FAIRFIELD, Conn. – In just his second game after returning from an injury,
Matt Bergevin blasted two home runs and scored the game-winning run in leading the Fairfield University Baseball team to a 5-4 walk-off victory against the Siena Saints on Saturday. The two long balls brings his season total to 15, one shy of tying his teammate
Ethan Hibbard for the conference lead. Bergevin also led off the 10th inning with a single and would later score the game-winner on a passed ball.
The win also puts Fairfield in a three-way tie for first place in the MAAC with their 12-2 record, matching Rider and Niagara.
"I thought
Blake Helmstetter did a good job of working through miscues behind him and kept pitching well and got some key double plays," Head Coach
Bill Currier said. "The relievers who came in did a good job with DiFiore and
Jack Erbeck to come in and throw some zeroes. I am proud of that effort. I thought we were complacent at the plate and took some pitches."
The Stags (22-20; 12-2 MAAC) fell behind -0 after the first two and a half innings by allowing four unearned runs.
Fairfield would answer back in their half of the third as Bergevin launched his first homer of the game over the left center field wall to cut the deficit in half at 4-2.
He would add to his monster day with a two-run shot on the first pitch he saw in the sixth to tie the game at 4-4.
In the tenth, he led off with a single on the first pitch of the inning. He would advance to second on a
Zach Selinger single. Both runners moved up a base on an infield fly that was dropped near first base to put both runners in scoring position. That proved vital as the pitch scooted away from the Siena catcher, allowing Bergevin to race home for the game-winning run.
Jack Erbeck picked up the win in relief tossing two innings while allowing just one walk and striking out a pair. The outing lowers his ERA to 1.40, the lowest on the team.
Chris DiFiore also logged two important innings, keeping Siena off the board while stranding a pair of runners in both the seventh and eighth innings.
Bergevin led the Stags with three hits while driving in all four of the team's RBI.
Luke Nomura was the other Stag with multiple hits as he picked up a pair.
The Stags will look to sweep the series and maintain their first-place tie in the conference tomorrow at 1pm.
