Baseball Opens Atlantic 10 Championship on Wednesday

Game Notes

For the second straight season, the Fordham Rams are in the Atlantic 10 Championship as the seventh seed, after finishing conference play at 13-11.  The tournament begins Wednesday, as the Rams will play the second seed, Rhode Island Rams, at 1:30 PM in the opening round of the tournament at Tucker Field .

PROBABLE STARTERS:
Fordham - RHP Brett Kennedy (6-7, 3.83 ERA) vs. Rhode Island - RHP Lou DiStasio (5-5, 4.64 ERA) - Live Stats | Live Video

ATLANTIC 10 ANNOUNCES ALL-CONFERENCE TEAMS: The Atlantic 10 conference announced its all-conference baseball teams on May 19th, with five Rams being honored.  Junior catcher Charles Galiano leads the group, as he was named First Team All-Atlantic 10, while freshman Ben Greenberg was named to the All-Rookie Team.  Matthew Kozuch, Joseph Runco, and Ryan McNally were also selected to the All-Academic team in a vote of the conference's sports information directors.

Galiano posted career-highs in most offensive categories this season with a .305 batting average, 58 hits, 33 runs scored, nine home runs, and 36 RBI.  He also had team-highs with 19 multi-hit games and nine multi-RBI games.  He finished the year with a career-long 11-game hitting streak and in conference play, Galiano batted a team-best .393 with four doubles, six home runs, and 23 RBI.

Greenberg was the team leader in ERA this season at 2.48 in 17 appearances.   A one-time Atlantic 10 Rookie of the Week selection, he went 4-1 this season, allowing just 19 earned runs in 69.0 innings to go with 32 strikeouts.   With Greenberg's selection, this marks the fourth straight year that Fordham has had at least one player on the All-Rookie Team.

Runco, a Business Administration major with a concentration in Finance, earned All-Academic standing for the second straight year.  Just two weeks ago, he was one of two Rams named First Team Capital One Academic All-District®, and is currently on the national ballot for Academic All-American status.  Runco leads the Rams in runs scored (38) and stolen bases (28) this season.

Kozuch, a Finance major, was the other Rams to be named First Team Capital One Academic All-District®.  He has been the Rams leading hitter all season long with a team-best .333 average to go with 35 runs scored, 10 doubles, three triples, three home runs, and 34 RBI.  He also led the team in walks with 39 and added eight stolen bases.

McNally, a Business Administration major with a concentration in Finance, graduated in just three years and started 50 of 51 games this season in left field.  He was one of four Rams to finish with at least 10 doubles, while being second on squad in stolen bases with 18.

WE'RE GOIN' STREAKIN': Junior Charles Galiano takes a career-high 11-game hit streak into the Atlantic 10 Championship.  He is batting .513 (20-39) with 10 runs, four home runs, and 12 RBI over that stretch... Tim O'Connor is batting .417 in his last nine contests, scoring six runs... Jordan Gajdos is batting .391 (9-23) in his last eight games, posting a double and five RBI... Joe DeVito has nine RBI over the last 11 contests, while batting .295... In his last six starts, Brett Kennedy is 5-1 with a 1.66 ERA and 44 strikeouts in 43.1 innings pitched, compared to just four walks.... Ben Greenberg is 2-1 with a 2.04 ERA in his last six strarts, allowing just nine earned runs over 39.2 innings... In his last nine conference appearances, Jimmy Murphy is 1-1 with a 2.35 ERA and three saves.

MOVIN' ON UP: Juniors Joseph Runco and Brett Kennedy have both climbed the career leader list at Fordham in stolen bases and strikeouts.  Runco has made his way into sixth on the all-time stolen base list with 70, while with a career-high 10 strikeouts against Dayton, Kennedy finished the regular season 214 strikeouts, passing Pete Harnisch (213) for second at Fordham, while trailing only Javier Martinez's record of 264.