Bronx, N.Y. – After the late-inning heroics of
Jason Lundy on Thursday, fans wondered what the Fordham baseball team had in store for the second game of its Atlantic 10 series against the Saint Joseph's Hawks at Houlihan Park on Friday. The fans were treated to one of the best pitching performances in Fordham baseball history, as
Reiss Knehr struck out a career-high 16 batters in a 5-0 shutout win over the Hawks.
With the win, Fordham has won four in a row for the third time this season, and nine of the last 11 games. The Rams moved to 17-13 overall, 6-4 in the Atlantic 10, while Saint Joseph's fell to 10-17 on the year, 3-5 in the league.
All of the offense in the game came in the bottom of third inning, when Fordham rallied for five runs.
Jason Lundy opened with a single up the middle and moved to second on a ground out.
Matthew Kozuch then lifted a fly ball to left center that the centerfielder attempted a diving catch, but came up empty, allowing Lundy to score with Kozuch going to second for an RBI-double.
Jake Baker was then hit by a pitch followed by a single by
Mark Donadio to load the bases for
Justin Bardwell. Bardwell came through with a line drive single to right center, scoring Kozuch and Baker. The Rams re-loaded the bases on a
Brian Goulard hit by pitch, bringing
Ryan Mahoney to the plate, who delivered a two-run double to right, capping the five-run inning.
Ryan Mahoney
That was plenty was offense for sophomore
Reiss Knehr, as he had a career day, taking a no-hitter into the seventh inning, and had a streak of 11 straight strikeouts against the Hawks. The 11 consecutive strikeouts is the most by a college pitcher since Navy's Luke Gillingham struck out the first 12 batters at North Carolina A&T on February 13, 2015.
The strikeout streak and the no-hit bid ended on a leadoff single by Deon Stafford, Jr. in the seventh, but no damage was done, as Stafford was thrown out at second trying to steal, while Knehr struck out the final two batters of the inning, to keep the game at 5-0.
Knehr added one more strikeout in the ninth, before being relieved by
Alvin Melendez, who tacked on two more strikeouts to complete the shutout. In total, Knehr and Melendez combined for 18 strikeouts on the afternoon.
Knehr improved to 3-3 on the season, allowing just one hit and two walks over 8.1 innings of work with a career-high 16 strikeouts. The 16 strikeouts were the most by a Ram since Jack McQuade struck out 17 in a game against CCNY on April 12, 1956, and tied for the sixth-most in a game by a Ram pitcher with Johnny Murphy, who struck out 16 against Columbia on April 23, 1929.
At the plate, Mahoney was 2-for-4 with a double and two RBI, while Goulard and Donadio each had a pair of hits.
The same two teams will close out the three-game series on Saturday with a noon game.
Most strikeouts in a game by a Fordham pitcher: (based upon available records)
19, Tim McNamara vs. Lehigh, 4/5/1922 (13 innings)
18, Bob Cooney vs. Columbia, 4/6/1927 (14 innings)
18, Gene Bowe vs. Lehigh, 4/16/1938
17, Chris Mahoney at Washington & Lee, 4/10/1909
17, Jack McQuade vs. CCNY, 4/12/1956
16, Johnny Murphy vs. Columbia, 4/23/1929
16, Reiss Knehr vs. Saint Joseph's, 4/14/2017
