April 27, 2011
Game 1 Box Score |
Game 2 Box Score |
Photo Gallery 
Bronx, N.Y. - The Fordham baseball team bounced back with an offensive explosion in its doubleheader against longtime Metropolitan rival Columbia at Houlihan Park on Wednesday. The Rams totaled 16 runs and 23 hits in a twinbill sweep of the Lions by scores of 6-3 and 10-5.
With the sweep, Fordham improves to 26-15 overall, while Columbia falls to 17-23. This was the Rams first doubleheader sweep of the Lions since the 2005 season.
In game one, Fordham's Chris Walker was 3-for-4 with three RBI, while the Rams' bullpen posted five shutout innings, as the Rams took the opener from the Lions, 6-3.
Columbia jumped out to the early lead in the top of the fourth, scoring three times with three extra-base hits in the frame. Alex Aurrichio started the scoring with an RBI-triple, followed by an RBI-ground out by Eric Williams and an RBI-double from Alex Ferrera.
Fordham rallied back with four runs in the bottom of the fifth. Stephen McSherry opened the inning by reaching on an error, followed by a single from Ryan Maghini and a walk to Nick Martinez to load the bases. Ryan David then hit a line shot of the third baseman's glove for an infield single, scoring McSherry. One out later, Chris Walker blistered a two-run single to right center to knot the game at three.
After a double steal by David and Walker and a walk to
Tim Swatek,
Brian Kownacki singled through the left side to give Fordham a 4-3 lead.
The Rams extended the lead to 6-3 in the sixth, as Ryan Lee and Walker both posted RBI-singles in the frame.
The Fordham bullpen of Dan Sorine, Jonathan Reich, and Martinez would hold the Lions in check over the final five innings, allowing a total of three hits with five strikeouts. Sorine (1-2) got the win, pitching one inning of relief, with Reich throwing three innings of scoreless relief with three strikeouts. Martinez earned his third save of the season, pitching a hitless ninth inning. Fordham starter Brian Thompson pitched the first four innings, allowing three runs on five hits with three strikeouts.
Besides Walker, David was 2-for-5 with two runs scored, while Maghini also had a pair of hits.
In game two, it was more of the same as the Fordham bullpen threw six shutout innings of relief, while Martinez and Mike Mauri each had two hits and two RBI, as the Rams completed the doubleheader sweep of the Lions with a 10-5 victory.
Fordham opened with a 4-0 lead through two innings of play, scoring a pair of runs in each inning. In the first inning, the Rams picked up runs on an error and an RBI-single by Walker, while in the second, it was a two-run triple from Martinez that did the damage.
Columbia closed to within 4-3 in the top of the third inning, highlighted by a two-run home run by Mike Fischer.
The Rams quickly responded with a six-run outburst in the bottom of the frame to take a 10-3 lead. Fordham took advantage of two Columbia errors in the inning, and received a two-run single by
Mike Mauri, an RBI-ground ball from
Rob McCunney, an RBI-single by Maghini, and a sacrifice fly from Walker to account for five of the six runs. The final run came in on an error.
Columbia managed to pull within 10-5 with two runs in the fourth, but the Fordham bullpen went to work from there, halting the Lions' attack. The group of Ryan Fedak, Rich Anastasi, Joseph Charest, Jeremy Adel, and Ryan DeMartino held Columbia to just three hits over the final six innings. Anastasi (5-0) earned the win, allowing only one hit in 1.2 innings of work, while Charest threw three innings of two-hit ball with three strikeouts.
At the plate, Mauri had his first career multi-hit and multi-RBI game, going 2-for-4 with two runs scored and two RBI, while Martinez was 2-for-4 with a triple, two RBI, and two runs scored, extending his hit streak to a career-high nine games. Maghini and David also had a pair of hits each, as David extending his hit streak to a career-high 12 games.
The Fordham baseball team will next be in action on Friday, April 29th, when the Rams travel to Saint Louis University to begin a three-game Atlantic 10 series. Game time is set for 8:00 PM Eastern, 7:00 PM local time.
