Siena Baseball (4-7) earned a dramatic 6-5 extra-inning victory over the defending Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) champion Fairfield Stags (1-8) Friday afternoon at Robison Field. Jake Sparks walked it off in the bottom of the 11th inning to cap a tightly contested game that featured 15 strikeouts by each pitching staff.
 
Scheduled to play a twin bill, the second game of Friday's set was suspended in the top of the eighth inning with Fairfield leading 6-3. The game will resume at 11:30 a.m. Saturday at Robison Field in Troy, NY.
 
Fairfield grabbed a 2-0 lead in the fourth inning when Zach Stephenson delivered a two-RBI double following a Siena throwing error. The Saints quickly answered in the bottom half of the inning, tying the game at 2-2 behind an RBI double from Matt Thorsen and a Gavin Thorburn RBI groundout.
 
The Stags would go on to take a 5-3 lead until the bottom of the eighth inning when Thorburn tripled in a run to cut the Saints' deficit to one.
 
Siena evened the score again in the ninth inning when Vincent Venditti launched a solo home run to force extra innings.
 
The decisive moment came in the 11th. Joe D'Elia drew a leadoff walk and moved into scoring position on a sacrifice bunt. After Nick Bergamotto was intentionally walked, Jake Sparks lined a double to center field to bring home D'Elia for the walk-off victory.
 
Venditti led the Saints with two hits, including his game-tying home run, while Scott Lynch added two hits and scored twice. Thorburn contributed two RBIs and a triple as part of Siena's offensive effort.
 
On the mound, Tyler Sausville tossed 5.2 innings, striking out six while allowing four runs. Ryan Lundari worked 2.2 innings in relief with five strikeouts, and Gio Conte delivered 2.2 scoreless innings, allowing just one hit while striking out four.
 
For Fairfield, Jake Haarde tallied two doubles and two RBIs, while Stephenson drove in two runs with his fourth-inning double. Ben Alekson threw six strong innings, allowing two earned runs and striking out five. Harrison Engle was charged with the loss after allowing the winning run in the 11th inning.
 
Following the completion of game two Saturday, the Saints and Stags will play the third and final game of the series at roughly 1 p.m. at Robison Field.