Box Score March 22, 2009
Box Score
Charlotte, N.C. - What a difference a day makes, as the Fordham baseball team went from committing seven errors in the field in their 12-3 loss to the Charlotte 49ers on Saturday, to turning five double-plays in support of John Flanagan's third win of the year to take the three-game series against Charlotte on an 8-5 win on Sunday.
Fordham is now 6-12 (2-1 Atlantic 10) as Charlotte falls to 12-6 (1-2 Atlantic 10).
At the plate, sophomore Chris Walker went 2-3 with three RBI, three runs and two walks while Danny Leach, Mike Mobbs and Brian Kownacki each had two-hit games.
Flanagan went 7.2 innings, giving up four runs on nine hits, three walks and one strike out for the win.
Things got going fast for the Rams, as they plated two runs in the top of the first to take the early 2-0 lead. Mike Mobbs started the scoring action with a single to center followed by Chris Walker and Ryan McCrann walks to load the bases. Alex Kenny stepped to the plate and punched a base hit to center, bringing home Mobbs and Walker.
The 49ers answered with two runs of their own, in the bottom of the first, to notch the score, 2-2. With runners on second and third, Grant Bowman knocked a single to right to score both Charlotte runners.
Brian Kownacki started things off for the Rams in the top of the second, with a bunt single to third base followed by singles off the bat of Ryan Maghini and Leach to give Fordham another bases loaded situation. Mobbs' hustled out a ground ball to short, avoiding the double play and bring in Kownacki from third. That would put runners on the corners for Walker to take the Andrew Smith delivering off the right-field fence, scoring Maghini and Mobbs to put the Rams back on top, 5-2.
The Charlotte bats were threatening in the bottom of the fourth with runners on first and second and no out when Alan Parks knocked a ball up the middle for what looked like a base hit, only to have a diving Leach to not only save a run from scoring, but his flip to Kownacki got the man out at second. In the ensuing at bat, Parks took off for second, but Walker faked the throw down and caught Aaron Bray sleeping at third to get him out in a rundown between third and home.
Walker took the defensive momentum into his at bat in the top of the fifth to belt his second homerun of the year and extend the Fordham lead, 6-2.
In the bottom of the sixth, Charlotte brought in a run on Shane Brown's lead-off triple as he would later score on a wild pitch. The 49ers threatened later in the inning when Bray doubled with one out, but Flanagan would get out of the jam by striking out Ryan Rivers and getting Parks to fly out to right, ending the inning.
Charlotte made it a 6-4 game, in the bottom of the eighth, with Bowman's solo homer to right with two outs. That would be Flanagan's last batter with freshman Jordan Grangard coming in to end the inning with a ground ball to first baseman Ryan McCrann.
In the top of the ninth, Kownacki provided the Rams with some insurance runs with a bases-loaded double, scoring Walker and McCrann to bring the Fordham lead to 8-4. That was all Grangard needed as he shook off a lead-off double and a few two-out runners on base to only give up one run in the ninth, earning his first save of the year
Fordham will next face the Stony Brook Seawolves on Wednesday, March 25 at 3:00 PM before they host the University of Massachusetts for a three-game series starting Friday, March 27.
