Fairfield Stags Baseball Fairfield University Athetlic Communications Walsh Athletic Center 1073 North Benson Rd. Fairfield, CT 06824 Baseball SID: Kelly McCarthy [email protected] 203-254-4000, ext. 2877 Cell: 203-395-3858 2012 LEADERS METRO ATLANTIC ATHLETIC CONFERENCE CHAMPIONSHIP NOTES BATTER GP/GS AVG. H R RBI Fairfield, which enters the tournament as a win- On The Web: Live Stats are available by visiting Ryan Plourde 51/50 .337 61 32 35 ner in eight of its last nine, makes its return to the MAACSports.com. All the games of the tourna- Anthony Hajjar 52/51 .333 65 35 36 Jack Giannini 45/36 .311 41 18 24 MAAC Championship for the first time in more ment will be streamed live on Tyler Wosleger 42/36 .301 41 28 17 than a decade. MAAC.tv. Fans can also lis- Larry Cornelia 53/53 .301 65 36 21 ten live on WVOF.org. The third-seeded Stags (27-26; 14-10 MAAC) Updates will be available PITCHER APP/GS ERA W-LL-SS IP K Andrew Gallagher 18/0 1.99 1-1-1 22.2 12 will face No. 2 Canisius College (31-25; 16-8 via Twitter on @MAACSports, Ian Tresser 14/0 2.45 0-2-0 14.2 16 MAAC) in the opening round on Thursday, May 24 hashtag #MAACBaseball and Kyle Capaldo 18/0 2.51 2-0-4 28.2 24 at 7pm at Joe Bruno Stadium in Troy, N.Y. on Facebook.com/maacsports. Scott Warwick 11/11 2.80 3-3-0 64.1 50 EJ Ashworth 16/7 2.97 5-6-0 57.2 46 ABOUT THE MAAC CHAMPIONSHIP 2012 SCHEDULE & RESULTS The double elimination MAAC Championship will be held May 24-27 at Joe Bruno Stadium in Troy, 2/24 vs. Youngstown State^ W, 10-4 N.Y. Defending MAAC Champion Manhattan College is the tournament’s top seed while Canisius 2/25 vs. Long Island University^ L, 0-3 College is the second seed. Fairfield is third while Rider University is the fourth seed. 2/25 vs. Long Island University^ W, 2-0 (8) 2/26 vs. Youngstown State^ W, 11-1 2/28 at Fordham L, 3-5 GETTING BACK TO THE MAAC 3/2 at Delaware W, 4-0 This is the Stags first MAAC Championship appearance since 2000 when the Stags went 17-8 and 3/2 at Delaware L, 1-4 finished third in the MAAC South to qualify for tournament play. 3/3 at Delaware L, 4-10 3/4 at Delaware L, 3-4 HOW THEY GOT HERE 3/7 St. John’s L, 4-6 Entering the final two series of the regular season, the Stags were jockeying for one of the final two 3/10 vs. Pennsylvania% L, 3-7 spots in the MAAC Championship. Fairfield helped their chances by sweeping three games from 3/11 vs. Maine% W, 8-4 3/12 vs. Bradley% L, 6-7 Siena College while Manhattan, Canisius, and Rider all secured their spots. Entering the final series 3/13 vs. Chicago State% W, 7-4 of the season against Marist College, the Stags needed just one win against the Red Foxes. Fairfield, 3/15 vs. Akron% L, 4-8 behind rookie starter EJ Ashworth, pulled out a 1-0 victory in the opener on May 17 to clinch a spot. 3/17 at Jacksonville& W, 9-3 The Stags then walked off with a 3-2 win in extra innings in the season finale to secure the third seed. 3/18 vs. Western Carolina& L, 3-10 3/18 at Jacksonville L, 4-5 IN THE YEAR 2000... 3/21 at Central Connecticut L, 5-6 Because of rain, the entire 2000 MAAC Championship was played in a day. The Stags played their 3/23 at Iona* L, 2-5 3/24 at Iona* W, 9-3 opening day the campus of host Marist College, defeating LeMoyne College, 3-1. Fairfield headed to 3/24 at Iona* L, 5-8 Dutchess Stadium for the championship game where they fell to Marist, 11-5. 3/27 Quinnipiac W, 6-3 The Stags put together the best season in program history, going 26-20. After starting out 2-11, 3/28 at Hartford L, 1-9 they went on to win 24 of their last 33 games. The Stags also set a new program record for conference 3/31 at St. Peter’s* W, 6-5 wins in a season, finishing third in the league at 17-8. 