May 19, 2005
FAIRFIELD, Conn. - The Fairfield University baseball team hosts Manhattan College in a Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) series on Friday and Saturday afternoons. Friday, the teams will play a doubleheader with first pitch slated for 1 p.m. at Alumni Diamond. The series will conclude, Saturday with a nine-inning affair at 12 p.m.
The Stags have a chance to finish above the .500 mark in the MAAC this season, as they enter the three-game set with the Jaspers at 12-12 against the MAAC.
Also junior John Scaife (Ansonia, Conn./Ansonia) enters the weekend, needing five more runs to tie Mike Pike for RBI in a season, with 51 on Fairfield single-season list. Scaife is coming off a solid weekend, at Canisius, where he hit .583 (.7-12) with two homeruns, five runs batted in, and seven runs scored.
For the season, the first baseman is hitting .314 with seven homeruns and 49 runs scored, to go along with his 46 RBI. He is second in the MAAC, behind Manhattan's Matt Rizzotti who has a league best 57 RBI.
Sophomore Brian Schappert leads the team in hitting with a .347 batting average. He has 34 hits in 98 at-bats, while knocking in 12 runs, and scoring 22.
Additionally, freshman Brian Rudolph (Washington Township, N.J./Bergen Catholic) continues a fine start to his career as he is hitting .310 with two homeruns and 21 runs batted in. Rudolph is second in the MAAC with 16 doubles.
On the hill, senior Tim Dugan (Cedar Grove, N.J./Seton Hall Prep) will look to add to his strikeout total in his career.
Last time out against Canisius, Dugan moved into third place on the school's all-time strikeout list with 181, passing Tom Maisano. He'll need to have a dominate performance to move up in the list, as Mike Beaudoin sits in second with 195 career strikeouts. He is 6-4 this season, with 64 strikeouts.
Also sophomore Ed Kamintzky (Astoria, N.Y./Regis) leads the team with a 4.04 earned run average.
Rizzotti is Manhattan's leading hitter with a .427 batting average. He has nine homeruns, and has scored 51 runs this season. Eric Nieto is hitting .358 with 22 runs batted in. John Fitzpatrick has seven homeruns and 44 RBI.
On the mound for the Jaspers, Chris Cody is 7-2 with a 2.45 era. He has a team-best 75 strikeouts in 80.2 innings of work. Josh Santerri is 5-3 with a 2.94 ERA, and Steve Bronder is 5-3, as well.
Before Saturday's game, Fairfield will honor its three graduating seniors, Dugan, Mark Geanuleas, and David Soucy.
