March 13, 2007
BRADENTON, Fla. - The Sunshine State has been less than sunny for the Fairfield baseball team as the Stags suffered another tough loss this afternoon, this time falling to Bucknell, 12-3. With the loss, Fairfield drops to 1-5 on the year while the Bison improve to 4-6.
The Stags faced some solid pitching by the Bucknell staff. Bison pitcher Matt Curry (1-3) had a perfect game going until the top of the fourth inning when he yielded a lead-off walk to junior Albie DeSimone (Pelham, N.Y.). The Stags did not get their first hit off of Curry until the top of the fifth when Brian Rudolph (Washington, Twp., N.J.) singled to the shortstop. Curry continued to be tough on the Fairfield batters into the sixth inning as he did not allow a single baserunner.
Trailing 6-0 in the top of the seventh, the Stags put up a two-spot to narrow the gap. Freshman Jason Rago (Fairfield, Conn.) led off the inning by homering to left center. Junior Peter Allen (Mamroneck, N.Y.) followed with a single to center. With one out, Rudolph reached on a single to right field. The next batter, sophomore Michael Joyce (Smithtown, N.Y.), reached on a fielder's choice and Allen was able to cross the plate on a throwing error.
In the bottom half of the seventh, the Bison tacked on six runs to gain a 12-2 advantage. Fairfield would add another run in the top of the eighth inning as sophomore Dave Jermine (North Haven, Conn.) came around to score on a balk. Jermine led the inning off with a single to right center.
Freshman Robert Gariano (Nutley, N.J.) was charged with his first loss of the season after going five and two-thirds innings, allowing six runs, three earned, with three strikeouts. Gariano's counterpart, Curry, went seven innings for the Bison, yielding just two runs, one earned, on four hits while striking out two batters.
Fairfield continues play in Florida tomorrow, March 14, as the Stags face Vermont at 10:30 a.m. followed by Miami (Ohio) at 3 p.m.
