Box Score May 8, 2011
Box Score
Bronx, N.Y. -
Following two sub-par starts each of the last two weeks, Fordham senior Max Krakowiak felt right at home on Sunday at Houlihan Park against the Saint Joseph's Hawks. Krakowiak did not allow a hit until the sixth inning and finished with a season-high 10 strikeouts, as he led the Rams to a 7-4 win over the Hawks, winning a crucial Atlantic 10 series.
With the win, Fordham improves to 29-19 overall, 10-8 in the Atlantic 10, while Saint Joseph's falls to 15-30 on the year, 6-12 in the league. The win puts Fordham in a four-way tie for the final two spots in the Atlantic 10 playoff race with Xavier and St. Bonaventure, who both won today, as well as Richmond who lost to Charlotte. All four teams are also within a game of La Salle and Dayton, who are both at 11-7, and in a tie for third place.
For the third time in the series, Fordham opened the scoring first, as Nick Martinez led off the game with a walk, stole second, and scored on a single by Chris Walker for a 1-0 lead.
The Rams extended the lead to 2-0 in the second, when Mike Mauri singled with two outs and came around to score on a double by Ryan Maghini, which just went off the glove of a lunging Saint Joseph's centerfielder near the wall.
Fordham tacked on three more runs in the fifth for a 5-0 lead, loading the bases on an error, a walk, and a fielder's choice. The Rams picked up the first run on a wild pitch, which was followed by a two-run single by Walker.
Meanwhile, Fordham starter
Max Krakowiak went into the sixth inning without allowing a hit. Saint Joseph's Mike Coleman though would break up the no-hit bid with a one-out single through the right side. The Hawks would score twice in the inning, cutting the lead to 5-2.
Fordham got those two runs back in the bottom of the seventh on back-to-back RBI-singles by Ryan David and Tim Swatek. The hit by Swatek increased his hit streak to 12 games, the longest by a freshman in the Atlantic 10 this season.
The Hawks had another surge in the eighth, scoring twice off Krakowiak to make it a 7-4 game, but Swatek came in to relieve Krakowiak, recording the final four outs of the game for his second straight game with a save, and sixth overall this year.
Krakowiak improved to 5-6 on the season, allowing three earned runs on four hits with a season-high 10 strikeouts in 7.2 innings of work. It was Krakowiak's second career game with at least 10 strikeouts.
At the plate, Walker was 2-for-4 with three RBI, while David and Maghini were each 1-for-4 with a run scored and an RBI. Martinez finished with three runs scored and a stolen base, as he walked three times in the game.
The Fordham baseball team will next be in action on Friday, May 13th, when the team begins a three-game Atlantic 10 series at the University of Massachusetts, beginning at 1:00 PM.
