QU Baseball Heads to Intrastate Foe Fairfield for Final Regular Season Series Thursday and Friday

Thursday, May 19

Fairfield, CT

12 PM

Quinnipiac University

Fairfield

QU Baseball Heads to Intrastate Foe Fairfield for Final Regular Season Series Thursday and Friday

5/17/2016 3:04:00 PM | Baseball

By: QU Sports Information

Quinnipiac University Bobcats (20-29, 9-12 MAAC) at
Fairfield University Stags (26-23, 15-6 MAAC)
Date: Thursday, May 19, 2016
Time: 12 PM
Location: Alumni Diamond - Fairfield, Connecticut
All-Time Series vs. Fairfield: 4-11
Last Meeting: W, 2-1 (April 19, 2015 - Hamden, Connecticut)
Probable Starters: Thomas Jankins (5-6, 3.16 ERA) at John Signore (2-2, 2.66 ERA

Quinnipiac University Bobcats (20-29, 9-12 MAAC) at
Fairfield University Stags (26-23, 15-6 MAAC)
Date: Thursday, May 19, 2016
Time: 3 PM
Location: Alumni Diamond - Fairfield, Connecticut
All-Time Series vs. Fairfield: 4-11
Last Meeting: W, 2-1 (April 19, 2015 - Hamden, Connecticut)
Probable Starters: Taylor Luciani (4-3, 3.17 ERA) at Gavin Wallace (6-4, 5.30 ERA)

Quinnipiac University Bobcats (20-29, 9-12 MAAC) at
Fairfield University Stags (26-23, 15-6 MAAC)
Date: Thursday, May 19, 2016
Time: 1 PM
Location: Alumni Diamond - Fairfield, Connecticut
All-Time Series vs. Fairfield: 4-11
Last Meeting: W, 2-1 (April 19, 2015 - Hamden, Connecticut)
Probable Starters: Alex Vargas (1-2, 4.97 ERA) at Kyle Dube (6-3, 3.48 ERA)

Follow the Bobcats:
Live Stats: FairfieldStags.com
Twitter - @TheQBaseball

Round Out the Regular Season
The Quinnipiac baseball wraps the regular season on Thursday and Friday this week with a three-game series in Fairfield, Connecticut at the Fairfield Stags. Thursday's doubleheader at Alumni Diamond is slated to begin at 12 PM followed by the final game of the regular season on Friday beginning at 12 PM.

All-Time Against Fairfield
The Bobcats are 4-11 in 15 all-time games against the Stags, including a 3-3 record since joining the MAAC for the 2014 season. Last season, the Bobcats won their home conference series 2-1, including a pair of one-run games. Before joining the MAAC, Quinnipiac was just 1-9 against Fairfield before splitting their last six games.

Scouting the Stags
Fairfield comes into the final series of the regular season ranked No. 5 in the latest New England Intercollegiate Baseball Association (NEIBA) poll with a 26-23 record. The Stags sit atop the MAAC standings as well with a 15-6 record in conference play and control their own destiny to the top seed in the MAAC Tournament. The Stags have won their last two MAAC series as they took two games from both Canisius and Monmouth. Fairfield is batting .275 as a team, led by Michael Conti's .365 batting average in 37 games. Jake Salpietro has been the most electric hitter for the Stags with a .330 batting average, 11 doubles, two triples, nine home runs, 36 runs scored, 61 hits, 34 RRBIs, 28 walks and eight stolen bases. Pitching ace John Signore leads the team with a 2.66 ERA, walking just four battings compared to 53 strikeouts while Kyle Dube is 6-3 with a 3.48 ERA and 60 strikeouts in 75 innings.

Last Time Out
The Bobcats won a crucial two-game series with the Canisius Golden Griffins as they swept the doubleheader on Saturday to win their first conference series since taking two of their from Manhattan on April 23-24. Joseph Burns came alive with six hits over the weekend, including a three-hit, two home run performance in the first game of the series. Thomas Jankins was solid with a six innings and nine strikeouts in the opener while the bullpen made huge contributions all weekend.

Playoff Push
This weekend presents the final push for the MAAC Playoffs for the Bobcats as they sit two games out of the final playoff spot. Manhattan currently owns the No. 6 seed due to a tiebreaker over Niagara. A sweep, two losses by Manhattan and three losses by Niagara would clinch a playoff spot for Quinnipiac for the third straight season. Two wins by Quinnipiac, two losses by Niagara and two losses by Manhattan would clinch a three-way tie for the final playoff spot.

Torching the Ball
Burns extended his hitting streak to eight games and has recorded a hit in 15 of his last 16 games to raise his batting average from .218 to .280 over that stretch. The Bobcats' third baseman also recorded his first career multi-home run game with two home runs at Canisius. Burns also doubled to give him 12 doubles and seven home runs to lead the team in both categories. Burns was the third Bobcat to hit a multi-home run game this season.

Full Nelson
Ryan Nelson returned to the Bobcats lineup with force this weekend as he tallied five hits for the second most on the team and scoring a team-high four runs. Nelson recorded one double for the Bobcats as he maintained his .319 batting average, the second-highest on the team.

RBI Machine
Lou Iannotti had a very productive week at the plate as he drove in seven RBIs, including a key three-RBI triple to provide insurance runs in their 7-4 win at Canisius. Iannotti went 4 for 11 over the weekend with a double, triple, three runs and two walks in addition to his seven RBIs. Iannotti now has a team-leading 38 RBIs this season and is second on the team with 54 hits and 11 doubles.

Leading the Pack
Matthew Batten set a new career-high with 68 hits and 39 runs scored after picking up three hits and two runs scored. Batten also stole a base for his second consecutive 20 steal season, two shy of tying his career-high from last season. Batten doubled for the 10^th time as he is second on the team with 16 extra base hits. Batten continues to lead the team with a .342 batting average, .472 slugging percentage, 39 runs, 68 hits and 20 steals.

Approaching History
Thomas Jankins recorded some history for the Bobcats this weekend as he moved up to second place in Division I single-season program history with his 77^th strikeout, just four shy of tying Chris Gloor's 81 strikeouts from 2009. Jankins also record the 178^th strikeout of his career, moving into fourth place in Division I program history and eighth in all-time program history. Jankins tied his single-season high of nine strikeouts in his six inning effort as he improve to 5-6 on the season.

Call to the 'Pen
In the Bobcats 5-1 win at Canisius, Matthew Osieja, Joseph Scaglione and Robert Hitt pitched three perfect innings of relief to hang on for the victory after Jankins' gem as the starter. Osieja picked up two strikeouts in the seventh inning to give him 20 strikeouts and lower his 2.87 ERA.

Another Record Bites the Dust
Hitt picked up a save in game two of the series on Saturday for her eighth save of the season to break Gary Binkiewicz's single-season program record of seven from the 2014 season. Binkiewicz previously owned the top two single-season totals of six and seven saves before Hitt picked up his eighth in Taylor Luciani's fourth win of the season. Hitt recorded two strikeouts in two appearances over the weekend to give him 42 on the season, the second most to Jankins' 77.