Baseball Hosts Dayton for A-10 Series

Bronx, N.Y. – (May 3, 2018) – With just three series left, the Fordham baseball team continues conference action this weekend, as the Rams host the Dayton Flyers for a three-game set at Houlihan Park, May 4-6.
 
Fordham (28-14-1, 10-5 A-10) enters this weekend on a season-best five-game win streak after a 1-0 extra-inning win over Hofstra on Tuesday night, where the team tied the school record with 21 strikeouts by the pitching staff.  Dayton (13-27, 5-10 A-10) comes to the Bronx with its playoff hopes on the line, as they are three games back of the final playoff spot with nine games to play.  The Flyers are 5-3 over their last eight games, taking two of three against St. Bonaventure, one of three at Richmond, and getting wins over Ohio and Fort Wayne in non-league play.
 
Probable Starters/Game Coverage
Friday - Fordham – RHP Reiss Knehr (4-2, 2.63) vs. Dayton – RHP Tyler Jones (2-3, 6.58) // Live Video | Live Stats | Twitter - @FordhamBaseball
 
Saturday – Fordham – RHP Ben Greenberg (6-1, 2.45) vs. Dayton – RHP Austin Cline (2-8, 7.88) // Live Audio | Live Stats | Twitter - @FordhamBaseball
 
Sunday – Fordham – RHP Anthony DiMeglio (6-1, 3.70) vs. Dayton – RHP Aaron Ernst (2-3, 4.91) // Live Audio | Live Stats | Twitter - @FordhamBaseball
 
Series History
Fordham and Dayton have met 31 times with all of them being as members of the Atlantic 10 Conference.  The Flyers hold the all-time series lead at 17-14, but since 2014, Fordham is 6-4 against Dayton.  The last time the two teams met was 2016, when the Rams took two out of three games at Houlihan Park to secure a spot in the 2016 Atlantic 10 Championship.
 
Last Time Out
After setting the single season team record for strikeouts for the fourth consecutive year on Sunday, the Fordham pitching staff once again took center stage on Tuesday night at Houlihan Park.  Six Fordham pitchers struck out 21 Hofstra batters over 11 innings, while Justin Bardwell had the walk-off single in the bottom of the 11^th, as the Rams came away with a 1-0 win over the Pride.
 
The scoring opportunities were few for both teams, as the pitching staffs were in rare form with 33 total strikeouts in the game.  The game went on to extra innings at 0-0 with Fordham having a glorious chance to get the win in the tenth.  Justin Bardwell and Brian Goulard led off with back-to-back singles to put runners at the corners with no outs.  Hofstra's Brad Camarda got the next two Fordham batters on strikeouts, before walking Justin Machado to load the bases.  However, Jake Baker struck out looking to push the game into the 11^th.
 
In the 11^th, Hofstra got a runner to third with two outs as Parker Quinn singled to right center, stole second, and moved to third on a wild pitch.  Fordham reliever Alvin Melendez then got Vinny Costello to strike out looking to end the inning for the 21^st strikeout by Fordham pitching.   The bottom of the frame saw Melendez lead off with a ground-rule double to right center.  Following a fly out and a walk, Melendez and Billy Godrick pulled off a double steal, putting runners at second and third with one out.  With the Hofstra outfield drawn in, Bardwell connected on a long single to the right center gap to score Melendez for the walk-off win.
 
For Fordham, Melendez (2-1) earned the win in relief, allowing two hits with four strikeouts in two innings of work.  Matt Mikulski went the first four innings, giving up four hits with five strikeouts, while Quintal, Mike Cowell, and John Stankiewicz each went one inning with two, three, and two strikeouts, respectively.  Martin added five strikeouts in his two innings of relief.   At the plate, Bardwell was 2-for-5 with the game-winning RBI and extended his career-high hit streak to 11 games.  Melendez was 2-for-5 with a double, a run scored, and a stolen base with MacKenzie finishing 2-for-5 with two stolen bases.
 
Bardwell Named Atlantic 10 Player of the Week (4/30)
The Atlantic 10 Conference announced its set of weekly baseball awards on Monday with Fordham junior Justin Bardwell being named the league's Player of the Week.  This is Bardwell's first career weekly award, and the second time this season a Ram has earned Player of the Week honor, joining Brian Goulard.

 
Bardwell extended his career-long hit streak to 10 games with a superb week, batting .647 (11-17) with an on-base percentage of .667 and slugging mark of 1.000.  He totaled four runs scored, six doubles, and six RBI over four games on the week. He kicked off his series against Saint Joseph's going 3-for-5 with a double and two RBI.  Bardwell then had a bases clearing double in Fordham's come-from-behind win on Saturday, finishing 3-for-5 with two doubles, two runs scored, and three RBI, while he capped the weekend against the Hawks by going 4-for-4 with a career-high three doubles to go with an RBI.
 
We're Goin' Streakin'
Junior Justin Bardwell enters Tuesday on an 11-game hit streak, batting .465 (20-43) over that stretch with eight runs scored, eight doubles and nine RBI… Sophomore Billy Godrick is hitting .293 (12-41) in his last 11 games with eight runs scored, four doubles, two home runs, seven RBI, nine walks, and four stolen bases… Junior Brian Goulard is hitting .300 in his last 11 contests with five runs scored, four RBI, six walks, and three stolen bases… Freshman Jake MacKenzie had a fine month of April, batting .338 for the month with 19 runs scored, five doubles, three triples, five home runs, 20 RBI, and 11 stolen bases… Junior Reiss Knehr finished April with a 1.67 ERA in his last four starts with 23 strikeouts in 27.0 innings… Junior Anthony DiMeglio ended April with a 3-1 mark in four starts with a 3.16 ERA and 29 strikeouts in 25.2 innings… Senior Ben Greenberg was 3-0 in four April starts with a 3.41 ERA and 23 strikeouts in 29 innings.
 
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.  With that outing against Hofstra, Fordham also moved into the top ten in the nation in strikeouts per nine innings at 10.1, good for ninth.
 
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 138 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 3.21 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 travel to Amherst to face UMass for a three-game Atlantic 10 series, May 11-13.