FAIRFIELD, Conn. – The Fairfield University Baseball team took both ends of Saturday's doubleheader, completing the sweep in a pivotal MAAC series over the Mount at Don and Chris Cook Field. The Stags took the opener 11-7 while holding on for a 5-4 victory in the nightcap. With the wins, the Stags improve their conference record to 13-5 moving back into second place in the MAAC standings.
Game One: Fairfield 11, Mount 7
The Stags pounded out 15 hits with five different student-athletes recording a multi-hit game in the opener.
Fairfield actually trailed 2-0 heading into the third, but that all changed with one swing of the bat with
Jake Haarde launching a go-ahead three-run shot giving the Stags a lead they would not give up.
Zach Stephenson added a RBI hit in the second and fourth innings with
JP Kuczik putting up a RBI single in the third.
Fairfield scored at least one run in three-straight innings to close out the game with RBI hits from: Bucciero,
Nolan Colby, and
Connor Scanlan.
Alex Frank tallied his first save with the Stags tossing the final two frames surrendering just one hit on a pair of strikeouts.
Bucciero and Scanlan led the team with three hits apiece.
Game Two: Fairfield 5, Mount 4
It was the Fairfield pitching that was the story early in the nightcap with freshman
Harrison Engle tossing 5.2 shutout innings allowing just two hits. Engle went the first four frames without giving up a base knock before that streak was snapped with a leadoff single in the fifth. The rookie struck out six batters on 90 pitches.
Jack Sheldon followed with 1.1 scoreless innings in relief including getting out of a jam in the fifth.
That pitching kept the Mount off the board as the Stags built a 5-0 lead.
Matthew Bucciero launched the first of his two home runs with a two-run shot in the first inning to start the scoring.
Stephenson put the score at 3-0 with a RBI triple in the third and Kuczik added a run with a sacrifice fly to center.
Bucciero's two homers increases his season total to a MAAC-leading 13 and further extends his program-best to 48 home runs. He also becomes the first Fairfield player to ever reach 200 career RBI and only the fourth active Division I players to reach that mark.
Ryan Maiorano walked the tight rope again in the ninth, clinching his eighth save of the season with a strikeout to end the game.
Bucciero had two more hits in the finale to complete a 5-for-10 day with three runs scored and four RBI.
Ryan Paine also picked up a couple of hits in his first career home start and also scored his first collegiate run on Stephenson's triple in the second.
The Stags will take their first road trip in over a week with one midweek game at Fordham on Tuesday at 3pm.
