BUFFALO, N.Y. - The Niagara baseball team (10-9, 3-3 MAAC) swept Sunday's double-header with Fairfield to take the series. The Purple Eagles won game one 3-2 with a bases-loaded walk-off single in the seventh, and took game two with a 7-1 score behind the solid pitching of Marcus Spaulding (Copenhagen, N.Y.).

The pair of victories gave Niagara its first series win in conference play since taking two of three from Iona on March 31, 2007. The three 2008 MAAC wins equals the total of victories that Niagara won in conference play all of last year.

"It all started on the mound for us today," Niagara head coach Chris Chernisky said. "Dan Morari and Marcus Spaulding did an outstanding job with their starts and they really kept fighting. I am proud that our team and how we bounced back from a poor performance in game one. We showed a lot of resilience, and because of that we were able to take home the series."

Niagara 7, Fairfield 1
Spaulding went the distance in the rubber match, scattering six hits over nine innings, allowing just a first-inning home run to improve to 3-1 on the season. The sophomore right-hander faced no more than four batters in any inning.

With Fairfield leading 1-0, Niagara got two quick runs in the bottom of the first to retake the lead. Seniors Tim Alberts (Baldwinsville, N.Y.) and Harrison Harber (Kanata, Ont.) picked up RBIs on a sacrifice fly and a single up the middle.

Junior Matt Lucchesi (San Francisco, Calif.) ripped a home run to left center to up the Niagara lead to 3-1 in the second inning. The score stayed 3-1 until the bottom of the eighth, when the Purple Eagles tacked on four insurance runs for Spaulding.

Steve Baldinelli (Niagara Falls, Ont.) crushed a two-out, two-run home run and Frank Kurnik (Reno, Nev.) followed with a triple that caromed off the top of the left field wall. Bobby Lenhard (Rochester, N.Y.) singled home Kurnik, and Chris Leendertse (Ancaster, Ont.) doubled him home to complete the scoring.

Senior shortstop Andrew Macdonald (Charlottetown, P.E.I.) went 3-for-4 and scored two runs in the win. He currently leads the nation in fewest strikeouts per at bats. He has struck out just once in 73 at bats.

Niagara 3, Fairfield 2
Senior pinch hitter Graham Skelhorne-Gross (Mississagua, Ont.) lined a bases-loaded single down the left field line in the bottom of the seventh to give Niagara a 3-2 lead. The hit was the second game-winning pinch hit of the season for the senior catcher.

With the score tied at 2-2, Baldinelli singled to shortstop to lead off the bottom of the seventh. He stole second and advanced to third on the Fairfield catcher's arrant throw. The Stags intentionally walked the bases loaded to set up Skelhorne-Gross' heroic at bat.

In the bottom of the sixth, with Fairfield leading 2-1, Cam Stykemain (Defiance, Ohio) ripped a pinch it single up the middle and later scored the tying run when Alberts reached on an error.

Dan Morari (Saskatoon, Sask.) pitched a complete game, allowing four hits and two runs, one unearned, while striking out five. He retired the final nine batters that he faced to improve to 2-2 on the year.

The Purple Eagles travel to Kent, Ohio on Tuesday to take on Kent State.