Bronx, N.Y. – (February 18, 2020) – After a not so friendly weekend in the sunshine state, the Fordham Rams look to shake off an opening series loss on Wednesday, when they host LIU for their home opener at 2:00 PM at Houlihan Park.
Wednesday's contest is slated to be the earliest home opener for the Rams. The previous earliest game was a February 21
st game against Army in 2018. In all, this would be only the fifth home game played by Fordham in the month of February in team history (2018 vs. Army, 2/26/13 vs. Saint Peter's (DH), 2/28/12 vs. Fairfield.
Fordham (0-3) dropped all three games this past weekend at FIU, while LIU (1-2) enters Wednesday's contest with a win over USC Upstate in the final game of a three-game series. Fordham freshman pitcher
Ben Kovel is slated to make his collegiate debut for the Rams, while Nick DeSalvowill take the bump for LIU.
PROBABLE STARTERS/GAME COVERAGE:
Fordham – RHP
Ben Kovel vs. LIU – RHP Nick DeSalvo //
Live Stats |
Twitter - @FordhamBaseball
SERIES HISTORY: Prior to LIU merging their campus this summer, Fordham and LIU Brooklyn has had a longstanding series, dating back to 1934. The Rams posted a 40-15 record against the then-Blackbirds, and recorded 10 straight wins, the last coming in 2018, a 3-2 decision in 10 innings.
FORDHAM PICKED SECOND IN A-10 PRESEASON COACHES POLL (2/11): The Atlantic 10 Conference released its preseason baseball coaches poll on February 11th with Fordham being picked second out of 13 teams in a vote of the league's head coaches. Fordham, the defending Atlantic 10 champions, was one of three teams to receive a first place votes in the poll with two, along with VCU (8) and Dayton (3).
VCU is the preseason favorite, followed by Fordham, Dayton, Richmond, Davidson, Saint Louis, Rhode Island, George Washington, Saint Joseph's George Mason, Massachusetts, La Salle, and St. Bonaventure. All 13 teams will vie for a spot in the 2020 Atlantic 10 Championship, which will be at The Diamond in Richmond, Virginia, May 20-23.
STANKIEWICZ NAMED TO NCBWA PRESEASON ALL-AMERICA TEAM (2/6): With the start of college baseball season just around the corner, the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association (NCBWA) released its 2020 Division I Preseason All-America teams. Among those selected, Fordham junior pitcher
John Stankiewicz received Preseason All-America Second Team honors.
The Cherry Hill, N.J. native enters his junior campaign after an incredible 2019 season, which saw him earn Third Team All-America honors from the NCBWA, the ABCA, and
Collegiate Baseball. One of the top prospects in the Atlantic 10 heading into the 2020 season by
Baseball America and D1Baseball.com, Stankiewicz was the 2019 Atlantic 10 Pitcher of the Year and a First Team All-Atlantic 10 selection, helping the Rams to their first conference title and first NCAA appearance since 1998. Stankiewicz recorded a team-high eight wins to go with a 1.47 ERA and 102 strikeouts in 92.0 innings. He has walked only 20 batters this season and held opponents to a .190 batting average.
SPEED KILLS: While some teams win with power, the Rams capitalize on their team speed to win ballgames. Fordham led the NCAA in stolen bases for the second straight season in 2019, racking up a school record 178 bags. Of that total, current Rams accounted for 173 in that total, led by junior
Jake MacKenzie, who led the Atlantic 10 with 43 stolen bases. He was one of seven players to reach double figures, joining
Alvin Melendez (35),
Jake Baker (17),
C.J. Vazquez (16),
Jason Coules (15),
Matt Tarabek (14), and
Billy Godrick (11).
RAC"K" 'EM UP: In what's turned into a year occurrence, Fordham's pitching staff once again set a new mark for strikeouts in a season in 2019. Breaking the team record for the fifth straight year, the Rams eclipsed 600 punchouts for the first time in team history, finishing with 605. For Rams that pitched at least 20 innings, 12 Fordham hurlers had at least 20 strikeouts on the season, led by All-American
John Stankiewicz with 102 and
Matt Mikulski with 89. The pitching staff ranked in the top 15 in the NCAA in strikeouts per nine innings, as well as ERA (3.26).
WHO'S NEXT: The Rams will next be in action on February 21-23, when Fordham will play in Phoenix, Arizona for four games. The Rams start with a single game against Cal. St. Northridge on February 21
st, and then play both Northridge and Grand Canyon on February 22. The weekend ends with a single game against Grand Canyon on February 23. All games are at Grand Canyon University.
