Box Score May 20, 2010
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05/20/10 - Highlights vs. Duquesne
Bronx, N.Y. -
With a berth in the 2010 Atlantic 10 Championship in the balance, Fordham head coach Nick Restaino wasn't saving his staff ace for the third game of the three-game Atlantic 10 series with Duquesne. No, junior Max Krakowiak got the start today in the first game of the series, throwing seven and one-third innings of seven-hit ball, allowing three runs as the Rams defeated the Dukes, 6-3, at Houlihan Park.
With the win, Fordham improves to 14-10 in the Atlantic10, 20-32 overall, while Duquesne falls to 9-16 in the conference, 15-39 overall.
Junior Chris Walker led the Fordham offense, going 3-for-4 with two RBI, bringing his season total to 55, moving him into fourth place on the Fordham single season RBI list, three behind Tom Stein (1997). His three hits also bring his total base count to 114, the eighth best single season total in school history.
Krakowiak (7-3) handled the Duquesne bats for the first seven innings, allowing just an unearned run in the fifth, but ran into some trouble in the eighth, allowing two runs before Jordan Grangard came on to close the game out for the Rams and give Krakowiak his team-leading seventh win of the year.
Fordham opened the scoring in the third as Brian Kownacki connected on a solo home run, his second of the year.
The Dukes got the run back in the top of the fifth as Matt Carson singled with one out and, one out later stole second. After a walk to Rick Devereaux put runners on first and second, both runners where on the move when Mark Tracy hit a ground ball that went under Fordham third baseman Ryan Maghini's glove allowing Carson to score.
The Rams regained the lead with four runs in the home half of the inning. P.J. Como opened the frame with a double and Kownacki singled him to third. A Walker single down the left field line plated Como and moved Kownacki to second where he scored when the next batter, Ryan McCrann, singled through the right side. An Angelo Ponte double delivered Walker with the third run of the inning and advanced McCrann to third where he scored on a Mike Mobbs ground out.
Fordham picked up another run in the sixth as Como tripled to deep right center with one out and, one out later; Walker brought him in with a single.
In the Duquesne eighth, Tracy led off getting hit by a pitch and took second on a wild pitch. Anthony DeFabio moved Tracy to third with a ground out to first and Chris Kimmeth reached when Krakowiak fielded his infield single and threw over the head of McCrann at first, allowing Tracy to score and advancing Kimmeth to second. After Kimmeth stole third and Jared Bowser walked, Grangard came on to relieve Krakowiak and got Mike Ganley to fly out to center for the second out before Joe Lombardo singled to score Kimmeth and cut the Dukes' deficit to three, 6-3. But Grangard got Carson to hit into a fielder's choice to end the Duquesne threat.
The Dukes managed a two-out base runner in the ninth when Tracy singled but Grangard induced DeFabio to fly out to right to end the game.
Como (double and a triple), Kownacki, McCrann, Ponte and Martinez each finished with two hits for the Rams, who collected 13 hits on the day. Grangard threw an inning and two-third of two-hit ball, to earn his team-leading third save of the year.
The two teams will meet in game two of the three-game series tomorrow afternoon at 1:00 p.m. at Houlihan Park. Before the game, six Fordham seniors will be honored in a special Senior Day ceremony.
