Box Score March 17, 2010
Box Score
Coral Gables, Fla. -
Looking for a possible sweep, the Fordham baseball team got into a wild finale on Wednesday against the 11th-ranked Miami Hurricanes at Alex Rodriguez Park in Coral Gables, Fla. In the end, Miami's Frank Ratcliff scored the deciding run in the bottom of the ninth to give the Hurricanes a 9-8 win.
Fordham (4-11) opened the scoring right away, as Mike Mobbs doubled with two outs, moved to third on a Chris Walker infield single, and scored on a wild pitch.
Miami (11-5) responded with a three-run rally in the bottom half of the inning, highlighted by a two-run single by Harold Martinez to take a 3-1 lead.
Fordham came right back to tie the game at three in the second inning. With two outs, Ryan Maghini reached base on an error, and scored on an RBI-double by Alex Kenny. P.J. Como then singled home Kenny to knot the game at three.
The score stayed tied until a wild seventh inning, where Fordham took an 8-3 lead with a five-run spurt. Como got things started with a one-out single, and moved to second on a groundout. Mobbs followed with his second double of the game to score Como, giving the Rams the lead.
After a wild pitch moved Mobbs to third and Chris Walker drew a walk, Ryan McCrann beat out an infield single, scoring Mobbs and moving Walker to second. Angelo Ponte followed with a two-run double down the right field line, scoring both Walker and McCrann for a 7-3 lead. Brian Kownacki then capped the inning with an RBI-single to right, scoring Ponte for an 8-3 advantage.
The Hurricanes however put together a five-run inning of their own, tying the game at eight through seven innings. After the Hurricanes scored twice, the Rams had an opportunity to get out of the inning at 8-5, but Ponte dropped a foul ball extending the inning. Zeke DeVoss made the Rams pay with an RBI-double closing the gap to 8-6.
Frank Ratliff then reached on an error with DeVoss scoring on the play, pulling Miami within one. Stephen Perez followed with a double to score Ratliff and tie the game at eight.
After a scoreless eighth, Miami won the game in the ninth, as Ratliff singled with one out and stole second. After a groundout advanced him to third, Ratliff scored on a wild pitch by Fordham reliever Brando Casalicchio to end the affair in Miami's favor.
Casalicchio (0-1) took the loss in relief, allowing the one run in the ninth. John Flanagan started the game, allowing two earned runs in four innings of work, while Ryan DeMartino allowed one run on three hits in two innings of relief.
At the plate, Mobbs was 2-for-3 with two doubles and two runs scored, while McCrann and Como each had two hits and an RBI.
Miami was led by Martinez, who had three RBI in the contest, while DeVoss was 3-for-5 with an RBI. Eric Whaley (3-0) earned the win in relief, pitching two hitless innings with four strikeouts.
The Fordham baseball team will next be in action on Friday, March 19th, when they open a three-game series against the Michigan Wolverines in Port St. Lucie, Florida, at the New York Mets Spring Training Facility. Game time is set for 2:30 PM.
