Box Score May 21, 2010
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Bronx, N.Y. -
On Fordham University baseball Senior Day it was a senior from Duquesne who stole the show. The Dukes' Paul Bugajski stifled the Rams' bats, throwing six innings of two-hit ball, and Duquesne banged out 14 hits to defeat Fordham 14-2 in an Atlantic 10 game at Houlihan Park.
With the loss, Fordham falls to 14-12 in the Atlantic 10, 20-33 overall, while Duquesne improves to 16-39 overall, 10-16 in the conference.
Fordham entered the game tied with La Salle for fourth in the Atlantic 10, hoping to secure a spot in the 2010 Atlantic 10 Championship with a win. The good news for the Rams was that La Salle also lost today so the two teams remained tied for fourth along with George Washington, who defeated Rhode Island, and Saint Louis, who upended Dayton, to improve to 14-12 in the conference. Right behind the four teams tied for fourth is Saint Joseph's at 13-13.
Tomorrow's line-up for the teams fight for tournament bids features George Washington at Rhode Island, Dayton at Saint Louis, La Salle at Massachusetts and Xavier at Saint Joseph's.
The day got off to a rough start for Fordham starter J.P. Mack, who surrendered hits to the first three batters he faced, a single from Matt Carson, an RBI double from Andrew Heck and a run-scoring double off the bat of Rick Devereaux. Later in the inning, Chris Kimmeth singled to plate Devereaux as the Dukes took a 3-0 lead in the first.
Things didn't get any better for Mack in the second inning as Chris Happ led off with a walk and moved to second on a wild pitch. A single from Johnny Elms moved Happ to third and chased Mack from the game as Joseph Charest came on to relieve the lefty. Charest hit the first batter he faced, Carson, to load the bases before Heck delivered Happ with a sacrifice to center with Elms put out on the play trying to advance to third. Carson, who moved to second on the sacrifice fly, then stole third and scored when the throw from Fordham catcher Chris Walker went into left field to give Duquesne a 5-0 lead.
The Dukes tacked on another run in the fourth on a Heck RBI single to go up 6-0 as Bugajski cruised through the first four innings on the mound, not allowing a hit.
Fordham managed to finally get a hit off Bugajski in the fifth on a P.J. Como one-out bunt single. After Stephen McSherry struck out, Como stole second but he was stranded there when Ryan Maghini grounded out.
The Rams got to Bugajski for a run in the sixth as Nick Martinez led off with a triple to right center and Brian Kownacki walked to put runners on the corners. Ryan McCrann then beat out a double play grounder to second, plating Martinez and making it a 6-1 game.
But Duquesne exploded for six runs in the seventh, keyed by a two-run single from Jared Bowser and a two-run double from Devereaux, and two more in the eighth to take a 14-1 lead.
Back-to-back one-out doubles from Martinez and Kownacki in the bottom of the eighth made it a 14-2 game.
Martinez was 2-for-4 for the Rams with a double and a triple and he scored both Fordham runs while Como finished the game 2-for-3.
The two teams will close out the three-game Atlantic 10 series on Saturday night at 7:00 p.m. at Houlihan Park.
