April 26, 1999
Overall: 21-21 MAAC: 12-12
This Week - The Stags will play a couple of intra-state rivals this week when they travel to UConn on Tuesday and Yale on Wednesday. On Sunday, the Stags will close out the MAAC regular season when they host MAAC North leader Siena in a doubleheader at 12:00 pm. The doubleheader will be the Stags' final home date of the season. To give themselves a shot at the playoffs, the Stags likely would need to win both against the Saints and hope for St. Peters to knock off Iona three times in the final weekend of MAAC play.
Last Time Out - The Stags swept a MAAC doubleheader from St. Peter's College on Sunday to move back to the .500 mark both overall and in the league. The Stags took the opener 9-3 and won the second game 11-3. In the opener, the Stags got two hits apiece from Ryan Bittner (Emerson, N.J.) and Kevin Toohill (Pompton Plains, N.J.), with Bittner collecting two doubles and three RBI. Tom Lopusznick (Leonardo, N.J.) added a solo home run, his ninth of the season, tying the Fairfield single season home run record which he already held along with Sal Gianone. Lopusznick now has 24 career round-trippers, just one shy of the all-time home run record at Fairfield held by Joe Charno (25 from 1983-86.) Steve Colcord (5-4, North Hampton, N.H.) allowed two earned runs, scattering eight hits and striking out eight batters while walking none. Fairfield continued to pound away in the nightcap, this time collecting 12 hits. Tom Lopusznick collected three more hits and three RBI while Cristian Jung (Brewster, N.Y.) went 2-for-4 with three RBI. Bittner added two more doubles to give him four on the day. Ryan Holsten (6-0, Wilmington, Del.) stayed perfect on the season, allowing two earned runs as he scattered seven hits, walked none and struck out six.
Record Chasers - The Stags now have 116 stolen bases this season, leaving them just two shy of the program's single season record of 118 set by the 1977 team. The Stags have six players with 10 stolen bases or more and eight with at least six. Fairfield batters have already set a program record by being hit by a pitch 45 times. They've also set records for stolen base attempts with 144 and strikeouts with 274. The Stag pitching staff has set a single season record by recording 45 hit batsmen. The Stags' 21 wins this year is two shy of the program's single season record of 23 set by the 1992 team and tied by the 1995 team.
Drop an Anchor - Stag pitchers have curtailed opponents' running games by picking off 13 runners. Ryan Holsten leads the staff with seven pickoffs. Steve Colcord has picked off three. Opponents have stolen just two bases off of Holsten and only five against Colcord.
Power and Speed - Junior right fielder Tom Lopusznick has terrorized opponents both with his bat and on the bases. Lopusznick tied the Stags' single season home run record with his ninth on Sunday and is just one shy of the all-time mark of 25. He has also collected 32 stolen bases this year and is closing in on the single-season record of 37 set by Bill Barnes in 1978. He is third all-time at Fairfield with 58 career stolen bases. Lopusznick is also moving up on the all-time RBI list. Going into Tuesday's game his 125 career RBI ranks second behind Mike Pike's record of 138 set between 1993-96.
Who's Hot - In six games last week, first baseman Ryan Bittner batted .438 (7-for-16) with four doubles, six runs scored and five RBI. Cristian Jung batted .389 (7-for-18) during that span with six RBI and seven runs scored. With two straight solid outings, Steve Colcord has lowered his ERA to a team-leading 4.04. In 55 and 2/3 innings pitched, the sophomore has walked just five batters. He hasn't walked a single batter in his last three appearances.
Stag Leaders - Cristian Jung has taken over the team lead in batting average at .359. Jim Lopusznick (Leonardo, N.J.) is right on his tail at .348. Ryan Bittner leads the team with 11 doubles after collecting four in two games vs. St. Peter's on Sunday. Tom Lopusznick leads the squad with nine home runs, a .591 slugging percentage and 38 RBI. Steve Colcord, who leads the pitching staff with a 4.04 ERA, also leads with five complete games. Dave Catelotti (Adams, Mass.) is second with a 4.74 ERA and Ryan Holsten leads the staff with a perfect 6-0 record.
Coach's Corner - Head Coach John Slosar is in his 15th season at the helm of the Stags and carries a career record of 268-303-6 into Tuesdays contest. Before taking over the reigns in 1984, Slosar served as an assistant coach at Fairfield for eight years. All totaled, since coming to Fairfield, Slosar has helped the Stags to one MAAC Championship, four MAAC South titles, six ECAC playoff appearances and ten 20-win seasons. In the last five years, Slosar has led the Stags to four seasons of 20 wins or more and two MAAC South Championships, including the 1997 South crown. For his efforts in 1997, he was named MAAC South Coach of the Year.
MAAC STANDINGS
NORTH
MAAC OVERALL
W L Pct. W L T Pct.
Siena 18 4 .818 23 18 0 .561
LeMoyne 15 7 .682 18 12 0 .600
Marist 13 9 .590 23 19 0 .548
Niagara 9 12 .429 10 18 1 .345
Canisius 5 17 .227 10 23 0 .294
SOUTH
MAAC OVERALL
W L Pct. W L T Pct.
Rider 13 8 .619 22 20 0 .524
Iona 12 10 .545 20 21 0 .488
Fairfield 12 12 .500 21 21 0 .500
Manhattan 11 13 .458 20 24 0 .454
St. Peter's 3 19 .136 9 32 0 .220
