April 12, 2004
FAIRFIELD, Conn. - The surging Fairfield University baseball team, winners of three of its last four, and four of its last six games face Pace University and the University of Rhode Island in a pair of mid-week games, before traveling to Siena College, this weekend for its first road Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) series of the season, this Saturday and Sunday.
The Stags are 9-11 overall, and a 5-4 MAAC record, after taking its second series in a row against Rider last weekend. Fairfield will welcome Pace to Alumni Diamond on Tuesday afternoon, and the next day will travel to Rhode Island for a match up with Rams from the A-10.
As of Monday, Pace is 5-16, and Rhode Island is 16-13-1 overall, and 7-2 in the Atlantic-10.
Last weekend, the Stags took two-of-three from the Broncs, taking a come-from-behind 11-10 extra-inning classic on Thursday, thanks to senior Nick Hudyma (New Britain, Conn./New Britain) who stroked a walk off single to right field in the bottom of the 11th inning. On Saturday, senior Tom Maisano (Farmingdale, N.Y./Chaminade) who pitched a complete-game four-hitter, four his fourth win of the season. Maisano also moved into fourth place on the school's all-time strikeout list recording a season-high eight for 168 in his career.
All-Time vs. Pace... Tuesday's game against Pace is the 13th in the all-time series. Last season Pace defeat the Stags 10-1 in Pleasantville, N.Y.
All-Time vs. Rhode Island... Wednesday's meeting at Rhode Island is the 21st all-time meeting. The series is deadlocked at 10-10, after Rhode Island took a 7-6 win at Alumni Diamond on April 16, 2003.
Quick Hits... Senior Antuan Barnett (Bronx, N.Y./Rice) finished last week batting .384 with two homeruns, seven runs batted in, and six runs scored, in four games against Hartford, and Rider ... Barnett leads the team with a .533 slugging percentage, runs batted in with 19, and runs scored with 16 ... Hudyma leads the team with nine multiple hits games this season ... Barnett has a team-best six multiple RBI games this season ... The Fairfield pitching staff has struck out 130 hitters on the season ... Senior Sal Mancuso (Bethpage, N.Y./Bethpage) went 3-for-5 with three runs scored, and a triple against Rider last Thursday afternoon ... Junior David Soucy (Glastonbury, Conn./Glastonbury) is leading the Stags at the plate with a .323 batting average with 21 hits, and six runs batted in ... Sophomore Doug Anderson (Randolph, N.J./Delbarton) is second on the team, hitting .290 with three homeruns, and 15 runs batted in. The New Jersey native is also leading the team with a .386 on-base percentage, and is hitting .467 with runners in scoring position ... Maisano is leading the MAAC with a 4-0 record, and has a solid 1.54 ERA in 35 innings of work ... Hudyma is second in the MAAC in stolen bases, being successful in 12-of-14 attempts so far this season ... As a team the Stags are fifth in the MAAC in hitting with a team .261 batting average, fifth in slugging percentage with a .365 mark, tied for second in triples with six, third in team ERA, with a 4.90, second in opposing batting average with a .280 ... The Stag pitching staff has allowed the fewest walks in the conference with 51, and the fewest number of homeruns allowed in the MAAC with eight.
Up Next... Fairfield will travel to Loudonville, N.Y. for a three-game series with Siena. On Saturday the teams will play a doubleheader starting at 12 p.m., and on Sunday the series will conclude with a single game at 12 p.m.
