Baseball Wraps Up Regular Season With A-10 Home Series vs. Dayton

Bronx, N.Y. - It's the final week of Atlantic 10 conference action, and there is plenty up for grabs with just three games left before next week's conference championship, hosted at Fordham's Houlihan Park.  Only three teams have clinched a berth in the tournament, while no seed has been locked up yet.
 
Fordham (26-26, 12-9) is at home for its final series, as the Rams host the Dayton Flyers (18-34, 7-14).  The series begins Thursday with a noon doubleheader, followed by a noon game on Friday.  This is a change from the origin al schedule.  Both games will be Kids' Day games, as area school children have been invited to each contest for a field trip, while Friday will also be Senior Day.
 
PROBABLE STARTERS/GAME COVERAGE:
Thursday – Game 1 - RHP Greg Weissert (4-3, 4.43) vs. RHP Charlie Dant (3-6, 4.12) // Twitter Feed - @FordhamBaseball | Live Stats | Live Video | Live Audio
 
Thursday – Game 2 - TBA vs. RHP Zach Beaver (3-6, 3.73) // Twitter Feed - @FordhamBaseball | Live Stats | Live Video | Live Audio
 
Friday – TBA vs. RHP Austin Cline (3-4, 4.52) // Twitter Feed - @FordhamBaseball | Live Stats | Live Video | Live Audio
 
THIS WEEKEND IN THE ATLANTIC 10:  Here a look at this weekend's schedule in the Atlantic 10:

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

 
SERIES HISTORY: The Rams and Flyers have met 28 times prior to this week, with Dayton holding a 16-12 edge in the series.  Last season, Fordham and Dayton wrapped up the regular season in Ohio with the Flyers winning the final two games of the series.  Prior to that, Fordham had won the previous four meetings.
 
LAST TIME OUT: Saint Joseph's John Brue went 3-for-3 with four runs scored, three RBI, and hit a home run in his third straight game, as the Hawks shut out the Fordham Rams, 10-0, at Smithson Field in Philadelphia, Pa.

Saint Joseph's started the scoring right away in the first, getting RBI-singles from Charlie Concannon and Matt Maul for a 2-0 lead.

The Hawks added to the lead in the third, when Brue connected on a two-run home run to right, his 15^th of the year and third of the series.

Saint Joseph's then tacked on two runs in the fourth and one in the sixth and three in the eighth for the 10-0 final score.

Three Saint Joseph's pitchers combined for the five-hit shutout of the Rams, as Pat Vanderslice earned his sixth win of the season, throwing the first seven innings of the game, allowing five hits with three strikeouts.

Kirk Haynes, Jr. (3-5) took the loss, allowing four runs over two-plus innings of work.  At the plate, Ryan Mahoney was the lone Ram with multiple hits, going 2-for-3.  Joseph Runco had one of the remaining three hits to go with a stolen base as he played in his 212^th game as a Ram, setting a new career record at Fordham.

 
MILESTONES: Fordham's Joseph Runco and Ryan McNally have both been closing in on or surpassed milestones of the past few weeks.  Runco has become the Rams' all-time leader in games played (212) and at bats (829), while moving into third in career hits (234) and stolen bases (88).  He is seven hits shy of Greg Smith's record of 241 (2003-06), while just three stolen bases behind Shawn Harris for second place (91).
 
McNally also joined the milestone club on Friday, when he connected on his 10^th home run of the season, becoming the first Ram to reach double-digit home runs since Bobby DiNardo hit 15 in 2009.  He is just eighth Ram overall to reach 10 home runs in a single season, joining Mike Marchiano (twice), Brad Howland (twice), Greg Smith, DiNardo, Bobby Kingsbury, Vincent Lumia, and Jeremy Bourgeois
 
WE'RE GOING STREAKIN': Junior Matthew Kozuch has been on fire in his last 13 games, batting .392 (20-51) with eight runs scored, three doubles, a home run and five RBI… Junior Mark Donadio is hitting .327 (17-52) over the last 15 games with 11 runs scored and nine RBI… Junior Ryan Mahoney is batting .325  over his last 13 games (13-40) with four runs scored, a home run and nine RBI… Junior Jason Lundy is hitting .345 over his last 15 games (19-55) with five runs scored, two doubles, and six RBI… Senior Joseph Serrapica is 3-1 with a 2.50 ERA in Atlantic 10 action, posting 41 strikeouts in 36.0 innings… Senior Jimmy Murphy has four saves in his last 10 relief appearances with 13 strikeouts… Junior Greg Weissert is 4-0 with a 4.35 ERA in conference action with 40 strikeouts in 41.1 innings… Freshman Reiss Knehr has a 1.62 ERA in his last 10 conference appearances, recording a two wins, a save, and 16 strikeouts in 16.2 innings of work.
 
WHO'S NEXT: The Atlantic 10 Championship comes to the Bronx next week, as Houlihan Park will play host to the top seven teams in the league, May 25^th-28^th.