Fairfield has designs on winning the MAAC baseball title and can do something about it this weekend.
Fairfield is 22-11 and tied atop the conference at 11-4 with Canisius (26-19), a team the Stags host for three games, beginning with a doubleheader Saturday at Alumni Diamond. The teams meet again on Sunday.
“This weekend is absolutely a huge series,” said junior shortstop Mike Conti of Glastonbury, who leads the team in hitting with a .349 batting average and is one of several players from central Connecticut. “Canisius is a very competitive team. We had a couple of tight games with them last year up at their place.”
The Stags have 10 games left, including nine in the MAAC. They’re not in the playoffs yet. To achieve that goal and maybe even deliver a championship for coach Bill Currier for the first time in five seasons, Fairfield will have to clean up a few things, specifically not leaving runners on base when the pitching has been pretty good, especially from freshman John Signore of Wallingford and Xavier-Middletown, who leads the nation in strikeout-to-walk ratio (15.33-to-1).
Junior outfielder Mac Crispino of Avon (.304, 23 RBI), sophomore catcher Kevin Radziewicz of Cromwell (.306, 23 RBI), freshman infielder Jack Gethings of Wallingford (nine steals, .241) and junior pitcher Kyle Dube of Southington (4-3, 3.59 ERA) are among other state players having an impact.
The Stags, who had a program-record 32 wins in 2014, want to make a run at this, and Currier, the 2012 MAAC coach of the year, said his team can. First it must emerge from a funk that’s saddled the team with 21 stranded runners during a two-game losing streak.
“Our pitching has held solid, our defense is doing OK, but the hitting [with runners] in scoring position has been an issue lately,” Currier said. “… [Batters] are putting a little too much pressure on themselves but that will get turned around. You know how it is. As soon as you get two on, somebody hits a double and makes everybody feel a little bit at ease.”
Conti is one of the Stags’ hottest hitters and he bats … last?
“He was one of our best hitters with runners in scoring position,” Currier said. “He’s done a good job. We’ve moved him out of the nine hole before and he seems to hit better in that nine hole. You never know. He’s a little older and maybe he should be moved up, but he does a good job.”
Conti will do what the coach decides.
“I really don’t mind batting No. 9, I’m comfortable,” Conti said. “If coach wants to try me out at a couple of different spots I’m all for it. I try to keep the same approach no matter where I am, but I feel like the No. 9 spot is the second leadoff position.”
Signore is the MAAC rookie of the week but has had some tough luck. Signore, whose father, Stephen, is a Fairfield graduate, allowed one run in the first inning and that was all in a 2-1 loss in 14 innings to Manhattan April 29. He was the first freshman in the league to throw nine innings.
“He’s a done a great job … mixing three speeds and moving the ball around the plate and pounds the strike zone,” Currier said. “He kept showing us that in preseason, and we said we’ve got to make him a starter.”
Signore’s record is 1-2 in seven starts and 11 appearances, but that hardly reflects his effectiveness. He has a 2.50 ERA overall — 2.70 in the MAAC — and has walked only three batters in 57 innings.
“Coming in I just wanted to do whatever I could do to help,” Signore said. “I started coming out of the pen then just started working as hard as I could to get into the rotation.”
Signore will kick things off, starting Game 1 against Canisius Saturday.
“Our pitchers have been doing a great job,” Conti said. “As long as we can get some runners in scoring position in key situations I think we’ll be OK.”
