Interactive Bracket | Game Notes
 
Morgantown, W.Va. – (May 30, 2019) – After winning the Atlantic 10 Championship and the league's automatic bid into the NCAA Championship, the Fordham baseball team is in Morgantown, West Virginia for NCAA Regional action.  The Rams will take part in the Morgantown Regional with #15 national seed West Virginia, Texas A&M, and Duke.
 
Fordham (38-22) will face #15 West Virginia (37-20) at 8:00 PM Eastern on Friday, May 31st in the second game of the day, while Texas A&M (37-21-1) and Duke (31-25) will play in the 4:00 PM contest.  The Fordham game can be seen on ESPN3 and the WatchESPN App. 
 
PROBABLE STARTERS/GAME COVERAGE
Fordham – RHP John Stankiewicz (8-3, 1.21) vs. West  Virginia – LHP Nick Snyder (8-1, 2.71) // Live Video (ESPN3) | WFUV Audio | Live Stats | Twitter - @FordhamBaseball
 
NCAA HISTORY: Fordham has appeared in seven previous NCAA Regionals.  The Rams have a 4-12 record in those games.  The Rams last NCAA win came in 1993 at the Midwest Regional in Stillwater, Oklahoma, defeating Connecticut, 5-0.
 
SERIES HISTORY AGAINST REGIONAL OPPONENTS: This is the fifth all-time meeting between Fordham and West Virginia with games in 1918, 1920, and two in 2003.  The Mountaineers hold a 3-1 edge in the series.  In those most recent games in 2003, the contests were played in Wilmington, N.C., while the two early games were in the Bronx.
 
Fordham and Texas A&M met earlier this season on opening weekend down in College Station.  The Aggies swept the Rams in a three-game series by scores of 4-0, 19-6, and 3-1, and are the only meetings between the two schools.
 
Fordham and Duke have met eight times with the Blue Devils holding a 5-3 series lead.  The teams played four times in the 1930s, once in 1941, and then a three-game series at Duke in 2010.  Duke swept that set in 2010 by scores of 5-4, 11-4, and 8-3.  Fordham won the 1941 meeting, 8-1, while the teams split the four games from 1931-35.
 
FORDHAM CAPTURES 2019 ATLANTIC 10 CHAMPIONSHIP: It was high drama all game long, featuring gutsy pitching, stellar defense, and clutch hits in the 2019 Atlantic 10 Baseball Championship game held at Fordham's Houlihan Park on Saturday.  However in the end, it was the keen eye of Fordham senior catcher Justin Bardwell that capped the game, as he drew a bases loaded walk to force in the winning run, giving the Rams a 4-3 win over the Dayton Flyers and the team's second ever Atlantic 10 Championship title.
               
Fordham opened the championship with a walk-off extra inning win over the Richmond Spiders.  With the score tied at six in the bottom of the tenth inning, Jake MacKenzie lined a single to right to score C.J. Vazquez for the win.
 
On day two, John Stankiewicz and Kyle Martin pitched the Rams to a 2-1 win over top-seeded VCU.  Alvin Melendez provided the offense, getting an RBI-single in the first inning, and then scoring the go-ahead run in the fourth.
 
Day three saw the first match-up with Dayton turn into a wild affair, which saw the Rams score in each of the final three innings to post a 4-2 win.  Nick Labella drove in three of the four runs, while Anthony DiMeglio and Anthony Zimmerman did the job on the mound.
 
Following the walk-off win in the championship game, Labella was named the Championship's Most Outstanding Player for both his offensive and defensive prowess during the Championship, while Labella, Martin, Melendez, and Vazquez were selected to the All-Championship team.
 
FINISHING STRONG: After dropping two of three games to Saint Louis on Easter weekend, the Rams sat at 23-18 overall, 8-7 in the Atlantic 10.  From there something clicked for the team, as the Rams finished with a 15-4 record over the final 19 games with a 7-2 mark in the conference and a perfect 7-0 record at home.
 
