April 22, 2005
FAIRFIELD, Conn. - The Fairfield University baseball team hosts Niagara University this weekend for a Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) series at Alumni Diamond. The teams will play a twin bill on Saturday afternoon with first pitch of game one slated for 12 p.m. The series will conclude on Sunday with a single game at 12 p.m.
As of Friday afternoon, the games are still slated to be played, however, with rain predicted in several forecasts; game times and days could be changed. Please check back at www.fairfieldstags.com, or call the Fairfield University Athletics Hotline at (203) 254-4214, and press option 2 for game postponement information.
The Stags will be looking to get back into the hunt of the MAAC standings, this weekend, as Fairfield is currently 5-7 in the MAAC, and the Purple Eagles are 6-4.
Last week, Fairfield dropped games of a three-game set to Siena College, and was helped out in Sunday's game, thanks to a solid pitching performance from Ed Kamintzky who pitched seven innings of no-hit baseball. Kamintzky is among the MAAC leaders in ERA with a 2.42 gave up two runs on four hits last time out.
Also putting up impressive numbers for the Stags recently, is junior John Scaife who leads the team with a .318 batting average, and has four homeruns, and 36 runs batted in. Also fellow classmate Doug Anderson is hitting .306 with a homerun and 16 runs batted in.
Freshman Brian Rudolph is third on the team in hitting, with a .304 average and has two homeruns and 18 RBI. He is currently 10th in the NCAA in doubles per game with an 0.44 (14 total).
For Niagara, Mike Medici leads the team with a .316 batting average and has 20 runs batted in. Mike Alati is hitting .309 with 21 runs scored.
James Avery carries a team-best 3.83 ERA with him into this weekend, and has a 2-3 record with 52 strikeouts.
Quick Hits...
Fairfield has taken two-of-three games against the Purple Eagles in each of the last two seasons ... As of Monday, Scaife was leading the MAAC in runs batted in with 32, he had a pair against the University of Connecticut on Tuesday afternoon, and two in the first game of a twin bill against Yale on Wednesday ... Also in Monday's MAAC rankings Rudolph lead the league with 14 doubles, and is third in total bases with 59 ... Also Rudolph has been hit by a pitch eight times this season, giving the freshman the dubious honor as the team leader in that category and puts him in a tie for second in the MAAC ... Senior Tim Dugan enters this weekend with 158 career strikeouts ... Dugan needs only four to tie Steve Colcord (1998-2001) for fourth place on the school's all-time list.
