Five Rams Earn Atlantic 10 Baseball Honors

2017 Atlantic 10 Baseball Award Winners

Newport News, Va. – The Atlantic 10 Conference announced its 2017 Baseball All-Conference Teams and major award winners on Wednesday morning with five Fordham Rams receiving accolades.  Leading the group was pitcher Jimmy Murphy (South Orange, N.J./Columbia), who was named First Team All-Atlantic 10.

 

Besides Murphy, freshmen Alvin Melendez (Whitestone, N.Y./Cardozo) and Kyle Martin (Oceanside, N.Y./Oceanside) were selected to the Atlantic 10 All-Rookie Team, while seniors Matthew Kozuch (Glen Rock, N.J./Saint Joseph Regional) and Jason Lundy (Freehold, N.J./Freehold Boro) were named to the All-Academic Team.
 
Murphy is the first Ram to receive First Team All-Atlantic 10 honors since Charles Galiano in 2015, and the first pitcher to do so since Tom Davis in 2008.  A two-time Atlantic 10 Pitcher of the Week this season, he tied for the team lead in wins with a career-high six, while pitching a career-high 93.2 innings with 85 strikeouts.  He finished second in the league in strikeouts, behind teammate Reiss Knehr.

 

Murphy was stingier in conference action, posting a 2.00 ERA in eight starts with four wins, three complete games, a .216 opponent batting average, and 52 strikeouts in 63.0 innings.  His best performance came in his final start, outdueling A-10 Pitcher of the Year Aaron Phillips, with a complete game five-hitter to hand Phillips his only loss of the season.
 
In the career record book, Murphy ended his career seventh in career appearances (71), 11^th in games started (32), 11^th in innings pitched (245.0), and 11^th in strikeouts (191).

 

With the selection of Melendez and Martin, Fordham has had at least one All-Rookie Team selection in each of Kevin Leighton's six years as head coach.  

A two-way player for the Rams, Melendez was selected to the All-Rookie Team as a relief pitcher, where he led the Atlantic 10 with a 0.76 ERA, posting a 3-0 record with six saves in 17 appearances.  He held opponents to a .210 batting average and recorded 22 strikeouts.

 

Martin tied for the team lead in wins with Murphy at six this season, marking the most wins by a Ram freshman since Chris Pike had eight in 2011.  He made a team-high 23 appearances, racking up a 2.76 ERA and one save in 32.2 innings with a .195 opponent batting average.  Martin was also third on the team in strikeouts with 45, compared to just seven walks.  

With the selection of Kozuch and Lundy, Fordham has had at least one All-Academic Team selection in each of the last four seasons, including multiple selections the last three.

 

Kozuch makes his third consecutive appearance on the Atlantic 10 All-Academic Team, after earning CoSIDA Academic All-District honors for the second time in late April.  A four-year member of the Atlantic 10 Commissioner's Honor Roll, he graduated with a 3.86 GPA and a degree in Public Accounting.  This season, Kozuch started all 48 games he appeared in, batting .302 with 23 runs scored, a career-high 15 doubles, and 18 RBI.  

A three-year member of the Atlantic 10 Commissioner's Honor Roll, Lundy earns his first All-Academic Team nod after graduating with a 3.73 GPA and a degree in Finance with a concentration in Economics.  He started 45 of 48 games this season as the Rams' starting centerfielder without committing an error.  Offensively, he tied for the team lead with a career-best five home runs and tied a career-high with 25 runs scored to go with 16 RBI and seven stolen bases.