The Rams hit .284 as a team in that stretch, led by Jake Baker with a .434 (23-53) average, 15 RBI, and nine stolen bases, while Alvin Melendez batted .386 with 15 runs scored, six doubles, 12 RBI, and 14 stolen bases.
 
On the hill, Kyle Martin was 5-1 with three saves and 30 strikeouts in 18.2 innings out of the bullpen, with Anthony DiMeglio going 3-0 with a 1.88 ERA 23 strikeouts in 28.2 innings.  John Stankiewicz was 2-1 with a 1.39 ERA in five appearances with 32 strikeouts in 32.1 innings.
 
30-SOMETHING: For the second straight season, the Rams have reached the 30-win plateau, marking the first time since the 1990 and 1991 seasons, the Fordham has recorded back-to-back 30-win campaigns.  The Rams also set a milestone during the Atlantic 10 Championship, surpassing the modern day team record (after 1920) for wins with 38.  The previous record was 36 in the 1988 and 1990 seasons.
 
GUESS WE'RE FASCIST: In the movie Bull Durham, Crash Davis says that "strikeouts are fascist."  If that's the case, the Fordham pitching staff might be fascist.  For the fifth straight year, the Rams have broken team strikeout record as a pitching staff.  The team's streak started with 392 in 2015, followed by 408 in 2016 and 414 in 2017.  In 2018, Fordham crushed the mark with 536, and this year, the team has racked up an amazing 592.  The Rams average 10.0 strikeouts per nine innings, which rates tenth in the country, and first in the Atlantic 10.
 
RAMS IN THE NCAA RANKINGS (5/30): Entering this week, the Fordham Rams rank among the top 20 nationally in a number of categories.  Fordham is first in the nation in stolen bases per game at 2.95, as well as in overall in swipes with 177.  The Rams are also fourth in the nation in team ERA with an Atlantic 10-best mark of 3.08.  Fordham is also seventh in hits allowed per nine innings (7.24), ninth in sacrifice bunts (49), tenth in strikeouts per nine innings (10.0), and 20th in WHIP (1.27).
 
Individually, Jake MacKenzie is fourth in the nation in stolen bases (43) and 15th in triples (6), while Alvin Melendez is 13th in stolen bases with 35.  In the pitching categories, John Stankiewicz is second in ERA (1.21), fourth in WHIP (0.83), and eighth in strikeout-to-walk ratio (6.80).

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 was certainly true throughout the 2018 season and into 2019.  The Rams led the NCAA and the Atlantic 10 with 169 stolen bases last year, which marked the third time that Fordham has led the nation in steals (1991 & 2008). 
 
Individually, 11 Rams had at least one stolen bases with seven in double figures, led by Jake MacKenzie's 34, which led the Atlantic 10.  He was the fifth Ram to lead the league in stolen bases, joining Joey Runco (2014 & 2015), Rich Goulian (2008), Bobby Kingsbury (2001), and Adrian Muys (1998).
 
This season, the Rams are at it again with a team team record of 177 swipes to lead the country heading into this week.  The next closest that is still playing is Southern University at 135.
 
MacKenzie leads the way with 43, becoming the first Rams with 40+ steals since Shawn Harris in 1994, while teammate Alvin Melendez has a career-high 35 stolen bases.  Fordham has five other players with at least 10 swipes.
 
PITCHING RULES: It's been another stellar season for the Fordham pitching staff as they are on pace to set the school record for ERA, entering this weekend with a league-best 3.08 ERA.
 
In addition, six different Rams have been honored as the Pitcher of the Week in the league.  John Stankiewicz earned it a team-best three times, while Matt Mikulski, Anthony DiMeglio, Cory Wall, and Kyle Martin, have each done it once.  On top of the weekly honors, Stankiewicz was named the Atlantic 10 Pitcher of the Year and Third Team All-American by Collegiate Baseball and both he and Kyle Martin were named First Team All-Atlantic 10.
 
WHO'S NEXT: If the Rams win, Fordham will face the winner of Texas A&M-Duke on Saturday at 7:00 PM, while a loss will put them against the loser of that game in the 2:00 PM elimination game.