WAPPINGERS FALLS, N.Y. – Former Peoples Academy (PA) star Ben Alekson’s Fairfield University baseball team saw its season come to an end last week in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) Championship last week.
photo by Vanessa Fournier
Alekson took the hill for the Stags on Wednesday night in the MAAC Tournament opener, throwing his first complete game of the season to lead Fairfield to a 6-3 win over Marist. The junior right-hander scattered seven hits, walked one and struck out two. His 114 pitches were also a season-high as he improved to 7-4 on the season.
Fairfield held off Niagara 4-3 in the second round, the very next night, behind a collective effort off the mound from Harrison Engle, Will Youngman and Jimmy Mulvaney. Left fielder Zach Stephenson crushed a home run to right field in the fourth inning to lead the Stags’ offense. Fairfield fell to top-seeded Rider on Friday afternoon, 5-1, to drop them to the losers’ bracket of the double-elimination tournament. That same night, they defeated Niagara 9-2 fort he second time in as many days to advance to the MAAC Championship game. Brendon Miller earned the win with seven strong innings, scattering five hits, while striking out seven.
photo by Vanessa Fournier
Having the tall task of beating Rider twice to capture the MAAC Championship, the Stags completed miracle No. 1 in a 12-7 win with an improbable eighth-inning rally on Saturday morning. Trailing 6-3 in the top of the eighth, Fairfield pushed across nine runs to stun the Broncs 12-7. Stephenson led the Stags’ offense once again with four RBI. Rider’s ace P.J. Craig silenced Fairfield later that afternoon to capture the MAAC Championship with a 6-1 win. Craig improved to 9-3 on the season, striking out six and walking just one over 7.0 innings of work. He had thrown a complete game for the Broncs just two days earlier.
The Stags (31 wins) reached the 30-win plateau under former University of Vermont great Bill Currier for a sixth consecutive season, and the MAAC Championship game four straight. Currier will call it a career at Fairfield after leading the program to a pair of MAAC Championships and two NCAA Tournament berths in the last decade. He recorded 428 wins in his 15 years at Fairfield, and finishes his career with 920 total.
Alekson was named to the MAAC All-Championship Team along with teammates Stephenson and J.P. Kuczik. The Stowe Native was named MAAC Pitcher of the Year after leading the Stags with seven wins and a 2.47 ERA. He already holds the record for single-season wins at Fairfield with nine in 2025 and has now tied John Signore’s all-time career wins record with 22. His ERA ranks in the top 50 in the country, and he has been on the College Baseball Foundation’s National Pitcher of the Year Watchlist all season. Alekson led PA to three consecutive state championships and was named the Vermont Gatorade Baseball Player of the Year in his senior season.
