Bronx, N.Y. – The Fordham baseball team split an Atlantic 10 doubleheader with the UMass Minutemen on Friday at Houlihan Park, dropping the opener, 3-0, while winning the nightcap, 10-2.
With the sweep, Fordham moves to 23-23 overall, 8-11 in the Atlantic 10, while UMass is now 13-29 on the year, 7-13 in the league.
In game one, UMass starting pitcher Justin Lasko threw a complete game, seven-hit shutout while Ryan Lever had two hits and an RBI to lift the Minutemen to a 3-0 victory.
Fordham looked primed to score in each of the first three innings, but left a total of six runners on base without plating a run.
The Minutemen then capitalized on a Fordham error in the fourth inning to score the opening run of the game. UMass extended the lead to 2-0 in the fifth, when the Minutemen had runners at corners with two outs and got an RBI-single by Ryan Lever.
UMass tacked on an insurance run in the eighth on a sacrifice fly by Mike Geannelis, which scored Lever, who reached base on a double and took third on a wild pitch.
Fordham had a final chance in the ninth as
Jason Lundy and
Jake Baker both reached base on one-out singles against UMass starter Justin Lasko. However, Lasko got
Matt Tarabek to fly out to left, while
Brian Goulard grounded out to first to end the game.
Justin Bardwell had a pair of RBI-singles in game two.
Lasko (3-6) went the distance, throwing a seven-hit shutout with seven strikeouts for UMass. That effort overshadowed another solid performance from Fordham's
Jimmy Murphy (5-7), who threw his second complete game of the season, giving up two earned runs on four hits with seven strikeouts. At the plate for Fordham,
Matthew Kozuch was 2-for-4, while five other Rams had one hit each.
In game two, the Fordham offense came alive for 10 runs on 11 hits, as the Rams won the nightcap, 10-2.
Fordham scored in each of the first five innings, starting with two runs in the first inning.
Billy Godrick singled through the left side, which was followed by an RBI-triple by
Mark Donadio and an RBI-single by
Justin Bardwell for a 2-0 lead.
The Rams added two more runs in the second for a 4-0 lead. Fordham loaded the bases with no outs on singles by
Alvin Melendez and Baker and a Goulard hit by pitch. After a pair of outs, Donadio was hit by a pitch to force in one run, while
Luke Stampfl drew a walk to force in another.
UMass got a run back in the third on a solo home run by Jon Avallone, but Fordham answered with four runs in the bottom of the inning to extend the lead to 8-1. The Rams once again loaded the bases with Godrick drawing a walk to force in a run with Donadio connecting on a two-run single to center. The final run of the inning came in on an errant pickoff attempt at first.
Fordham finished its scoring with single runs in the fourth and fifth innings. In the fourth,
Jason Lundy walked, stole second, and scored on a double by Goulard, while in the fifth, Bardwell recorded his second RBI-single to score Godrick, who had singled and moved to second on a Donadio walk.
The Minutemen's second run came in the fifth on an RBI-single by Dylan Morris for the 10-2 final score.
Fordham starter
Brandon Martin (4-1) threw a season-long 5.2 innings to earn his fourth win of the season. He allowed two runs on eight hits with a season-high six strikeouts.
Mike Cowell and
Brian Weissert locked down the win, as Cowell threw 1.1 innings of hitless relief, while Weissert tossed two innings of one-hit relief.
At the plate, Donadio had the big game, going 3-for-3 with a triple, a run scored, and four RBI, while Godrick was 2-for-4 with three runs scored and an RBI. Bardwell finished 2-for-4 with two RBI with Melendez going 1-for-4 with two runs scored and two stolen bases.
With rain in the forecast for Saturday, the Fordham-UMass baseball series will conclude on Sunday, May 14
th with a noon contest. The Rams will celebrate Senior Day on Sunday with that ceremony taking place at 11:40 AM.
