LOUDONVILLE, NY – Siena Baseball looks to keep its postseason hopes alive when the Saints host Iona for a critical three-game weekend series to wrap up their 2026 Connors Park slate.
Due to the inclement weather forecasted for Saturday, the series will now commence with doubleheader action Friday beginning at noon. The teams will conclude the series Sunday as scheduled at 1 p.m., with Senior Day festivities set to take place at 12:30 p.m. prior to the final home game of the season.
Siena (18-26, 10-14) has captured consecutive conference series – and won eight of its last 11 overall including non-conference action – to build momentum down the stretch while keeping its postseason hopes alive. The Saints enter the penultimate weekend of regular season action three games back of Quinnipiac – which currently holds down the sixth and final Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference Tournament spot – with six games remaining.
Siena, in part, controls its own destiny as the Saints finish with two of the four teams directly ahead of them battling for a postseason berth. This weekend's foe Iona (16-25, 12-11) is two and a half games clear of Siena and just a half-game back of the Bobcats, while the Saints finish regular season action next week in Buffalo against a Canisius squad which is currently 12-12 in league action.
The Siena success over this 11-game stretch began with the offense, with the pitching leading the way most recently.
Dating back to 12 games ago, the Saints began by scoring double digit runs six times in a seven-game stretch, including all four games of the UAlbany series (Apr. 17-21), marking the first time in 24 years in which the program scored double digit runs in four consecutive contests (Apr. 25-29, 2001). Senior
Nick Bergamotto has served as the catalyst atop the lineup during the offensive resurgence, raising his season batting average by 82 points during the 12-game stretch all the way up to .352, now tied for third-best in the MAAC. Bergamotto has hit a sweltering .491 (26-53) over the past 12 games with 13 runs scored and 15 RBI.
On the mound, Siena has allowed five runs or less in five of their last six games to lower their team ERA to 6.90, the program's best mark in seven years (5.39 in 2019).
Ryan Taffe and
Gio Conte have formed a formidable 1-2 punch to close out the weekends, with both hurlers now sporting sub-three ERA's following hot stretches. In four starts since being moved into the rotation, Taffe has posted a tremendous 1.88 ERA and 1.00 WHIP, allowing just 12 hits and five earned runs over 24 innings of work, while walking 12 and striking out 17. Meanwhile Conte, the reigning MAAC Co-Pitcher of the Week, has won each of his past three starts and, over his past four appearances, has allowed only eight hits and two earned runs over 21 innings – a remarkable 0.86 ERA and 0.67 WHIP – while walking six and striking out 20.
Meanwhile, Iona enters play having dropped seven of nine. The Gaels strength this season has been their pitching, as their staff currently ranks second in the MAAC with a 5.41 ERA.
Siena and Iona have met 96 prior times, with the Saints holding a 54-42 advantage in the series. The programs are set to play in Loudonville for the first time since 2022 after playing each of the previous three seasons in New Rochelle, where Siena held a 5-4 advantage including wins in five of the past seven matchups. The Saints are 23-10 at home vs. the Gaels since 2001.
