Bronx, N.Y. – (February 25, 2020) – With rain scheduled for most of Tuesday afternoon, the Fordham Rams and Sacred Heart Pioneers have moved their scheduled game to Wednesday, March 26
th at 2:00 PM.
Both squads are in search of their second win of the season on Wednesday. Fordham (1-6) dropped all three games at the GCU Classic this past weekend, while Sacred Heart (1-2) fell to VCU in two of the three games. Sacred Heart is led by Justin Jordan, who batted a team-best .429 at VCU to go with four runs scored.
PROBABLE STARTERS/GAME COVERAGE:
Fordham RHP
Ben Kovel (0-0) vs. Sacred Heart RHP Thomas Pinto (0-0) //
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Twitter - @FordhamBaseball
SERIES HISTORY: This will be the 12
th all-time meeting between Fordham and Sacred Heart with Fordham hold a 6-5 edge. The Rams have won five consecutive meetings against the Pioneers, including twice last season by scores of 12-3 and 8-2.
LAST TIME OUT: Despite three relievers throwing eight no-hit innings, a rough first inning cost the Fordham Rams on Sunday afternoon, falling to GCU, 4-3, in the final game of the GCU Classic in Phoenix, Arizona.
The Rams started the game with a 2-0 lead in the first inning, taking advantage of control issues by GCU starter Jack Schneider.
Jason Coules led off with a walk and moved to second on a balk call. After a walk to
Billy Godrick,
Matt Tarabek sacrificed the runners to put two in scoring position. Coules then scored on a passed ball with Godrick going to third.
Jake MacKenzie drew the third walk of the inning to put runners at the corners with
Alvin Melendez plating Godrick with a sacrifice fly to right and a 2-0 lead.
Jason Coules
GCU then used that same method to score four times in bottom of the first to take a 4-2 lead. GCU drew four walks from Fordham starter
Brian Weissert to go with a two-run single by Brock Burton and an RBI-single by Dominic Grissom to net the four-run inning.
However, GCU would not score again, as Fordham's bullpen trio of
Cory Wall,
Gabe Karslo, and
Garrett Crowley combined to throw eight innings of no-hit relief, giving up just two walks to go with seven strikeouts. Wall threw five no-hit innings with six strikeouts, one shy of his career-high, while Karslo tossed two shutout innings in the sixth and seventh with Crowley posting a scoreless eighth.
Fordham got within one in the fifth inning, when Coules blasted a solo home run to left, his second of the year, making it a 4-3 ball game.
The Rams had a chance to tie in the seventh, getting a runner to second with one out, but could not plate the tying run. Offensively, the Rams had four hits to GCU's three in the contest, led by
Zach Selinger, who was 2-for-3. Coules finished 1-for-3 with a home run and two runs scored, while Melendez was 1-for-3 with an RBI and a stolen base.
MACKENZIE NAMED TO BRAGAN AWARD WATCH LIST (2/20): The Bobby Bragan Collegiate Slugger Award (BBCSA) presented by SR Bats announced the players on its watch list for the 2020 college baseball season. The award, created by the Bobby Bragan Youth Foundation, was open to nominations from all Division I baseball programs in the country. The BBCSA is based on performance at the plate, academics and personal integrity.
This year's watch list consists of 36 players representing 16 conferences around the country, and among those listed is Fordham shortstop
Jake MacKenzie. In his third season at Fordham, MacKenzie is coming off another excellent season where he helped the Rams to the 2019 A-10 Championship. He led the conference in stolen bases for the second straight year and set career-highs across the board in 2019, batting .305 with 49 runs scored, 15 doubles, three home runs, and 28 RBI. In the classroom, MacKenzie is a Business Administration major and a two-year member of the Atlantic 10 Commissioner's Honor Roll.
HOT START: Seven games into the 2020 campaign, a number of Rams have gotten out to stellar starts. Sophomore
Jason Coules leads the Rams with a .368 batting average, five runs scored, two home runs, and seven RBI, while junior
Jake MacKenzie is hitting .364 with three runs scored, a home run, and four RBI. Both seniors
Matt Tarabek and
Alvin Melendez , have a .350 average with Tarabek having four RBI, while Melendez has four runs scored and three doubles.
WHO'S NEXT: Fordham is back on the road for their next three contests, February 28 through March 1, for a series at Furman, before returning home for a six-game homestand.
