Austin Regional: Fairfield Advances, Eliminates Arizona State
By Steve Parkhurst
June 6, 2021
AUSTIN, TX — The Fairfield Stags and Arizona State Sun Devils played another thriller on Sunday at the NCAA Austin Regional as both teams had the end of their season on the line with a defeat.
This was a rematch of a game Friday night which Arizona State won on a walk-off in the bottom of the ninth. After Fairfield eliminated Southern on Saturday, Texas defeated Arizona State to send the Sun Devil’s to the elimination bracket.
Bryson Cafaro (4–0) started for Fairfield and Jared Glenn (6–2) took the mound for Arizona State.
In the top of the second inning, Kai Murphy sliced an opposite field two-out single into left field to score Hunter Haas from third base. The next batter, Drew Swift, hit a ball off the wall in deep left-center for a triple, scoring Murphy. Hunter Jump followed with a single toward right-center that actually was slowed by bouncing into the second base umpire, but the single gave the Sun Devils a 3–0 lead.
Colin McVeigh (1–0) took the mound for the Stags to start the third inning. The right-hander entered the game with eight innings pitched and a 0.00 ERA. Nate Baez hit a one-out two-run home run into deep left-center to push the lead to 5–0.
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Fairfield got a two-run home run from Sean Cullen in the bottom of the third to get back into the game and cut the deficit to 5–2. Cullen powered his home run to straight away center field and the ball bounced off the batter’s eye.
With two on and two out in the top of the fourth for the Sun Devils, the Stags went to the bullpen again in favor of Eli Oliphant (2–0). Jack Moss hit the first pitch he saw from Oliphant right back up the middle for a run-scoring single.
Mike Handal drove in two runs for the Stags with one out in the fourth inning to make the score 6–4, and Arizona State when to the bullpen for Brady Corrigan, who pitched in Friday’s game between these two schools.
Trailing 6–4 in the fifth inning, Ryan Strollo singled into right-center to tie the game with two outs.
Arizona State put runners at second and third with no outs after a double by Jump. A bizarre play unfolded when a pitch was missed by the Stags catcher and ended up in the front shirt pocket of the home plate umpire. Both runners were awarded a base and the Sun Devils took a 7–6 lead on the play. Fairfield went to the bullpen and eventually Michael Sansone was able to escape the inning with no further damage.
A leadoff walk to Handal was followed by a Dan Ryan single to center in the bottom of the sixth. Justin Guerrera hit the next pitch, a hanging slider, over the wall in left field for a three-run home run and a 9–7 lead. Arizona State went to the bullpen again to end the inning.
Both bullpens held the rest of the way. John Signore took the mound in relief of Sansone with two outs in the ninth and runners at second and third, the runner at second represented the tying run. Signore struck out Jump on four pitches to seal the win for Fairfield.
Arizona State ends their season with a record of 33–22.
Fairfield will face Texas later on Sunday needing to defeat the Longhorns Sunday night and Monday afternoon in order to advance to a Super Regional and keep the amazing season alive.
