Baseball Tops VCU in A-10 Championship Opener, 3-2

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Arlington, Va. – (May 23, 2018) – Fordham's Justin Bardwell drove in Jake MacKenzie with an RBI-double in the bottom of the eighth inning, while Kyle Martin closed out the game with two scoreless innings of relief, as Fordham edged the VCU Rams, 3-2, in the opening game of the Atlantic 10 Championship, held at Tucker Field at Barcroft Park in Arlington, Virginia.
 
With the win, Fordham advances in the winner's bracket, improving to 35-17-1 on the season, while VCU moves into the consolation bracket at 34-22.
 
Fordham opened the scoring right away in the first inning, as Billy Godrick led off with a single to left, followed by a walk to Jake MacKenzie.  After a pop out, Justin Bardwell singled up the middle to score Godrick from second.
 
VCU responded with a pair of runs in the second to grab a 2-1 edge.  After a pair of walks and a wild pitch, Zac Ching reached on an error, allowing Steven Carpenter to score and tie the game.  Haiden Lamb then singled home Liam Hibbits to take the lead.

 
Fordham then tied the game at two in the bottom of third inning.  Alvin Melendez roped a double to right center, which was mishandled allowing Melendez to reach third on an error.  After a hit by pitch, Brian Goulard plated Melendez with a safety squeeze bunt to knot the game at two.

The score remained tied at two until the bottom of the eighth inning, when Fordham went back ahead, 3-2.  MacKenzie led off with a double to left and, one out later, scored on a double to left center by Bardwell. For Bardwell, it was his 20th double of the season, becoming the fifth Ram to reach 20 doubles in a single season, joining Mike Marchiano (21 - 1997), Mike D'Auria (20 - 1997), Bobby Kingsbury (20 - 2002), and Chris Walker (25 - 2010).

From there, Kyle Martin closed out the win with a 1-2-3 ninth inning to improve his record to 3-2 on the season.  Martin pitched two scoreless innings in relief of starter Reiss Knehr, who was outstanding over the first seven innings, allowing just two runs on four hits with seven strikeouts.  His seven strikeouts moved him into a tie for second place on Fordham's all-time strikeout list at 218 with Brett Kennedy (2013-15).  The Rams' defense also played a big part in Wednesday's win, turning three double plays.
 
At the plate, Bardwell was 2-for-3 with a double and two RBI, while Jake Baker was also 2-for-3 with a double and a stolen base.  MacKenzie was also 2-for-3 with a double and a run scored.
 
The Rams will now play at 10:00 AM on Thursday, awaiting the winner of the George Mason-George Washington game.