Allen Propels Siena To Championship Re-Match With Canisius
MAAC Sports
LAKEWOOD, N.J. – Mike Allen’s double in the seventh inning scored Vincent Citro with what proved to be the winning run as No. 2 seed Siena College defeated No. 3 seed Fairfield University, 4-3, on Saturday (May 24) afternoon in the 2014 Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference Baseball Championship at FirstEnergy Park.
With the victory, Siena advances to play top-seeded Canisius College in the championship round, scheduled for 12:00 on Sunday, May 25. If necessary, a second game will be played immediately following the first contest. The winner of the 2014 MAAC Championship will receive the league’s automatic bid to the NCAA Division I Baseball Championship.
The championship matchup is a re-match of last year’s title game, which was won by the Golden Griffins, 12-11, in walk-off fashion when Golden Griffins’ infielder Jose Torralba was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded.
The loss eliminated the Stags, who finished the campaign with a 32-24 record.
Fairfield, which trailed 3-0 after the first two innings, scored two runs in the fifth and tied the score at 3-3 in the top of the seventh. Sabastian Salvo drove a double to left field to score Ryan Plourde, who had reached on a one-out single, to knot the score at 3-3.
Siena (24-31) scored the decisive run in the bottom of the inning when Citro reached on a one-out walk, and scored the game winner on Allen’s double off reliever Christian Fox. It was the only run Fox allowed in an effective 4.1 inning stint, after replacing starter Kyle Dube.
Siena reached Dube for one run in the first when Brian Fay’s sacrifice fly scored Citro, who led off the game with a base hit. The Saints added two more runs in the bottom of the second when Citro reached on a one-out single and scored on the first of Allen’s two doubles. Allen then scored on Justin Esquerra’s RBI base hit.
Fairfield cut the lead to 3-2 in the fifth when Plourde drove in Dean Sadik with a RBI single, and Rob LoPinto scored on a passed ball.
Allen was 3-for-4 for Siena with two doubles, one run scored and two RBI. Citro contributed two hits in three appearances, and scored three times, while Andres Ortiz added a pair of hits..
Plourde led the Fairfield offense with three hits in four trips to the pate, and also scored once and drove in a run. Sadik, Salvo and Billy Zolga each added two hits for the Stags.
Neil Fryer, the Saints third pitcher of the afternoon, collected the victory. The MAAC’s Co-Relief Pitcher of the Year, he hurled 2.1 innings, and allowed just two hits without a run. Earlier in the day, he earned the win in Siena’s 6-5 victory over Monmouth.