March 14, 2013
Bronx, N.Y. -
The Fordham baseball team hosts the first Frankie Frisch Invitational this weekend at Houlihan Park, honoring one of Fordham's all-time greats: The Fordham Flash, Frankie Frisch.
A member of Fordham's inaugural Hall of Fame class and the National Baseball Hall of Fame, Frisch, the 1931 National League MVP, stands as one of baseball's all-time greats, getting his start here at Rose Hill before moving on to the major leagues with the New York Giants and St. Louis Cardinals.
Though he was only at Fordham from 1918-19, the Flash left his mark, as he held the single season stolen base record at Fordham for 67 years from 1918 until 1985, and remains one of five players to hold the single game hits marks with six.
The Invitational will have six games total from Friday until Sunday, two each day, featuring Fordham, NJIT, Sacred Heart and Saint Peter's. Games are set to begin at noon and 3:30 PM each day.
GAME COVERAGE:
The schedule for the Frankie Frisch Invitational, as well as GameTracker and watch links can be found on the Tournament Central Page.
LAST TIME OUT: Behind 13 hits from the offense and 12 strikeouts from the pitching staff, the Fordham baseball team got back in the win column on Wednesday with an 8-5 victory over New York Tech at Houlihan Park. The win improved Fordham to 8-6 on the year and evened the all-time series with the Bears at 32-32-2.
Fordham opened the scoring right away in the first inning, as with one out, Joseph Runco was hit by a pitch and stole second. After a single by Tim Swatek, Runco scored on a wild pitch. Mike Mauri followed with an RBI-single to score Swatek, while singles by Charles Galiano and Ryan McNally plated another run for a 3-0 lead.
The Rams increased the lead to 5-0 in the third, as Mauri reached on an infield single and stole second. Galiano then ripped an RBI-triple to right center, scoring Mauri. Galiano later scored on a New York Tech error.
The Bears closed to within three at 5-2 in the sixth inning, after single runs in the fifth and sixth innings. Nick Sebastian hit a one-out triple in the fifth and scored on a wild pitch, while Alex Angus' RBI-single in the sixth accounted for the other run.
Fordham got those runs back in the bottom half of the sixth to lead, 7-2. Matthew Cianci started the rally with a one-out single and stole second. Runco followed with an RBI-single and took second on the throw home. He would later score on a wild pitch.
After the Bears notched two runs in the eighth, Fordham put one back on the board to take an 8-4 lead. McNally connected for his second RBI-single of the game, scoring pinch-hitter Sam Careccia, who reached on a single and moved to second following Galiano's hit by pitch.
The Bears would score once in the ninth, but it was not enough, as Jeremy Adel struck out two in the ninth to close out the win.
J.C. Porter (1-0) earned the victory, as he tied a career-high with five strikeouts, giving up two earned runs on six hits in 5.1 innings of work. Jonathan Reich pitched 1.2 innings of scoreless relief with three strikeouts with Dan Sorine recording two strikeouts in one inning of work. In all, Fordham recorded 12 strikeouts in the game.
At the plate, Galiano recorded his first four-hit game, going 4-for-4 with a triple and an RBI, while McNally was 2-for-5 with two RBI. Mauri posted a 2-for-3 game with two runs scored and an RBI with Runco also scoring two runs.
UPCOMING GAMES: Following the Frankie Frisch Invitational, the Rams will host Hofstra on Wednesday, March 20th, beginning at 3:30 PM.
