Baseball Walks Off with Series Sweep of George Washington

Bronx, N.Y. - 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.
 
With the win, Fordham improved to 26-23 on the season, 12-6 in the Atlantic 10, while George Washington fell to 20-28 on the year, 9-9 in the league.  It was also Fordham's first series sweep since doing so against St. Bonaventure last year.
 
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.
 
The Fordham baseball team will next be in action on Friday, May 13^th, when the Rams travel to Philadelphia to begin a three-game series against the Saint Joseph's Hawks at 3:00 PM.