Baseball Sweeps Doubleheader at UMass

Amherst, Mass. – (May 11, 2018) – Behind two dominant pitching performances, highlighted by Reiss Knehr's complete game shutout, the Fordham baseball team swept a doubleheader from the Massachusetts Minutemen, 3-0 and 4-1, at Earl Lorden Field on Friday.
 
With the sweep, Fordham improved to 32-15-1 on the year, 14-6 in the Atlantic 10, while UMass fell to 14-25 overall, 5-15 in the league.  The two wins gives Fordham seven straight Atlantic 10 road wins for the first time since joining the conference in 1995.  The previous long was five games.
 
In game one, Fordham's Reiss Knehr tossed a four-hit shutout with 11 strikeouts to lead the Rams to a 3-0 win over UMass.
 
Fordham opened the scoring in the top of the fourth inning.  Matt Tarabek reached on an error by the shortstop with one out and moved to second on an infield single by C.J. Vazquez.  One out later, Jake Baker connected on a double down the right field line, scoring Tarabek from second.
 
The Rams extended the lead to 2-0 in the sixth inning.  Vazquez reached on a two-out single to left, followed by a base hit by Colton Snelling.  Snelling's base hit then took a strange hop right over the rightfielder, giving Snelling an RBI-double, scoring Vazquez.

 
The lead increased to 3-0 in the eighth, as Fordham got a run off two UMass errors.
 
The story of the game though was Fordham starter Reiss Knehr, as he threw his first career 9-inning complete game shutout, allowing four hits and three walks with a season-high 11 strikeouts.  The only trouble Knehr got in came in the eighth with two outs, when UMass loaded the bases, but Knehr came up with a strikeout of Eddy Hart to keep the Minutemen off the scoreboard.
 
With his 11 strikeouts, Knehr became the eighth Fordham pitcher to reach 200 career strikeouts, reaching 206 by game's end, passing Cory Riordan (201 – 2005-07) and Tom Davis (205 – 2005-08) into sixth place on the Rams' career strikeouts list.
 
At the plate, Vazquez finished 2-for-4 with a run scored with Baker and Snelling each had a hit and an RBI. Alvin Melendez was 2-for-5 with a double and a triple, while Justin Bardwell also had two hits.
 
In game two, Alvin Melendez broke a 1-1 tie with an RBI-triple in the eighth, while Kyle Martin struck out the side in the ninth for the save, as the Rams completed the sweep with a 4-1 win.
 
Like game one, Fordham struck first right away in the opening inning.  The Rams loaded the bases on walks to Billy Godrick and Melendez and a single by Jake MacKenzie.  Bardwell then hit into a ground ball double play, which allowed Godrick to score.
 
UMass tied the game at one in the fourth inning, as Logan Greene doubled down the right field line, moved to third on a fly ball, and scored on a single through the left side by Justin Voghel.
 
The score stayed that way until the eighth, when Fordham regained the lead at 2-1.  With one out, Godrick was hit by a pitch, which was followed by a two-out triple to the right field corner by Melendez.
 
The Rams extended the lead in the ninth with a pair of runs, highlighted by an RBI-double from Tarabek.

 
Kyle Martin closed out the win for his ninth save of the season, as he struck out the side in the ninth inning.  Matt Mikulski (4-4) earned the win in relief, posting 1.2 innings of scoreless relief with two strikeouts.  Starter Ben Greenberg was solid in a no-decision, allowing just one run on three hits with seven strikeouts in 6.1 innings of work.
 
At the plate, MacKenzie and Goulard each had two hits, while Melendez and Tarabek each had an extra-base hit and an RBI.
 
With poor weather in the forecast for Saturday, the series finale is set for Sunday at noon.