Bronx, N.Y. – (May 10, 2018) – With just six games remaining on the schedule, the playoff picture in the Atlantic 10 is slowly coming together and the Fordham baseball team is right in the thick of things. The Rams have their final road series of conference play this coming weekend at Massachusetts, May 11-13.
Fordham (30-15-1, 12-6 A-10) enters this weekend in a tie for second place in the conference standings, based on winning percentage as Davidson has yet to have its bye weekend. The Rams are on a roll as of late, after two wins against Dayton last weekend and have won seven of their last eight games. Massachusetts (14-23, 5-13) is coming off a 2-2 week, where they had the bye and played four out of conference games.
It will be Commencement Weekend for Massachusetts, so for those planning on attending,
information about parking, road closures, and more can be found here.
UPDATE: Due to weather on Saturday, the Rams and Minutemen will play a doubleheader at noon on Friday and a single game on Sunday.
Probable Starters/Game Coverage
Friday - Game 1 - Fordham – RHP
Reiss Knehr (4-3, 2.91) vs. UMass – RHP Justin Lasko (4-3, 2.82) //
Live Video |
Live Stats |
Twitter - @FordhamBaseball
Friday – Game 2 - Fordham – RHP
Ben Greenberg (6-1, 2.35) vs. UMass – RHP Sean Harney (2-1, 4.02) //
Live Video |
Live Stats |
Twitter - @FordhamBaseball
Sunday – Fordham – RHP
Anthony DiMeglio (7-1, 3.44) vs. UMass – LHP Ben Shields (0-2, 4.82) //
Live Video |
Live Stats |
Twitter - @FordhamBaseball
Series History
Fordham and Massachusetts have met 54 times with all of them being as members of the Atlantic 10 Conference. It has been a tight series as the UMass Minutemen are just ahead of the Rams at 27-26-1. This is the third straight year the two teams have played each other with Fordham winning its home series in 2017 with two wins, while Massachusetts won the 2016 series up in Amherst with a pair of victories.
Last Time Out
Fordham's pitching duo of
Anthony DiMeglio and
Kyle Martin combined for ten strikeouts and allowed just one run, while
Brian Goulard knocked in a pair of runs, as the Rams topped the Dayton Flyers, 3-1, on Sunday at Houlihan Park.
Fordham got on the board right away in the first inning with a pair of runs.
Billy Godrick was hit by a pitch to start the game, and moved to second on a walk to
Jake MacKenzie.
Alvin Melendez followed with a single to left to score Godrick. After a fly out moved MacKenzie to third,
Brian Goulard put down a perfect safety squeeze bunt to score MacKenzie.
The Rams made it 3-0 in the third, as with runners at second and third and one out, Goulard hit a ground ball to the right side, plating MacKenzie, who reach on a single.
The Flyers cut into the Fordham lead in the fourth at 3-1 on an RBI-single by Bailey Montoya. However, from there, Fordham's pitching duo of
Anthony DiMeglio and
Kyle Martin held Dayton in check as the Flyers left 10 runners on bases, bringing their total to 37 for the weekend.
DiMeglio (7-1) earned his team-leading seventh win of the season, allowing just one run on six hits with seven strikeouts. Martin picked up his eighth save of the season, giving up two hits in two innings of scoreless relief with three strikeouts. At the plate, Goulard was 1-for-3 with two RBI, while MacKenzie was 1-for-2 with two runs scored and a stolen base top lead the offense.
Quintal Named Atlantic 10 Rookie of the Week (5/7)
The Atlantic 10 Conference announced its set of weekly baseball awards on Monday with Fordham freshman
Joseph Quintal (Bedford, N.H.) being named the league's Rookie of the Week. Quintal becomes the fifth different Ram this season to earn Rookie of the Week honors, setting a new Atlantic 10 single season mark, joining
Matt Mikulski,
Nick Labella,
C.J. Vazquez, and
Jake MacKenzie. The previous Atlantic 10 record was four players by George Washington in 2003.
Quintal made three appearances on the week, totaling 5.2 innings of scoreless relief with eight strikeouts. He pitched a scoreless inning on Tuesday versus Hofstra in Fordham's extra-inning win, posting two of the Rams' team record 21 strikeouts. He then highlighted his week by earning his first collegiate save on Saturday, as he closed out the Rams' win with four scoreless innings of relief with five strikeouts, both of which were season-highs.
How About That
Anthony DiMeglio
With Fordham's 3-1 win over Dayton on May 6
th, the Rams hit 30 wins on the season. It marks the first time since 2011 that Fordham has reached the 30-win plateau. It is also the fifth fastest to 30 wins in the modern era of Fordham baseball, behind the 1988 and 1991 teams, which did so on April 30
th, and the 1995 and 1997 teams, which reached the mark on May 4
th.
Gotcha!
With the final out of the Rams' win over Saint Joseph's on April 29
th being a strikeout, Fordham set the single team record for strikeouts with 415, breaking the mark of 414 set last season. It is the fourth consecutive season that the Rams have broken that record. In the team's next game against Hofstra, Fordham struck out 21 batters over 11 innings, tying the single game team record, which was originally set on March 31, 1909 by the duo of Chris Mahoney and Dick Egan, as they struck out 21 in a no-hitter over Bowdoin College. Currently, the Rams are at 460 strikeouts as a pitching staff.
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 145 stolen bases, which marks the 11
th time that Fordham has surpassed the 100-stolen base plateau in team history. The total currently stands second all-time at Fordham behind only the 157 stolen bases in 2008. The Rams rank first in the Atlantic 10 and first in the country in overall steals, while the team's 3.15 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 this weekend's series, Fordham will have its final home series of the year, when the Rams host Richmond, May 17-19, at Houlihan Park.
