Houston, Texas – It was a wild finish to the Fordham-HBU series on Sunday afternoon at Husky Stadium. The seesaw affair ended up with the home squad pulling out a 7-6 win over the Fordham Rams.
With the loss, Fordham is now 1-2 on the season.
The game started out well for Fordham, scoring once in the first and twice in the second for a 3-0 lead. In the first inning,
Alvin Melendez led off with a double to right center, moved to second on a ground out, and scored on a sacrifice fly by
Mark Donadio.
Then in the second,
Justin Bardwell kicked things off with a double down the left field line. He stayed at second until
Brian Goulard connected on a two-run home run to right, the first of his career.
The Rams continued to lead through the fifth inning, as starting pitcher
Anthony DiMeglio threw the first five innings, allowing just one run on a solo home run by Austin Zillweger.
Anthony DiMeglio
However, the Huskies would get to the Fordham bullpen, scoring once in the sixth and five times in the seventh to take a 7-3 lead.
Fordham rallied back to within one, 7-6, with a three-run eighth inning.
Luke Stampfl got the rally started with a one-out single, followed by a single by Bardwell.
Matthew Kozuch drew a walk to load the bases.
Ryan Mahoney then came through with a two-run single to right, getting the Rams within two. Goulard then made it a one-run ballgame with an RBI-single to right center, scoring Kozuch. The rally would stop there though, as HBU reliever J.T. Newton got back-to-back strikeouts of Matt Tarabeck and Melendez to end the rally.
The Rams had one more chance to tie the game in the ninth, as Stampfl reached on a two-out single, but Newton struck out Bardwell to end the game.
For Fordham, Stampfl recorded his second four-hit game in as many days, going 4-for-5 with a double and a run scored, while Goulard was 2-for-4 with a home run and three RBI. Bardwell also had a big day, going 3-for-5 with a double and two runs scored with Melendez and Lundy each having a pair of hits.
DiMeglio got a no-decision with his five innings of work.
Brian Weissert (0-1) took the loss, allowing three runs in 1.1 innings, while
Anthony Zimmerman also allowed three runs in a third of an inning.
Kyle Martin finished out the pitching effort with three strikeouts in 1.1 innings of relief.
The Fordham baseball team will next be in action February 24-26, as they travel to Long Beach State for a three-game series.
