FAIRFIELD, Conn. – The Fairfield University Baseball team will compete for their fifth-straight MAAC Regular Season Championship when they travel to face the Rider Broncs for a three-game series starting on Thursday at 3pm. The Stags and the Broncs are separated by just percentage points atop the conference standings, leading to a decisive final series.
The middle game will be Friday at 1pm with the series finale scheduled for Saturday at noon. The winner of the three-game set will be the top-seed in the upcoming MAAC Championship being held next week in Pomona, N.Y.
Fairfield will be trying for their fifth-straight regular season title, extending their conference record. The Stags will enter the series with a 21-6 conference record, representing the most wins in the MAAC. Rider holds a 20-6 league mark and just percentage points behind the Stags.
The Stags bring in one of the league's most balanced offenses, holding a .294 team batting average, the second-highest in the MAAC.
Fairfield has found this success through balance and fundamentals, leading the league in on-base percentage. The Stags have drawn a program-record 336 walks this season, ranking third in the nation. They also have recorded 37 sacrifice flies this season, trailing only Georgia Tech by one.
Another big surprise this season has been Fairfield's aggressiveness on the base paths with 91 stolen bases, the fifth-most in program history and the most by any Fairfield team since 1999. Fairfield has four players with 16 or more stolen bases, led by
Dean Ferrara with 21, ranking in the top-15 in program history.
Ferrara is also nearing his own conference and program single season record, recording 90 hits this season which is the second-most in the country behind Austin Peay's Cameron Nickens. He also leads the MAAC with 61 runs scored.
Rider has won seven-straight conference series with their last loss coming by a 10-9 decision against Canisius which snapped the Broncs' 11-game MAAC winning streak. Joe Tiroly leads the MAAC in: average (.399), homers (16), and RBI (66).
Fairfield has already clinched a first-round bye in the MAAC Championships starting next week and will play their first game on Thursday at Clover Park in Pomona, N.Y.
