Box Score April 15, 2011
Box Score
Bronx, N.Y. -
In a recurring theme lately, the Fordham baseball team once again looked for some late inning heroics to overcome a deficit, this time to the George Washington Colonials at Houlihan Park. On Friday, it was Fordham's Ryan Maghini singling home Ryan Lee in the bottom of the ninth inning, giving Fordham an 8-7 walk-off win over the Colonials.
With the win, Fordham improves to 20-13 overall, 4-3 in the Atlantic 10, while George Washington falls to 10-24 overall, 3-4 in the league.
The Rams began the scoring quickly in the first as Nick Martinez drew a leadoff walk, moved to second on a ground out, and scored on a single to right center by Chris Walker. The hit extended Walker's hit streak to 14 games.
George Washington knotted the game quickly at one in the second, as Jim Best connected for a solo home run to left, his fourth of the season.
The Colonials then grabbed a 3-1 lead in the third on an RBI-single from Brendon Kelliher and RBI-triple by Tyler McCarthy, which was the first triple by the Colonials all season.
Fordham cut the deficit to 3-2 in the bottom of the frame on another RBI-single from Chris Walker, scoring Martinez who reached on a fielder's choice and moved to second on a walk to Ryan David.
George Washington went back ahead by three in the fourth, scoring twice on a sacrifice fly by Brett Bowers and an RBI-double by Justin Albright.
The Rams came right back to knot the game at five all in the bottom of the fourth with some clutch two-out hitting. With Brian Kownacki on second after a single and an error, Rob McCunney laced a two-out single to center to score Kownacki. Martinez followed with a double down the right field line, moving McCunney to third. David then came up with a two-run single that just dropped in front to the Colonials centerfielder, tying the game at five.
The Colonials quickly regained the lead in the fifth on back-to-back doubles by Stephen Oswald and McCarthy, putting George Washington ahead, 6-5.
The score remained that way until the bottom of the seventh, where Fordham retook the lead at 7-6. David singled up the middle with one out, which was followed by an RBI-double by Walker, his 10th of the season, to tie the game at six. The double was Walker's 39th of his career, tying him for 8th on the Rams' all-time list with
Bobby DiNardo (2006-09). One out later,
Ryan Lee singled to center to score Walker for the go-ahead run.
The seesaw affair continued with George Washington tying the game at seven with a run in the eighth on an RBI-single from Bowers, scoring pinch runner Joe Motto from second.
Then in the ninth, Fordham had first and second with one out, after consecutive walks to Stephen McSherry and Lee, with Matt DeSilva pinch running for McSherry. A wild pitch advanced the runners to second and third with Kownacki at the plate. Kownacki attempted a squeeze play bunt, but the bunt was fielded by Colonials pitcher Joe Richardson, who flipped home to Best to tag DeSilva out just before he reached home. After Kownacki stole second to eliminate the force play, Ryan Maghini laced a single to center, scoring Lee from third for the walk-off win for Fordham. The hit by Maghini, his lone marker of the day, extended his hit streak to a career-long eight games.
For Fordham, Tim Swatek (2-1) got the win in relief, allowing one run on two hits with four strikeouts in two innings of work. Starter Brian Pendergast went the first four plus innings, allowing six runs on nine hits, while reliever Rich Anastasi pitched three innings of two-hit relief with a season-high five strikeouts.
At the plate, Walker was 3-for-5 with a double and three RBI, while David was 2-for-4 with two RBI. Martinez tied a career-high with three runs scored, as he went 1-for-3 with a pair of walks.
The same two teams will match-up on Saturday for a noon start. This is a change from the original schedule.
