Baseball Meets Columbia & Siena This Week

Bronx, N.Y. – (April 8, 2019) – Winners of its last four games, the Fordham baseball team has a busy week ahead to try and extend its win streak with a Tuesday game against Columbia at Houlihan Park, while heading to Siena on Wednesday.
 
Fordham (20-12) posted a perfect 4-0 week last week, finishing it off with a three-game sweep of Atlantic 10 opponent, Saint Joseph's.  The Rams had a little bit of everything in those four games, starting with a walk-off win on a home run against Siena and finishing with two shutouts and only two earned runs allowed against the Hawks over three games.
 
PROBABLE STARTERS/GAME COVERAGE
Tuesday: Fordham – RHP Alvin Melendez (2-1, 3.18) vs. Columbia – RHP Ethan Abrams (1-1, 13.50) // Live Video (ESPN+) | Live Stats | Twitter - @FordhamBaseball
 
Wednesday: Fordham – RHP Brian Weissert (0-1, 7.24) vs. Siena - TBA // Live Stats | Twitter - @FordhamBaseball
 
SERIES HISTORY: For Fordham and Columbia, Tuesday marks the continuation of one of the longest college baseball series in the country.  The series dates as far back as 1884.  Since the turn of the 20^th century, the Rams and Lions have met 128 times over 118 years with Fordham posting a 72-54-2 record against Columbia.  Columbia won last year's meeting at Columbia by a 10-1 score and have won four of the last five meetings.  Fordham's last win over the Lions came in 2016.

For Fordham and Siena, this is the second of two meetings this season, with the previous coming at Siena on April 3^rd, when Justin Bardwell hit a walk-off solo home run in the bottom of the tenth inning to give Fordham a 5-4 win at Houlihan Park.  The Rams and Saints have met 21 times with Siena holding an 11-10 edge in the series. 
 
LAST TIME OUT (4/7): Behind a superb effort from pitcher Anthony DiMeglio and home runs by Nick Labella and C.J. Vazquez, the Fordham baseball team completed a three-game sweep of the Saint Joseph's Hawks with a 6-0 shutout win at Houlihan Park on Sunday.
 
Fordham jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the second inning, when Nick Labella connected on a solo home run to left, his team-leading fourth of the season.
 
The Rams then padded the lead with a five-run fifth inning to go up, 6-0.  Jake Baker drew a leadoff walk and stole second to start the inning.  After an out and a single by Jake Guercio, Justin Bardwell plated Baker with an RBI-single to center with Guercio getting to third.  After a stolen base by Bardwell, Labella lifted a sacrifice fly to center, scoring Baker.   Matt Tarabek then drew a walk, which was followed by a three-run home run to left center by C.J. Vazquez, his second of the season, to open up a 6-0 lead.
 
That cushion was plenty for Fordham starter Anthony DiMeglio (2-2), who was dealing from the get go.  He tied a career-high with eight innings pitched in the win, allowing just three hits and one walk, while also tying a career-high with 10 strikeouts.  It was the fourth time this season, that a Fordham starter has had 10 strikeouts in a game.  Anthony Zimmerman then closed out game in the ninth, striking out the side.

 
At the plate, Labella and Vazquez were each 1-for-3 with a home run and multi-RBI games, while Alvin Melendez was 1-for-2 with two walks and three stolen bases.
 
DiMEGLIO NAMED A-10 CO-PITCHER OF THE WEEK (4/8): The Atlantic 10 Conference announced its weekly baseball awards on Monday, with Fordham pitcher Anthony DiMeglio (Darien, Conn./Darien) being named the conference's Co-Pitcher of the Week.  He shares the honor with Dayton's Ben Hughes.  This is DiMeglio's first weekly award of the season, and marks the fifth consecutive week that a Fordham player has been Pitcher of Week, joining John Stankiewicz (twice), Matt Mikulski, and Cory Wall.
 
DiMeglio was outstanding on Sunday in Fordham's 6-0 win over Saint Joseph's to complete a three-game series sweep.  He tossed eight scoreless innings, allowing three hits and one walk, and tied a career-high with 10 strikeouts.  The eight innings pitched also tied a career-best.
 
BARDWELL NAMED TO BUSTER POSEY AWARD WATCH LIST: For the third consecutive season, senior Justin Bardwell is on the Watch List for the National Catcher of the Year Award.  Previously the Johnny Bench Award, the award is in its 20th year and has been renamed the Buster Posey Award in honor of the former All-American catcher at Florida State. 
 
Bardwell leads the Rams this season with 21 RBI, while being second in doubles (6) and home runs (3).  He enters this week just two doubles shy of 50 for his career, which would make him the third Ram to reach that milestone, joining Greg Smith and Chris Walker.
 
RAMS IN THE NCAA RANKINGS (4/8): Following a sweep of Saint Joseph's, the Fordham Rams currently rank among the top 15 nationally in a number of categories.  Fordham leads the nation in stolen bases per game at 3.03, while being second overall in swipes with 97, behind only Wofford (100).  The Rams are also fourth in the nation in team ERA with an Atlantic 10-best mark of 2.66, trailing only Bradley (2.21), UCLA (2.55), and Oregon State (2.64).  Fordham is also 10^th in strikeouts per nine innings (10.3) and 15^th in shutouts (4).  Individually, Jake MacKenzie is second in the nation in stolen bases (29) and triples (6), while John Stankiewicz is sixth in ERA (1.02) and 18^th in WHIP (0.82).
 
WELCOME TO THE 200/400-CLUB (4/6): Head coach Kevin Leighton reached a coaching plateau on April 6^th in Fordham's doubleheader sweep of the Saint Joseph's Hawks.  He recorded his 199^th and 200^th coaching wins at Rose Hill, becoming the fifth Fordham baseball coach to reach that milestone, joining Jack Lynch, Fred Smith, Jack Coffey, and Dan Gallagher.  Overall, Leighton also reached 400 career wins, as he also had 200 wins at Manhattan College.
 
WHO'S NEXT: After the two mid-week contests, Fordham will travel to VCU for a three-game Atlantic 10 series from April 12-14.