Box Score April 7, 2009
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Bronx, N.Y. - The Fordham baseball team celebrated the 150th anniversary of the first Fordham baseball game as many alumni and fans came out to Houlihan Park to witness Williams College upset the Rams, 5-2.
The game against Williams was very significant as the Ephs' contest against Amherst College on July 1, 1859, is the first recognized intercollegiate baseball game, though the two teams were not playing under the current rules of collegiate baseball as Amherst won, 73-32, in 25 innings.
It was not until November 3, 1859 that the first known collegiate baseball game to use nine players was played between Fordham, who was then known as St. John's College, and St. Francis Xavier. The "Rose Hills" defeated St. Francis Xavier, 33-11, in the contest.
Fast forward 150 years, and the Ephs' used five hits and four Fordham errors to defeat the Rams, 5-2.
Williams got on the board with a run in the top of the second followed by another run in the top of the fifth to take the 2-0 lead.
The Rams got one back in the bottom half of the fifth with senior Danny Leach's fifth triple on the year as he would later score on a passed ball.
In the top of the eighth, shaky Fordham pitching and a number of Rams' fielding miscues allowed Williams to score two runs in the inning on five wild pitches, two walks and two errors.
The defensive problems did not stop the Rams from scoring in the bottom of the eighth as they cut the score to 4-2. Senior Bobby DiNardo led things off with a double down the left-field line. He moved to third on Chris Walker's grounder to second and would score on a sacrifice fly by Stephen McSherry.
The Ephs' added an insurance run in the top of the ninth while Zach Stone came out of the designated hitter role to earn his second save of the year.
The Rams used seven different pitchers in the game and though Jake Rabinowitz only surrendered one run on one hit and three walks in three innings of work, he picks up his second loss on the year.
Williams also went with a team effort on the hill as Dan Benz improves to 2-1 on two innings pitched while giving up no runs or hits and walked three Fordham batters.
At the plate, the Rams could only put together three hits with Leach and DiNardo's extra-base knocks resulting in the only two Fordham Runs. Mike Mobbs added the other Fordham hit with a single to right-center field in the seventh inning.
Fordham will be back in action on Friday, April 10 when as they head out to Pittsburgh, Pa. to begin a three-game set against Duquesne University starting at 3:00 PM.
