April 18, 2009
Box Score
Cincinnati, Ohio - The Fordham offense struggled to bring home runs in game one of the Saturday doubleheader as the Rams fell to the Musketeers 4-2, though the bottom of the line up had an outstanding second game to lift Fordham over Xavier, 6-5.
Fordham is now 13-23 (9-6 Atlantic 10) while Xavier moves to 20-14 (8-7 Atlantic 10).
In game one, Ben Thomas got the Musketeers on the board first with a solo shot to center while Xavier scored another run in the top of the second to go up, 2-0.
The Rams returned the favor in the third with home runs from Mike Mobbs and Brian Kownacki to notch the game, 2-2.
Xavier scored a run in the fourth to take a 3-2 lead, though the damage could have been worse if it were not for Alex Kenny's quick throw in to Kownacki to get Thomas out at second and prevent back-to-back Musketeer doubles.
One more Xavier run came in during the bottom of the seventh before starting pitcher Max Krakowiak was relieved by Daniel Munday. Krakowiak went 6.1 innings, giving up four runs on eight hits and three walks while striking out two in his first start since March 15.
For the second straight game, Xavier pitcher Jordan Condry came into the ninth inning to close out the game without surrendering a Ram hit, earning his fourth save of the year.
The Rams' bats could only muster up one hit in the final six innings as Mobbs and Kownacki's solo homers were the only base hits to bring in runs.
In game two, John Flanagan was cruising early, giving up only one hit in his first three innings of work. It was in the fourth that he gave up a big second hit to Thomas for a two-run home run, putting Xavier up, 2-0.
Mobbs cut the Fordham deficit in half in the fifth by hitting his second home run of the day in almost the exact same spot in left as his first.
The Rams got a run in the top of the sixth to tie the game, 2-2. With Kownacki on second and DiNardo on first, Walker singled through the left side, scoring Kownacki.
Xavier scored a run in the top half of the inning before the Rams took a 4-3 lead with two runs in the seventh. Fordham opened up the inning with back-to-back doubles by
Nick Martinez and
John Kahn for the first run. Leach moved Kahn over to third with a sacrifice fly with Brian Muransky's pitch to Kownacki missing the target and going to the backstop, enabling Kahn to score on the wild pitch.
Fordham extended their lead to 6-3 with two clutch insurance runs in the top of the eighth. With the bases loaded and one out, Martinez knocked a fly ball to center, deep enough to score Walker from third. Next up was Kahn as he roped a single to right-center field to bring Stephen McSherry home from second.
Those runs would prove to be vital as the Musketeers scored two runs in the top half of the inning on a double by Billy O'Connor scoring both runners on base. But that was all Xavier could bring across the plate as the Rams were able to shut them down for the remainder of the game for the win.
Flanagan battled through seven innings on the hill to improve to 5-1, giving up only three hits though he did walk eight and hit three batters. Chris Kaible threw the last 1.1 innings for his first save of the year.
Kahn led the Fordham offence with two hits, a run scored and two RBI while Martinez, Mobbs and Kownacki each have multi-hit games.
Fordham returns to Rose Hill to host Iona College on Tuesday, April 21, at 7:00 PM.
