Box Score March 18, 2009
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Lynchburg, Va. - The ball was jumping off the bat at Worthington Stadium as the Liberty Flames tagged the Fordham baseball team for six homeruns en route to a 19-6 victory over the Rams.
Fordham falls to 4-11 on the season as Liberty improves to a 11-5 record.
At the plate for the Rams, senior Danny Leach went 3-5 with a triple and a run scored while Bobby DiNardo, Michael Taddei, Alex Kenny and Rob Iacono each had multi-hit games. Starting pitcher Brando Casalicchio earns his second loss of the season.
Fordham got things going early as Leach knocked a lead-off triple to the right-center gap and would score two pitches later on a wild pitch by Liberty starter Austin Poretz.
The Flames got that run back and then some off of Doug Bream's two-run homerun to right field to put the Flames up, 2-1, going into the second inning.
In the bottom of the second, the Flames tacked on four more runs with the long ball as Trey Wimmer knocked a solo shot over the right-field fence while Curran Redal hit a three-run shot to left.
Fordham got one back in the top of the third with Rob Iacono singling to left with one out. Leach's single to right put Iacono on second as he moved to third on a Mike Mobbs ground ball. Iacono hustled his way home on a past ball.
Liberty kept the bats alive in the third with two more homeruns on a solo homer by Jeff Jefferson and a two-run blast by John Long to put the Flames up, 9-2.
The Rams plated three runners in the top of the fourth to bring deficit to just four runs. With runners on first and second, sophomore Alex Kenny roped a double off the center-field fence, scoring both runners on base. Iacono then singled to center, bringing in Kenny.
After keeping the Flames scoreless for the first time in the bottom of the fourth, Fordham tacked on another run in the top half of the fifth. Senior Bobby DiNardo got things going this time around with a double down the left field line. A wild pitch would put him on third and he would later be plated on a Ryan McCrann double.
The Flames scored their first run of the game that was not on a homerun in the bottom of the fifth. With John Young on the mound and runners on first and third, Willmer's single into center brought home Jefferson, putting the Flames up, 10-6. That would be the end of Young's day with freshman John Grangard coming in to get all three outs and close out the inning without giving up a run.
Liberty tacked on two of their three sixth inning runs on a bunt single by Errol Hollinger. Fordham third baseman Ryan McCrann attempted to make the tough play on Hollinger, but his throw would be out of the reach of first baseman Bobby DiNardo and went into right field, scoring both runners on base.
In the bottom of the eighth, Bream hit his second homerun of the game as Liberty added five more runs in the inning to defeat the Rams, 19-6.
Fordham now heads to Charlotte, N.C. to open up Atlantic 10 play against the Charlotte 49ers on Friday, March 20 at 6:00 PM.
