LOUDONVILLE, NY – Home sweet home. Following a season-opening, program record 27-game road trip, Siena Baseball finally makes its long-awaited 2023 Connors Park debut this week. The Saints are set to start a season-long nine-game homestand spanning just 12 days beginning Tuesday.
 
The nomadic start to the season saw Siena (3-24, 0-3) play 27 true road games spanning seven different states over the first 44 days of the season. The Saints had previously opened both the 2001 and 2003 seasons with 24 true road games, and played their first 34 games away from home – albeit with a relocated home series to a neutral site mixed in – to kick off the program's 2014 MAAC Championship season.
 
Now, Siena will have the luxury of playing their next nine games within the friendly confines of Connors Park during a frenetic stretch, with the Saints slated to get in more than half of their 17-game home schedule by the end of next weekend.
 
Siena returns to the Capital Region looking to build off statement victory to cap their historic road trip. The Saints snapped a 15-game losing streak and gave interim head coach Joe Sheridan a signature first victory Sunday afternoon with a 7-4 triumph over two-time defending Southern Conference Regular Season Champion Wofford, who had entered play ranked 42^nd nationally in the latest RPI.
 
The 25-year-old Sheridan, who is the youngest Division I baseball head coach nationally, replaced the oldest in 79-year-old Tony Rossi who officially retired on Mar. 20 as the longest tenured head coach in NCAA Division I Baseball history. Rossi was in the midst of his 54^th season as the head coach of the Siena Baseball program, and stepped aside as the winningest head coach in both Siena and MAAC history with 936 career victories to his name. He departed tied for second all-time in NCAA Baseball history in seasons coached along with former Division II Bentley Head Coach Bob DeFelice, who retired last spring. Former Division III coach Gordie Gillespie (59 seasons) is the only head baseball coach at any NCAA level to have ever coached longer than Rossi.
 
The Saints were sparked last week by an offensive awakening, which culminated with a season-high 14 hits in Sunday's victory. Siena also set a season-high, smacking three home runs three different times in four games last week, hitting 10 overall. The Saints have now tallied multiple home runs in six of their last nine games – while hitting 16 total during that time – after having totaled just four home runs over their first 18 games of the season.
 
Siena started its multiple home run game stretch with two-homer efforts against both Fordham (12-16, 1-2) and Army West Point (15-12, 6-2), who kick off the start of this homestand in the return games of home-and-home series. The Saints open their home slate Tuesday vs. Fordham at 3 p.m., before welcoming Army West Point to Connors Park Wednesday at 3 p.m.
 
Fordham erupted for a seven-run fifth inning to prevail 15-6 in the first meeting with Siena two Tuesday's ago in the Bronx. The programs are meeting for the third straight season in a home-and-home series (save for the COVID-shortened 2020 season and conference-only 2021 campaign), and the home team has captured each of the past five matchups overall.
 
Siena and Army West Point battled for four hours and 45 minutes while using 14 combined pitchers in an historic 16-inning affair in the first matchup between the two teams this season on Mar. 22 in West Point. The Black Knights came out on top 5-4 in what matched the longest game played (by innings) in Siena history, equaling a 52-year-old record set in 1971. Army has now won six straight overall in the series dating back to the Saints' last win in 2016.
 
Siena wraps up their five games in five days home-opening week when they host perennial MAAC power Rider (19-8, 5-1) for a three-game conference series Thursday-Saturday. Projected to finish third according to the MAAC Preseason Coaches' Poll, the Broncs have advanced to each of the past two MAAC Championship Series, capturing the title in 2021. The programs did not meet last season as part of the conference's double-bye scheduling format, but Siena took three of four from the eventual MAAC Champions in 2021. The Saints have captured 10 of the last 11 meetings with Rider, and 15 of the past 18 overall.
 
All five home games this week will be broadcast, with the first three being streamed free online at sienasaints.com/watch, and the final two games of the Rider series airing on ESPN+.