FAIRFIELD, Conn. (April 23, 2024) – It was a pair of one-run games between future conference rivals on Tuesday afternoon, as the Sacred Heart University baseball team made the quick trip across town to Fairfield for a midweek doubleheader at Cook Field. In the first game, SHU let a six-run lead get away and saw the winning run score via an error in a 7-6 loss. In the second game, first-year third baseman Ronan Donohue (Melrose, Mass.) cracked a two-run home run to tie the game in the fifth and then turned a slick 5-5-3 double play to end the game in a 4-3 Pio win.
 
With wet weather in the forecast for Wednesday, the two teams elected to combine their scheduled home-and-home series into a seven-inning doubleheader at Fairfield (20-20), though Sacred Heart (20-19) played as the "home" team and batted last in the second half. The twinbill wound up split as split can be, as each team will likely feel they could have swept the doubleheader and let one get away. On the flip side, both sides could easily have been swept as well.
 
The stakes will be even higher the next time the crosstown rivals meet, as the two are set to be conference opponents after SHU joins the MAAC ahead of 2024-25.
 
Game 1: Fairfield 7, Sacred Heart 6
 
In the first game, SHU used four in the second and one each in the third and fourth to build out a 6-0 lead. In the second, an error and a pair of singles loaded the bases with nobody out for Dennis Gamester (West Haven, Conn.), who cranked a two-run double down the line in left. Alex Ungar (Ronkonkoma, N.Y.) provided an RBI groundout before Tim McGuire (Portsmouth, R.I.) capped the inning with a two-out single through the left side of the infield.
 
In the third, Michael Simonelli (Milford, Conn.) lined a one-out single to center and later scored on an RBI single to left by Gavin Donohue (Melrose, Mass.). In the fourth, McGuire led off the frame with a towering home run to straightaway right field, his second of the season.
 
It all fell apart for the Pios in the bottom of the fifth. Five hits, two walks and an error allowed Fairfield to send 11 men to the plate and score six runs to level the game at 6-6. Matt Bucciero had the biggest hit of the frame, as he came up with one out and the bases loaded and lined a two-run single into right-center field. Right-hander David Aufiero (Glen Head, N.Y.) nearly escaped the inning with the lead still intact, but Ronan Donohue could not handle a two-out grounder to third off the bat of TJ Schmalzle and the tying run came home.
 
In the last of the seventh, Tyler Kipp and Nick Sturino opened the inning with back-to-back singles off right-hander Charlie Costello (Hopewell Junction, N.Y.), who then walked Schmalzle to load the bases with nobody out. With the infield pulled in and a near-impossible situation on his hands, Costello (3-3) got a possible double-play grounder to third, but McGuire's throw home was in the dirt and the winning run scored.
 
Game 2: Sacred Heart 4, Fairfield 3
 
In the second game, the two teams traded opening salvos in the third inning. In the top half, Bucciero clubbed an RBI double to center. In the bottom half, Ronan Donohue lifted a sacrifice fly to center to plate Joey Skarad (Stamford, Conn.). The duo would wind up as the game's main characters later.
 
Fairfield used a pair of solo home runs in the top of the fourth to take a 3-1 lead. Sturino crushed a ball to right field leading off for his second of the year. Two batters later JP Kuczik hit his second of the year out to left field.
 
This time, it was the Pios' turn to rally, and rally they did, with two in the bottom of the fifth. Skarad won a leadoff battle at the plate to work a well-earned walk, stole second and advanced to third on a flyout. Fairfield turned the ball over to right-hander Peter Ostensen out of the bullpen, and Ronan Donohue greeted him rudely. On the second pitch he saw, Donohue hit a laser to the power alley in left-center which cleared the fence for his fifth homer of the campaign.
 
Right-hander Paul Glenchur (Vienna, Va.) took over on the mound for SHU in the top of the sixth and put together the most brilliant relief outing thus far of his first collegiate season. With the game now tied, Glenchur threw a 1-2-3 inning with a pair of strikeouts to get the Pioneers right back on offense.
 
The offense rewarded him with a two-out rally for the go-ahead run. With two down and nobody on, Simonelli dragged a bunt up the first-base line and beat it out for a single. He stole second and then Skarad turned on a 2-2 pitch. He ripped a line drive which fell just inside the left-field line and then one-hopped out of play for an RBI ground-rule double.
 
Glenchur (1-1) got a groundout to start the bottom half of the seventh, but then got into trouble, as a walk, a single and another walk loaded the bases with one out for Zach Selinger. Selinger hit the second pitch hard, but hit it right at Ronan Donohue at third. Donohue fielded cleanly, stomped on the bag at third and fired a strike over to first base to finish off the game with a double play.
 
SHU is home for a three-game Northeast Conference series against Norfolk State this weekend. Friday's opener is set for 3 p.m. at Veterans Memorial Park in Bridgeport, Conn.