Bronx, N.Y. – With a tip of the cap to the outstanding job done by the Fordham Athletics Facilities crew, Houlihan Park was ready for play on Friday for the Fordham-Sacred Heart baseball doubleheader, which was set up as a nine-inning game followed by a seven-inning affair. Those efforts were rewarded with two outstanding pitching performances by Fordham's
Jimmy Murphy and
Reiss Knehr, as the Rams swept the twinbill by scores of 1-0 and 2-1.
With the sweep, Fordham improved to 5-9 on the season, while Sacred Heart fell to 5-12.
In game one, Fordham's
Jimmy Murphy allowed just two hits over eight shutout innings and struck out a career-high 14 batters, as the Rams pulled out a 1-0 win over the Pioneers.
The only run of the ballgame came in the bottom of the fifth inning.
Justin Bardwell started the rally with a one-out single and moved to second on a walk to
Luke Stampfl. After a foul out,
Matthew Kozuch reached on an infield single to load the bases, bringing
Ryan Mahoney to the plate. On an 0-2 pitch, James Taubl's offering went right through the legs of catcher Cody Doyle for a passed ball, allowing Bardwell to score from third.
Murphy (1-3) made that run hold up, giving up just two hits over eight innings, a double in the third and a double in the fifth. He struck out two batters in seven of his eight innings for a career-best 14 strikeouts, bettering his total of 11 against Canisius, earlier this month. The 14 strikeouts were the most for a Fordham pitcher since Javier Martinez struck out 14 Temple hitters in April 2006.
Alvin Melendez pitched a scoreless ninth to record his first career save and lock down the 1-0 win. At the plate, Bardwell was 2-for-5 with a double and a run scored, while
Reiss Knehr, Kozuch and Mahoney each had multi-hit games.
Justin Bardwell
In game two, Knehr picked up right where Murphy left off, as he struck out a career-high 11 batters in a complete game 2-1 win over the Pioneers.
The scheduled seven-inning game started with Fordham grabbing a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first. Stampfl connected on a two-out triple to right center, and then scored on a single up the middle by Kozuch.
The score remained that way until the seventh, when Sacred Heart knotted the game at one on an RBI-triple by Austin Markmann, scoring Dan Schock, who reached on a double.
Fordham though would pull out their third walk-off win of the season in the bottom of the seventh. With one out,
Jason Lundy and
Brian Goulard drew back-to-back walks, which ended Sacred Heart starter John Sostarich's day at 6.1 innings. Baylor Sundahl came on in relief, getting
Pat Gardner to ground out to second with the runners advancing to second and third. Sundahl then walked
Jake Baker and
Justin Bardwell, which forced in the winning run for Fordham.
Knehr improved to 2-2 on the season, as he allowed one run on six hits in the complete game win, while registering a career-high 11 strikeouts. His previous high was eight. At the dish, Fordham managed only four hits in the game. Stampfl was 2-for-3 with a triple and a run scored, with Kozuch and Gardner recording the other two hits.
The same two teams will wrap up their three-game series over the weekend with a 1:00 PM game on Sunday. The weather forecast for Saturday has pushed the game to Sunday.
