Baseball Travels to Saint Joseph’s for Another Big A-10 Series This Weekend

With just two weekends left in the regular season, it's nitty gritty time in the Atlantic 10, and one of the biggest series of the weekend is in Philadelphia, where the Fordham Rams meet the Saint Joseph's Hawks.
 
Fordham (26-23, 12-6) and Saint Joseph's (25-19, 11-7) are separated by one game in the conference standings and both are still in striking distance of the top spot in the Atlantic 10.  The Rams are coming off an impressive sweep of the George Washington Colonials, while Saint Joseph's picked up two wins in their series with La Salle.
 
Due to weather concerns, game times have been shifted as Friday and Saturday are now listed as noon starts with Sunday remaining at 1:00 PM.
 
PROBABLE STARTERS/GAME COVERAGE:
Friday - RHP Greg Weissert (4-3, 4.12) vs. LHP Lucas Rollins (3-4, 3.03) // Twitter Feed - @FordhamBaseball | Live Stats | Live Audio
Saturday - RHP Joseph Serrapica (4-4, 2.87) vs. RHP Tim Brennan (6-1, 2.54) // Twitter Feed - @FordhamBaseball | Live Stats | Live Audio
Sunday – RHP Kirk Haynes, Jr. (3-4, 3.73) vs. RHP Pat Vanderslice (5-2, 3.99) // Twitter Feed - @FordhamBaseball | Live Stats | Live Audio
 
THIS WEEKEND IN THE ATLANTIC 10:  Here a look at this weekend's schedule in the Atlantic 10:

• Fordham at Saint Joseph's
• Richmond at George Washington
• Saint Louis at St. Bonaventure
• Davidson at Dayton
• La Salle at George Mason
• VCU at Presbyterian

SERIES HISTORY: The two Jesuit institutions have met regularly over the past 20 seasons with the Hawks holding a 27-22-1 edge in 50 all-time meetings.  Saint Joseph's has had Fordham's number lately, winning six of the last seven games, which includes all four match-ups in 2014.
 
LAST TIME OUT: Sunday's baseball series finale between Fordham and George Washington had a little bit of everything and plenty of drama.  That drama ended in the bottom of the ninth, when Fordham's Joseph Runco plated Jason Lundy with a walk-off single to right, giving the Rams an 8-7 win and the series sweep of the Colonials at Houlihan Park.
 
The seesaw affair began right away with each team scoring a run in the first inning.  The Colonials got a run off Fordham starter Kirk Haynes, Jr. on a sacrifice fly by Bobby Campbell, while the Rams received an RBI-double from Joseph Runco, scoring Matthew Kozuch, who led off with a double.  George Washington starter Luke Olson lasted just four batters, before he was lifted for Justin Friedman.
 
George Washington re-gained the lead, tacking on single runs in the third, fourth, and fifth innings for a 4-1 lead.  Fordham cut the lead to 4-2 in the bottom of the fifth, as Luke Stampfl reached on a ground-rule double, moved to third on a wild pitch, and scored on a ground out by Jason Lundy.
 
Then came an adventurous seventh inning, where the Colonials added to their lead with two runs on two RBI-singles from Matthieu Robert and Joey Bartosic for a 6-2 edge.
 
Fordham answered with a five-run rally in the bottom of the inning to take a 7-6 lead.  Mark Donadio was hit by a pitch to start the inning, while Stampfl drew a walk off Colonials' reliever Eddie Muhl.  Justin Bardwell then roped a double to left center to score Donadio and move Stampfl to third.  That hit ended Muhl's day, as the Colonials brought in Brady Renner from the bullpen.  Renner was then greeted with an RBI-single by Ryan Mahoney, putting runners at the corners and no one out.  Lundy then placed a perfect squeeze bunt to score Bardwell from third and move Mahoney to second.  Joseph DeVito then tied the game at six with a single to left, scoring Mahoney from second.  The Rams then pulled off a perfect hit-and-run, as Kozuch drove a single to right.  The rightfielder though overran the ball, allowing DeVito to score on the play and give Fordham the lead.

The lead did not last long, as George Washington tied the game at seven on an RBI-bunt single by Andrew Selby that plated Campbell from third.
 
The score remained tied in the ninth, where Fordham reliever Reiss Knehr pitched a 1-2-3 ninth inning, giving Fordham a chance to end the game in the bottom of the inning.  Lundy got things rolling with a one-out, ground-rule double down the right field line.  After Lundy moved to third on a ground out, George Washington reliever Robbie Metz, the Colonials' eighth pitcher of the afternoon, intentionally walked Kozuch, bringing Runco to the plate.  After allowing Kozuch to advance on defensive indifference, the Colonials pulled in the infield and outfield for Runco.   That decision backfired on the Colonials, as Runco drove a single over the right fielder's head to score Lundy for the walk-off win.
 
Knehr (2-1) earned the win in relief, throwing 1.1 innings of hitless relief with one strikeout.  Haynes, Jr. went the first three innings, allowing two runs on three hits, while Ben Greenberg made his return to the mound, giving up two runs on four hits over three innings of work.    Jimmy Murphy rounded out the pitching effort, allowing three runs on four hits over 1.2 innings of relief with three strikeouts.

 
At the plate, Kozuch was 3-for-5 with a double and a run scored, while Runco was 2-for-5 with a double and two RBI.  Lundy was 2-for-4 with a double and two RBI, with Bardwell, DeVito, and Mahoney each having a hit and an RBI. 

KNEHR NAMED A-10 ROOKIE OF THE WEEK (5/9): The Atlantic 10 Conference announced its weekly baseball awards on Monday, and Fordham freshman Reiss Knehr (Glen Head, N.Y./St. Dominic) was selected as the league's Rookie of the Week.  It is Knehr's first career weekly award.
 
Knehr was a part of two Fordham wins this weekend in the Rams' series sweep of George Washington. On Friday, Knehr slammed the door on the Colonials, tossing four innings of three-hit relief with a season-high eight strikeouts to earn his first career save. Then on Sunday, he was rewarded with a relief win, as he pitched 1.1 innings hitless relief with one strikeout.  With the 5.1 innings of scoreless relief, Knehr lowered his ERA to 0.65 for the season with an opponent batting average of .149.
 
WE'RE GOING STREAKIN': Junior Matthew Kozuch has been on fire in his last 10 games, batting .410 with six runs scored, three doubles, a home run and five RBI… Junior Mark Donadio is hitting .352 (19-54) over the last 15 games with 11 runs scored and nine RBI… Junior Ryan Mahoney is batting .310  over his last 13 games (13-42) with six runs scored, a home run and eight RBI… Junior Jason Lundy is hitting .327 over his last 15 games (18-55) with seven runs scored and five RBI… Senior Joseph Serrapica is 3-0 with a 1.03 ERA in his last four starts, posting 28 strikeouts in 26.1 innings… Senior Jimmy Murphy has four saves and 2.08 ERA in his last seven relief appearances with 10 strikeouts… Junior Greg Weissert is 3-0 with a 4.56 ERA in his last four starts with 15 strikeouts in 23.2 innings… Freshman Reiss Knehr has a 0.44 ERA in his last eight appearances, recording a two wins, a save, and 24 strikeouts in 20.2 innings of work.
 
WHO'S NEXT: The Rams close out the regular season with a three-game Atlantic 10 series against Dayton, May 19-21, at Houlihan Park.