Fairfield, Conn. – (March 27, 2019) – For the second time this season, the Fordham baseball team will take on the Sacred Heart Pioneers on Wednesday up in Fairfield, Connecticut. This is a make-up game form the February 26
th postponement.
Fordham (14-10) is coming off a conference series win over St. Bonaventure over the weekend, taking two of three games from the Bonnies. The pitching staff was again a big part of the Rams success, allowing only four runs the entire series. For the month of March, Ram hurlers have a team ERA of 1.59, while holding opponents to a .195 batting average.
Sacred Heart (6-15) is coming off a weekend series with Stony Brook, where the Pioneers dropped all three contests to the Seawolves. Prior to that, Sacred Heart knocked off Fordham's next opponent Rhode Island by a 6-5 score.
PROBABLE STARTERS/GAME COVERAGE
Wednesday: Fordham – RHP
Anthony DiMeglio (0-1, 5.14) vs. Sacred Heart - RHP Thomas Pinto (1-0, 6.75) //
Live Stats |
Twitter - @FordhamBaseball
SERIES HISTORY: For Fordham and Sacred Heart, this will be the 11th all-time meetings between the Rams and the Pioneers. The teams first met in 2008, and the series is all tied up at five wins each, following Fordham's 12-3 win back on March 12
th.
LAST TIME OUT (3/24): St. Bonaventure's Donovan Moffat and Ben Contento combined to throw a two-hit shutout on Sunday, as the Bonnies posted a 1-0 win over the Fordham Rams to take the Atlantic 10 series finale at Houlihan Park.
The only run of the ball game came in the first inning, as Sam Fuller led off the game with a triple to left center and then scored on a sacrifice fly by Ryan O'Connor for a 1-0 lead.
The loss spoiled another outstanding effort from the Fordham pitching staff, as
Alvin Melendez,
Cory Wall, and
Kyle Martin combined to allow just one run with 13 strikeouts. Melendez (2-1) was the hard luck loser, allowing one run on three hits with four strikeouts, while Wall tossed three innings of two-hit relief with five strikeouts. Martin wrapped up the game with three innings of two-hit relief with four strikeouts.
Jake MacKenzie was the lone Ram to record a hit in the game, going 2-for-4 with a double.
STANKIEWICZ NAMED A-10 PITCHER OF THE WEEK (3/25): The Atlantic 10 Conference announced its weekly baseball awards on Monday, with Fordham pitcher
John Stankiewicz (Cherry, Hill, N.J./Cherry Hill West) being named the conference's Pitcher of the Week. This is Stankiewicz's second weekly award of the season, having also been named Pitcher of the Week on March 12
th.
Anthony DiMeglio makes his first start since February 23rd.
Stankiewicz earned the weekly honor following his performance on Saturday against St. Bonaventure in an 8-1 victory. He improved to 4-1 on the season, allowing just one hit over six shutout innings with a career-high 10 strikeouts against the Bonnies. He has now pitched at least six innings with seven strikeouts in each of his four starts this season.
Stankiewicz is currently tied for the Atlantic 10 lead in wins (4), while leading the league in ERA (0.84) and strikeouts (44).
MEN OF STEAL: After leading the nation with a school record 169 stolen bases last season, Fordham has picked up right where they left off in 2019. Through the first 24 games, the Rams have already racked up 79 stolen bases, which is behind only national leader Wofford with 88.
Jake MacKenzie leads the Rams with 25 swipes thus far, which is second in the nation, behind only UAB's Jess Davis with 26. In all, 13 different Rams have a stolen base this season.
WHO'S NEXT: After Wednesday's game, Fordham will stay on the road for a three-game Atlantic 10 series at Rhode Island from March 29-31.