4/1 at St. Peter’s* L, 1-2 Pitcher Dan Krines, then in his sophomore year, went 8-2 with a 3.39 ERA. Krines set a new pro- 4/1 at St. Peter’s* L, 1-5 4/3 Fordham W, 9-0 gram record as he tossed 103.2 innings this year, completed nine games, and struck out 44 while 4/7 Rider* L, 3-5 walking just 14. His eight wins tied another single season program record. He was named to the 4/7 Rider* L, 1-11 ABCA/Rawlings Division I Northeast Region Second Team and the All-New England Second Team. 4/9 Rider* W, 3-1 Relief pitcher Andrew Gallagher, the youngest Stag on the current roster, was just six years old 4/11 at Yale W, 4-3 (he’d turn seven that following November). 4/11 at Yale W, 8-4 Starting pitcher Brett Shulick, the oldest Stag on the current squad, was 11 years old. 4/17 UConn L, 8-13 4/21 at Niagara* W, 3-1 Current Head Coach Bill Currier was at the helm of the University of Vermont while Assistant Coach 4/22 at Niagara* W, 4-2 (10) Trevor Brown was in his first season as a pitching coach at Georgetown University. Assistant Coach 4/22 at Niagara* W, 13-1 Nick Rhodes was catching in the Tampa Rays farm system. 4/24 at Sacred Heart W, 10-5 4/25 Stony Brook L, 4-6 ROLLING ON 20’S 4/28 Canisius* L, 2-5 Fairfield secured its 13th season in program history with at least 20 wins. The Stags have posted a 4/28 Canisius* W, 4-0 record-setting 27 victories this season, besting the standard of 26 set in 2000. 4/29 Canisius* W, 7-3 5/1 Central Connecticut L, 2-7 5/5 Manhattan* L, 5-7 TURN IT AROUND 5/5 Manhattan* W, 6-3 After starting league play with a 2-4 record, the Stags turned things around, going 12-6 the rest of 5/6 Manhattan* L, 5-8 they way to finish the regular season with a 14-10 MAAC record. Fairfield was picked seventh in the 5/11 at Siena* W, 7-4 MAAC Preseason Coaches Poll and ended up finishing third in the league. 5/11 at Siena* W, 5-3 5/12 at Siena* W, 9-2 FAIRFIELD VS. #2 CANISIUS 5/14 at NJIT W, 19-4 Fairfield closed out the month of April by taking two out of three games from Canisius at Alumni 5/17 Marist* W, 1-0 5/18 Marist* (Senior Day) L, 3-4 Diamond. After enduring a 5-2 loss in the opener, Scott Warwick posted a four-hit, complete game 5/18 Marist* W, 3-2 (11) shutout with nine strikeouts in the 4-0 victory. In the series finale, the Stags posted a 7-3 victory 5/24 vs. #2 Canisius** 7pm behind a solid performance by senior pitcher Brett Shulick. Freshman Sebastian Salvo drove in four 5/25-27 MAAC Championship TBA runs against the Griffs during that series. 6/1-4 NCAA Regionals For his career, Anthony Hajjar is batting .357 with five runs and five RBI against Canisius. Shulick (DH) Indicates Doubleheader owns a 2.77 ERA in two career appearances while Mark Bordonaro has a 3.00 ERA with two saves in ^ Game Played in Kannapolis, N.C % RussMatt Tournament (Winter Haven, Fla.) four career appearances against Canisius. & Game Played in Jacksonville, Fla. *MAAC Opponent Fairfield is 24-21 all-time against Canisius, yet the Griffs have taken 13 of the last 18 meetings. ** MAAC Championship contest (Troy, N.Y.) 2012 Fairfield University Baseball MAAC Championship Notes HEAD COACH BILL CURRIER FAIRFIELD VS. #1 MANHATTAN The Stags took the middle game of the series versus Manhattan on May 5, posting a 6-3 win at Record at Fairfield 27-26/14-10 MAAC (First Season) Alumni Diamond, marking the first win over the Jaspers since 2010. Junior Jack Giannini went 5-for- 11 versus the Jaspers this season with three runs scored and two RBI. Overall Record Junior Anthony Hajjar is a career .324 hitter against the Jaspers with seven runs scored and four 513-496 (23rd Season) runs batted in. Manhattan has won 12 of the last 14 meetings with the Stags. The 2011-12 academic year marks Bill Currier’s first as head coach of the Fairfield University Stags. During the 2011 season, Currier served as Fairfield’s Associate FAIRFIELD VS. #4 RIDER Head Coach, taking over the reins of the program upon Fairfield and Rider met during Easter Weekend at Alumni Diamond where the Broncs took two out of the retirement of John Slosar at the end of the season. three from the Stags. After dropping the first two games, the Stags pulled out a 3-1 victory in the Currier spent the 2010 season as a volunteer assis- series finale on April 9.