Baseball Opens Atlantic 10 Championship on Wednesday Against Saint Louis

Game Notes | Full Bracket

Bronx, N.Y. - The Fordham baseball team opens play at the Atlantic 10 Championship on Wednesday afternoon, when the Rams take on the Saint Louis Billikens at 5:00 PM at Fordham's Houlihan Park.  The winner of the game will move on to face top-seeded Rhode Island at 1:30 PM on Thursday, while the loser moves into the loser bracket of the double-elimination tournament.

For the first time since 2011, the Fordham baseball team finished the regular season with a winning record at 28-27, while going 14-10 in Atlantic 10 play.  The 14 league wins were the most by the Rams since registering 15 in 2010.  They face off with Saint Louis that finished 15-9 in league action, 25-29 overall.

PROBABLE STARTERS/GAME COVERAGE:
Fordham - RHP Joseph Serrapica (5-5, 3.55 ERA) vs. Saint Louis - RHP Matt Eckelman (9-4, 2.99 ERA) // Follow on Twitter - @FordhamBaseball | Live Video | Live Stats

SIX RAMS NAMED TO ALL-CONFERENCE TEAMS (5/24): The Atlantic 10 Conference announced its baseball All-Conference teams and major awards on Tuesday afternoon, as voted upon by the league's coaches.  Fordham was well represented as six Rams found their way onto the Atlantic 10 All-Conference Team, the All-Rookie Team, or the Academic All-Conference Team.

Junior outfielder Mark Donadio led the way earning Second Team All-Atlantic 10 honors, while freshman catcher Justin Bardwell and freshman pitcher Reiss Knehr were named to the Atlantic 10 All-Rookie Team.  Graduate student Ryan McNally, senior Joseph Runco, and junior Matthew Kozuch were all selected to the Academic All-Conference Team, as voted on by the league's sports information directors.

With the selection of Bardwell and Knehr to the All-Rookie Team, Fordham has had at least one All-Rookie Team selection in each of head coach Kevin Leighton's five years at Fordham.  To read full release, go here.

LAST TIME OUT: Dayton's Austin Cline tossed 8.1 innings, allowing one unearned run, while Nick Weybright had a two-run triple in the fourth inning, as the Flyers spoiled Senior Day for the Fordham Rams, winning the regular season finale at Houlihan Park by a 2-1 score on Friday afternoon.

It was a straight up pitcher's duel in the regular season finale for both teams, as they combined for just three runs and 11 hits in the game.  Dayton scored twice in the top of the fourth inning with a two-out rally.  After a single and a walk, Nick Weybright hit a shot to right center, that Fordham's Mark Donadio dove for but could not come up with.  Two runners came in to score on the play with Weybright ending up at third with a triple.

Fordham closed the gap to 2-1 in the bottom of the eighth, as the Rams took advantage of a Dayton error.  Joseph DeVito reached base on a throwing error with two outs and moved to third on a double by Joseph Runco.  DeVito then scored on a wild pitch.  The Rams got the tying run on base in the ninth inning, when Donadio singled to left with one out.  However, Dayton's Kevin Piersol got the final two outs for his fourth save of the season to close out the 2-1 game.

Fordham's Kirk Haynes, Jr. (3-6) was the hard luck loser, allowing two runs on five hits over four innings of work.  Reliever Jimmy Murphy finished the game, pitching the final five innings without allowing a hit and tied a season-high with seven strikeouts.  At the plate, Donadio was 3-for-4 in the game, while Runco, Justin Bardwell and Ian Edmiston split up the final three hits for the Rams.

WE'RE GOIN' STREAKIN': The Rams are 6-4 in the last 10 games, heading into the Atlantic 10 championship... Junior Mark Donadio is hitting .394 (13-33) over the last 10 games with seven runs scored, four doubles, and five RBI… Senior Joey Runco has the longest hit streak entering the tournament at five games.  He is batting .326 with five runs scored, two home runs and six RBI in his last 10 games... Junior Ryan Mahoney is batting .320  over his last nine games, scorign four runs to go with three RBI… Senior Joseph Serrapica is 3-1 with a 3.28 ERA over his last four starts, posting 31 strikeouts in 24.2 innings… Junior Greg Weissert is 5-0 with in conference action with 49 strikeouts and a 3.80 ERA in 47.1 innings… Freshman Reiss Knehr has a 1.74 ERA in his last five conference appearances, recording a win and two saves over that period with 17 strikeouts to just two walks.

RAMS CLOSING IN ON STRIKEOUT RECORD (AGAIN): After breaking the team record for team strikeouts by the pitching staff last season, the Rams are earmarked to do it again this season.  Fordham set the record at 392 in 2015, and currently sit with 386 this season.

MILESTONE MEN: 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 (215) and at bats (838), while moving into second in career hits (237) and stolen bases (88).  He is four 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, May 13th when he connected on his 10th 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.

OUCH THAT HURTS: Outfielder Ryan McNally is also closing in another career record, as he is two hit by pitches shy of tying Santy Gallone's career record of 42 (1989-1992).  McNally has been hit 40 times in his career, thus far.