June 7, 2004
FAIRFIELD, Conn. - Although the Fairfield University baseball team's 2004 season ended at Manhattan College, with three losses, the team made significant strides in a return to respectability, after enduring a uninspiring 2003 campaign. When the season opened at UMBC in early March, the Stags had virtually the same roster, from the year before, however, with a year of experience and maturity under their belts.
Fairfield finished the season with a 16-27 overall record, and an 11-16 mark in the MAAC, an improvement from a 7-34-1 overall record, and a 5-21 mark in the MAAC in 2003.
Senior Antuan Barnett led the Stags in six offensive categories, pacing the Stags in slugging percentage (.516), homeruns (7), total bases (82), doubles (12), triples (4), and runs batted in (38). He also moved into fifth place on the school's all-time homerun list with 21 career round trippers. Barnett had several outstanding performances this season, while drawing interest from several Major League teams. Against Rider on April 8, the Bronx, N.Y., native went 3-for-5 with two homeruns, four runs batted in, and three runs scored. Later on in the season against Saint Peter's, he batted .461 in the series with nine runs batted in, two runs scored, and a homerun. Barnett also tied for tops in the MAAC in triples with four.
Senior Tom Maisano finished the season with a 5-1 overall record, and a 2.96 ERA. He also moved into sole possession of third place on the school's all-time strikeout list with 180. The Long Island native, pitched solidly despite missing time at the end of the season due to an injury. Against Northern Illinois, he struck out five en route to his first win of the season. He scattered only one earned run in seven innings of work. When he faced Marist College he allowed only one run on six hits, in seven innings of work. He would pitch a complete-game four-hit shutout against Rider on April 10. Maisano struck out a season-high eight strikeouts, and retired 15 batters in a row at one point. He moved into third place on the all-time strikeout list with three against Iona on May 1 with three.
Freshman Ed Kamintzky had a solid rookie campaign finishing his first year with a 4-1 record, and a 2.73 ERA and 29 strikeouts in 29.2 innings of work. He picked up his first collegiate victory against Central Connecticut State on March 30. He went five innings of shutout ball, giving up only three hits, and striking out four, in the 7-4 win. Out of the 16 runs the lefty from Astoria, N.Y., gave up only nine were earned. The freshman left-hander, picked up a solid win at Connecticut, no-hitting the Huskies for four innings in relief, and tied a career-high for strikeouts with four.
Junior David Soucy edged senior Nick Hudyma for the team lead with a .309 batting average. Hudyma finished the season with a .307 batting average, while leading the team with 54 hits. The senior from New Britain, Conn., also led the team in runs scored with 32, and steals with 19. Soucy finished his first season of regular play for the Stags with 46 hits, and 13 runs batted in.
Sophomore Doug Anderson hit .279 in his second season for the Stags leading the team in walks (21), on base percentage (.381), and hit by pitches (5). In Fairfield's second game in Florida, he went 3-for-4 with two homeruns and six runs batted in. The next game against Columbia, he smacked a two-run homerun in the bottom of the sixth inning to help Fairfield to a 4-3 win over Columbia.
The Stags began the season with a pair of losses at UMBC March 6-7, and then headed to Bradenton, Fla. for five games in four days over spring break. The Stags would pick up wins over Northern Illinois, and Columbia. After the trip to Florida, the Stags had doubleheaders scheduled with Stony Brook and Albany, but a late snowfall would push the home opener at Alumni Diamond to March 23 against St. John's.
After a tough loss to Central Connecticut, the Stags took the first game of a MAAC series against Marist, but dropped the next two to the Red Foxes. Fairfield would win six of its next seven games beginning with a 7-4 win at Central Connecticut, and the first two games of MAAC series with Canisius, 13-4, and 8-2. After falling to the Griffs, 5-4 in the series finale, Fairfield won three in a row with two crazy games against Hartford (12-10), and a comeback win against Rider, 11-10 in 11 innings.
Rider scored four times in the top of the ninth, to take a 10-5 lead, but the Stags would score five times in their last at-bat to send the game into extra innings. Fairfield led 5-3 through five innings, but Rider crossed the plate three times in the top of the seventh, along with four in the ninth to tie the game.
In the ninth, senior Sal Mancuso laced a one-out triple to right centerfield, and then came home on a Barnett single. Two batters later, sophomore John Scaife stroke a double to right field to plate Barnett and Anderson who reached on a bunt single. Then sophomore Tom Arpino stroked an RBI single, and sophomore Jim Girolamo laid down a perfect bunt single to score Scaife.
In the 11th, the first two hitters grounded out, then Arpino singled up the middle, and Girolamo doubled to right centerfield, to put runners in scoring position for Hudyma, who lined a single to almost the same spot as Girolamo to plate Arpino for the game's winning run.
Then behind Maisano's solid pitching performance the Stags would take the series with a 2-0 win. However, the Stags would drop the next five games, before coming away with a 4-3 win in the nightcap of a doubleheader against UConn.
Fairfield would drop a tough 6-4 loss to Yale on April 21 at Alumni Diamond, and would head to Western New York, taking two-of-three from Niagara. Soucy and Scaife each went 2-for-4 for the Stags at the plate.
The Stags would then drop a pair of non-conference games to Fordham (5-2), and Stony Brook (7-4), before taking two of three at Iona the first weekend of May. After the Iona series Fairfield hosted the defending MAAC Champions, Le Moyne College, at Alumni Diamond, and dropped three games to the Dolphins, eliminating the Stags from MAAC playoff contention. The next weekend, the Stags traveled to Saint Peter's, and won two of three from the Peahens, while pounding out 42 hits and scoring 24 runs in the series.
Fairfield would wrap up the season at Manhattan, where it dropped all three games, including a 14-12 slugfest in the season finale.
Junior Mark Geanuleas and senior Matt Young were named to the New York Lottery/MAAC All-Academic Team. This was Geanuleas' second appearance on the team, and Young's first selection.
Head Coach John Slosar will have to replace 10 graduating seniors; however, he did get a chance to take a long look at some of the younger players this season, as many of the underclassmen played major roles throughout the season.
