After five innings on Tuesday, the Fordham baseball team was up 3-0 on the Fairfield Stags, and the Rams' starting pitcher
Reiss Knehr had allowed just one hit and struck out six. However, baseball is a nine-inning game and the Stags got to the Fordham bullpen, taking advantage of seven walks and three errors, to pull out the 8-5 come-from-behind win at Houlihan Park.
With the loss, Fordham goes to 19-19 on the year, while Fairfield improved to 16-17.
Fordham opened the scoring just two batters into its first at bat.
Joseph Runco led off with a single to right and stole second.
Justin Bardwell then doubled to left center, plating Runco for a 1-0 lead.
The Rams extended the lead to 3-0 in the fifth inning, courtesy of a single by Runco and RBI-triples by
Ryan McNally and
Mark Donadio.
Things then turned against the Rams, as the Stags scored four times off Fordham reliever
Anthony DiMeglio in the sixth to go ahead by a 4-3 score. Fordham looked to answer back with runners at the corners in the bottom of the inning, but Fairfield turned a double play to end the inning.
Fairfield then scored once in the seventh and three in the eighth to take an 8-3 advantage. Fordham cut the deficit back to three at 8-5 in the bottom of the eighth.
Jason Lundy reached on an infield single with
Ian Edmiston drawing a walk. After a wild pitch, both Lundy and Edmiston scored on a pair of ground outs by
Ryan Mahoney and
Joseph DeVito.
Despite the loss, Fordham baseball shaved their heads in support of the fight against childhood cancer. However, that was as close as the Rams would get as Anthony Howell recorded the final three outs for the Stags to earn his first save of the season.
For Fordham, DiMeglio (3-2) took the loss, allowing three earned runs on two hits and two walks in two-thirds of an inning. At the plate, Runco was 2-for-4 with two runs scored and a stolen base, while Bardwell, McNally, and Mahoney each had two hits and an RBI.
The Fordham baseball team is back in action on Wednesday, April 20
th, when the Rams begin an eight-game road swing at Columbia, beginning at 3:30 PM.