Baseball Travels to Saint Joseph’s for A-10 Series

Bronx, N.Y. – (April 26, 2018) – Following its road win at Yale on Tuesday, the Fordham baseball team remains on the road this weekend, as the Rams are back in the Philadelphia area for the second time in three weeks, when they meet the Saint Joseph's Hawks for an important three-game Atlantic 10 series.
 
Fordham (24-14-1, 7-5 A-10) enters this weekend after dropping its first conference series last weekend to George Washington.  The Rams are tied for fifth place in the Atlantic 10 standings with George Mason and are just a game back of George Washington.  Saint Joseph's (16-20, 4-9 A-10) will be fighting to get back into the playoff hunt with four weekends left in the season.  The Hawks were swept last weekend by Rhode Island.
 
Probable Starters/Game Coverage
Friday - Fordham – RHP Reiss Knehr (3-2, 2.80) vs. Saint Joseph's – RHP Matt Kennedy (1-2, 3.76) // Live Video (PPV) | Live Stats | Live Audio | Twitter - @FordhamBaseball
 
Saturday – Fordham – RHP Ben Greenberg (6-1, 1.74) vs. Saint Joseph's – RHP Tim Brennan (6-3, 3.28) // Live Video (PPV) | Live Stats | Live Audio | Twitter - @FordhamBaseball
 
Sunday – Fordham – RHP Anthony DiMeglio (5-1, 4.08) vs. Saint Joseph's – RHP Justin Aungst (1-7, 4.81)  // Live Video (PPV) | Live Stats | Live Audio | Twitter - @FordhamBaseball
 
Series History
Fordham and Saint Joseph's have met 56 times with all of them being as members of the Atlantic 10 Conference.  The Hawks hold the all-time series lead at 30-25-1, but it has been a very streaky series as of late.  Last season, Fordham swept a three-game series from the Hawks at Houlihan Park, while prior to that Saint Joseph's had won the previous eight meetings and 10 of 11.
 
Last Time Out
Behind seven strong inning from freshman Matt Mikulski, the Fordham baseball team edged the Yale Bulldogs, 4-3, at Yale Field in West Haven, Connecticut on Tuesday afternoon.
 
Fordham struck first, scoring twice in the third, as the Rams loaded the bases with one out on a double by Jake Baker, an infield single by Billy Godrick, and a walk to Jake MacKenzie.  Matt Tarabek plated the first run with a ground out to first, while back-to-back walks to Justin Bardwell and C.J. Vazquez forced in the second run.
Yale cut the Fordham lead in half in the bottom of the fourth with a two-out rally.  Griffin Dey singled to right and then scored on a triple by Alex Stiegler.
 
The score stayed at 2-1 until the top of the eighth, when Fordham tacked on a pair of runs to make it a 4-1 game.  Tarabek led off the frame with an infield single and stole second.  After a single by Bardwell put runners at the corners, Vazquez put down a perfect safety squeeze bunt to score Tarabek with Bardwell going to second.  Brian Goulard and Alvin Melendez then reached on back-to-back singles, with Melendez's single scoring Bardwell from third.
 
Yale got a run back in the bottom half of the inning to make it, 4-2, as a pair of walks and two groundouts got a run across.  The Bulldogs made it interesting in the ninth as Dey hit a solo home run to left for his sixth of the season, making it a 4-3 game.  However, Kyle Martin got the next three batters in order to close out his seventh save of the season.

 
Matt Mikulski (2-4) was outstanding on the hill for Fordham, tossing a season-high seven innings, allowing one run on three hits with four strikeouts.  At the plate, Tarabek was 1-for-5 with a runs scored, a stolen base and an RBI, while Godrick was 1-for-3 with a run scored and two stolen bases.  Baker finished 1-for-4 with a double and a run scored with Vazquez having a pair of RBI. 

That Was Quick
With the Rams' first win over La Salle on April 14^th, Fordham hit the 20-win mark as a team.  This is the earliest calendar date for the Rams to reach 20 wins since the 1991 team also reached 20 victories on April 14^th.  Over the last 30 years, the Rams have only gotten to 20 wins faster was the 1988 season, which hit 20 on April 9^th.  That 1988 team went on to set a modern day school record with 36 wins.
 
He's Going, He's Going
A popular phrase heard at Fordham's Houlihan Park at any Rams' home game is "He's going, he's going!"  That phrase has certainly been true throughout the 2018 season.  This year, the Rams have 129 stolen bases, which marks the 11^th time that Fordham has surpassed the 100-stolen base plateau in team history.  The total currently stands third all-time at Fordham behind only the 157 stolen bases in 2008 and the 141 in 1991.  The Rams rank first in the Atlantic 10 and first in the country in overall steals, while the team's 3.39 average is also tops in the nation.  Individually, 11 Rams have at least one stolen bases this season and six are in double figures.
 
Who's Next
After four games on the road, Fordham is back at Houlihan Park for four games next week.  The Rams host Hofstra on Tuesday, May 1^st, beginning at 7:00 PM, followed by a three-game series against Dayton, May 4-6.