Niagara University, N.Y.—The Niagara baseball team defeated the Fairfield Stags on Sunday to close out the home slate of its schedule. The Purple Eagles defeated the Stags 12-10 in a back and forth contest.
How it Happened
Fairfield opened the scoring in the top of the second inning as the first run of the game came home on a bases-loaded walk.
The Stags added to their lead in the top of the third as they hit a three-run home run to take a 4-0 lead.
The Purple Eagles answered in the bottom of the third inning. Rees Kozar opened the inning with a five pitch walk. After an out, Nick Groves reached on an infield single to put runners on first and second. Brady Desjardins then singled to right field on a 2-2 pitch to bring home Kozar from second base with the first Niagara run. Two pitches later, Eric Rataczak hit a ground-rule double to left field to bring home Groves to cut the Fairfield lead to 4-2. After getting down 0-1 in the count, Gavin Schrader doubled to left center field gap to bring home both Desjardins and Rataczak to tie the game at four. After a strikeout, Nick Monile doubled to left center to give Niagara a 5-4 lead. Monile was brought home by Kelly Corl who hit the fourth Niagara double of the inning. After three innings, Niagara led 6-4.
The Purple Eagles added to their lead in the bottom of the fourth inning as Matt Ward hit a solo home run to give Niagara a 7-4 lead.
Neither team scored again until the seventh inning. Following a Fairfield pitching change, Rataczak singled up the middle and then stole second base. Rataczak then moved to third base on a wild pitch after a pair of strikeouts. Monile then walked to put runners on the corners with two outs. Corl then singled through the left side of the infield on the first pitch he saw to bring home the eighth Niagara run. Four pitches later, Kozar singled to center field to make it a 9-4 Niagara lead.
Fairfield scored six runs in the top of the eighth inning to take a 10-9 lead.
Niagara responded in the bottom of the eighth inning. Groves opened the inning with a single and then moved to second with one out on a Rataczak infield single. Following a pitching change, Jake Hutchins singled to center field to load the bases with one out. Vincent Mauro stepped to the plate and drilled a ball to the left side of the infield, the ball deflected off a diving defender and went into center field that allowed two runs to score to give Niagara an 11-10 lead. With runners on second and third, Monile flew out to left field but Hutchins scored to make it a 12-10 game on the sacrifice fly.
Niagara Notes
· Gage Wheaton started on the mound and struck out three batters while allowing one run in 1.1 innings of work.
· Ryan Minckler pitched 4.1 innings out of the pen while striking out five batters. He allowed two runs on five hits, he induced five flyouts and two groundouts in the outing.
· Zach Cameron picked up his eighth win of the season as he pitched two innings for the Purple Eagles. He struck out two batters while allowing four runs (one unearned). He is currently tied for the most wins in the MAAC and leads the MAAC in saves.
· Four Purple Eagles had multiple hits in the win. Groves led the way with four hits while Rataczak had three hits. Both Corl and Ward had two hits in the win.
· All 10 Niagara players who appeared at the plate had hit as Niagara had 17 hits.
· Corl, Schrader, Mauro, and Monile each drove in two runs while eight Purple Eagles had an RBI.
· Ratczak drove in his 60th run of the season, he is just three RBI away from tying the program record for a single season. He tied for the MAAC lead in RBI.
· It is the 16th time this season that Niagara has scored 10 or more runs, Niagara is 15-1 in those games.
· Niagara is 25-1 this season when leading after eight innings.
· Groves notched his first four hit game of the season while extending his on base streak to 22 games.
· Desjardins extended his on base streak to 23 games.
· Niagara is second in the MAAC with a 17-4 record, they are just one game back of Fairfield for the conference lead and are one game up on Rider who sits in third.
· Prior to the game, Niagara honored its eight seniors: Corl, Maximilian Ramirez IV, Jack Colella, Desjardins, Hutchins, Rataczak, Brady Kobitowich, and Noah Richardson.
· Niagara finishes the season 12-3 at John P. Bobo Field. The 12 wins are the most wins at home since the 2018 season.
Up Next
The Purple Eagles close out non-conference play on Tuesday as they travel to Olean to take on St. Bonaventure. Niagara closes out the regular season with a three game series against Canisius starting on Thursday in Buffalo.
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