Box Score May 14, 2009
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Highlights 
Bronx, N.Y. - The Fordham baseball team took one step closer to a berth in the Atlantic 10 Championships as senior Danny Leach was a home run short of the cycle with Bobby DiNardo hitting his 28th career home run in the Rams 15-6 win over Temple.
Fordham is now 20-30 (14-11 Atlantic 10) while Temple falls to 17-30 (11-13 Atlantic 10). With the win, Fordham now needs to either defeat the Owls one more time in the final two games of the series or have the University of Rhode Island win one of their three games against Saint Louis for the Rams to clinch a postseason spot.
The Rams got things going early in this one with a run in the bottom of the first. With the bases loaded and one out, Ryan McCrann brought home the run after being hit by a pitch by Temple starter Dan Moller.
Mike Mobbs started a three-run second inning for the Rams after leading off with a triple. Stephen McSherry was then hit by a pitch with Leach walking to load the bases. Brian Kownacki was next at the dish and brought in two runs when his grounder was overthrown by Temple shortstop Rafael Cordero in his attempt to get McSherry out at third. Angelo Ponte brought in the final run in the inning with a sacrifice fly to give Fordham a 4-0 lead.
Fordham extended their lead to 6-0 with two runs in the bottom of the fourth. DiNardo drew a one-out walk and scored on Ponte's double down the right-field line. John Kahn's then singled through the left side, plating Ponte.
Temple finally got on the board with a run in the top of the fifth, but the Rams spread on four more in the bottom half of the frame to bring the score to 10-1. Leach's conference-leading sixth triple of the season brought home one of those runs, with McSherry on first after knocking a one-out single, while Kownacki scored Leach with a single to right. DiNardo closed out the scoring with a towering two-run home run, his 15th of the year.
The Owls finally got to Fordham starter J.P. Mack with a five-run sixth inning on six hits, three of which were multi-baggers. Those runs made it a brand new ballgame at 10-6, but Fordham answered right back with five more runs to put them back up, 15-6.
Leach's single with the bases loaded gave him his second and third RBI of the game while McSherry came home on a passed ball and a DiNardo sacrifice fly plated Leach. Kahn brought in the final run of the game with his second hit of the day, scoring Ponte.
A nine run lead is all freshman Daniel Munday needed to earn his third career save in 3.1 innings of two-hit relief work. Mack improves to 6-2 on the year after 5.2 innings of work, giving up six runs on eight hits, four walks and one strike out.
Leach's near cycle paced the Rams' bats, going 3-4 with four runs scored, three RBI and two walks. DiNardo had three RBI while going 1-4 with two runs and a walk while Kownacki, Ponte and Kahn each had multi-RBI games with two each.
The Rams will be back at it against the Owls on Friday, May 15, at 12:00 PM.
