Fairfield American Clinches Berth in New England Region Semifinals

Even without having to play Tuesday, Fairfield American clinched a spot in the semifinals of the New England Regionals on Thursday.

In Tuesday's games in Bristol , Rhode Island defeated Massachusetts, 15-5, to finish pool play 4-0 and Vermont bested Maine, 8-5, for its first win of the tournament.

Here are the standings after five days of play:  Rhode Island (4-0),  followed by Fairfield American (2-1), Massachusetts (1-2), Vermont (1-2), New Hampshire (1-2) and Maine (1-3).

Round robin play will be completed Wednesday with New Hampshire taking on Vermont at 10 a.m. and Connecticut facing Massachusetts at 1 p.m.

Fairfield American is assured of a top-four finish because the New Hampshire-Vermont loser will have a third defeat.

With a win over Massachusetts, Fairfield American will clinch the No. 2 seed behind Rhode Island and play on Thursday against the No. 3 seed at 5 p.m.  If Fairfield American loses, it could finish anywhere from second to fourth depending on tiebreakers.

With a semifinal berth locked up, Fairfield American coach Chris Daley could save ace Nick Nardone until Thursday,  although the team would like to avoid finishing fourth, because that would set up a semifinal meeting with Rhode Island.

If Fairfield American finishes second or third, it wouldn't have to face Rhode Island until Saturday's finals. The Ocean State champions from Cumberland handed Fairfield American its only loss, 2-0, on Friday.

If Farfield American loses Wednesday, it would finish in a three-way tie for second with either Massachusetts and New Hampshire or Massachusetts and Vermont. The seeding would be determined by tiebreakers.

If a loss Wednesday drops Fairfield American to fourth, Daley could have a dilemma on his hands about whom to pitch.

In each three-way tie, Fairfield American would be 1-1 in head-to-head competition (beat New Hampshire and Vermont but lost to Massachusetts), so the tiebreaker would come down to run ratio (runs allowed divided by defensive innings played.

Since Fairfield American has allowed the fewest runs in the tournament (eight), it is virtually impossible, however,  for the team to slip to fourth. For that to happen, Fairfield American would have to lose Wednesday's game by at least 10 runs and probably more than that.

Here are the run ratios heading into Wednesday: Fairfield American,  8/17 = .470; New Hampshire, 16/17 = .941; Massachusetts, 17/16 = 1.063; Vermont, 18/16 - 1.120.

You'd have to think there's a pretty good chance Nardone won't be on the mound Wednesday.