of the game as he brought a two-out single up the middle to put Fairfield up 6-5.
Rider would get the lead right back with a two-run shot from Brendan O'Donnell, his second long ball of the game.
Evan Berta would keep the Stags in the game with 1.2 scoreless innings of relief including stranding two in the eighth.
Fairfield fell behind 3-0 in the first on an O'Donnell three-run shot before getting a run back in the second on a wild pitch and in the fifth on a Lucier RBI single.
With the win, the Stags forced a decisive final game in dramatic style.
Game Two: Rider 18, Fairfield 4
The Stags were forced to come back again in the second game as the Broncs scored four in the second.
Fairfield was able to chip into that lead in the fourth starting with a
Griffin Watson two-run shot to cut the deficit in half.
Bergevin would get the Stags within a run as he singled through the left side, plating Pagliarini to put the score at 4-3.
The magic would run out for the Stags as the Broncs scored eight runs in the fifth and continued to add on in the later innings.
Fairfield did have chances early on to put their stamp on the game but stranded a pair of runners in both the first and third innings.
Watson led the Stags with three hits in the final game of his career.
The Stags end their season with 37 wins, the second most in program history. Fairfield had 34 regular season victories, setting a program record.
Fairfield enjoyed their best offensive season in program history, besting eight single season records including: average (.322), runs scored (518), hits (634), RBI (471), slugging percentage (.543), doubles (116), home runs (97), and walks (309).
Fairfield ranked in the top-10 in the nation in runs, slugging percentage, and on-base percentage.
The 97 long balls were the most by any MAAC team in history while the 634 hits ranked third all-time.
Charlie Pagliarini was at the forefront of the Stags' historical offensive performance as he enjoyed the best offense season in program history with a .400 batting average, and school records with 24 homers, 97 RBI, 49 walks, and 177 total bases. The 97 RBI ranked second in the country and was the most by any player in MAAC history.
The Stags advanced to the MAAC Championship Series for the third time in the last four years after becoming the first MAAC program to win three-straight MAAC Regular Season Championships outright. They also won 30 games for the fourth-straight year.
