March 12, 1999
Buies Creek, N.C. - Freshman first baseman Ryan Bittner (Emerson, NJ) cracked his first two collegiate home runs, but it wasn't enough as Fairfield (1-5) fell by a score of 13-4 at the hands of Campbell University (11-4) on Thursday.
Campbell jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning. Fairfield answered in the top of the second as sophomore Matt McGoldrick (Butler, NJ) drove in right fielder Tom Lopusznick (Leonardo, NJ) with a sacrifice fly. Lopusznick had walked to lead off the inning and promptly stole second base and third base.
The Camels came back with two more runs in the bottom of the second to take a 4-1 lead. That lead stood until the fifth inning when Bittner hit his first home run, a solo shot, to cut the Camel lead to 4-2.
The Stags tied the game at 4-4 in the top of the seventh after Bittner connected for his second solo home run of the game leading off the inning and a sacrifice fly by left fielder Matt Fratturelli (Leominster, MA) drove in Kevin Toohill (Pompton Plains, NJ) who had doubled. Campbell regained the lead with three runs in the bottom half of the inning and scored six runs in the bottom of the eighth to pull away with the 13-4 win.
Bittner finished 3-for-4 on the day, while Kevin Toohill went 2-for-4 with a double. Right-hander Joe Bruderek (Norristown, PA) fell to 0-2 on the year allowing five earned runs on nine hits in six and two-thirds innings.
Fairfield will complete its southern trip this weekend. The Stags are scheduled to play a doubleheader at UNC-Wilmington on Saturday and a single game on Sunday.
