On This Date: Baseball Wins 2019 A-10 Championship; 1990 Rams Knock Off Arkansas at NCAA Regional

On This Date Presented by Belmont Realty
 
With the 2020 spring sports season canceled by the COVID-19 outbreak, we at Fordham have decided to dig back through our archives and provide our fans with content on some of the outstanding teams and student-athletes who have graced Rose Hill over the years
 
May 25, 2019 – Box Score | Photo Gallery | Highlights | Watch Replay of Game - 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.  However, it was the keen eye of Fordham 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.
 
With the win, Fordham received the Atlantic 10's automatic bid into the NCAA Championship, the team's eighth appearance overall and first since 1998.
 
"I'm so proud of our guys and the way they played this week.  This team has fought so hard all year and I'm beyond happy for them," said head coach Kevin Leighton after the game. "Watching them celebrate on the field and be the last team standing was amazing.  Our players, our coaching staff, and alumni deserved this." 
 
Fordham started the scoring in the first without the courtesy of a hit.  With two outs, Jake MacKenzie drew a walk and moved to second on a wild pitch.  MacKenzie then stole third, his 43^rd stolen base of the season, where the throw was errant to third from the pitcher, allowing MacKenzie to score.
 
The Rams made it 2-0 in the fifth inning.  Billy Godrick reached on a bunt single and moved to third on a Jake Baker single.  C.J. Vazquez then plated Godrick from third with a sacrifice bunt.
 
Fordham tacked on to the lead in the sixth.  Matt Tarabek drew a walk, while Justin Bardwell and Godrick were both hit by a pitch to load the bases.  Baker then singled up the middle to score Tarabek for a 3-0 edge.
 
Dayton then rallied for two runs in the seventh inning, cutting the Fordham lead to 3-2.  The Flyers picked up a run on an error as well as a sacrifice fly by Alex Brickman.
 
The score held there until the ninth, as with two outs, Dayton's Brickman hit a solo home run to left center off Fordham closer Kyle Martin, his seventh of the season, to tie the game and force extra innings, marking the third time that the Atlantic 10 Championship final has gone to extra innings (1985 and 2008).

 
Martin would go on to keep Dayton in check for two more innings, pitching a career-long 4.2 innings to the 12^th inning, when Cory Wall took over and got a 1-2-3 inning for the Rams.  Then in the bottom of the 12^th, the Rams got things started with a one-out single by Jason Coules and a walk to Jake MacKenzie.  Alvin Melendez then singled sharply to left to load the bases with one out.  After a strikeout, Justin Bardwell drew a five-pitch walk from Dayton reliever Cole Pletka to force in Coules to score the championship winning run.  
 
Wall (3-1) was credited with the win, following Martin's 4.2 innings of work with four strikeouts.  Matt Mikulski started the game, going the first 5.1 innings, allowing four hits and three walks with six strikeouts.  At the plate, Coules was 2-for-6, scoring the game-winning run, while Baker was 2-for-4 with an RBI.  Melendez added two hits and a stolen base as well offensively.
 
Following the game, Nick 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.
 
The Rams went on to the Morgantown Regional of the NCAA Championship the following weekend, falling to West Virginia and Texas A&M, but still set modern day school records for wins (38), stolen bases (178), and strikeouts (605).
 

May 25, 1990 – Photo Gallery | Highlights from 1990 ECAC Championship Game - After winning MAAC and ECAC Championship in two of the previous three seasons, the 1990 baseball Rams, nicknamed the "Road Warriors" for having played all games away from the Rose Hill campus, were on a mission to reclaim their spot as one of the top teams in the Northeast.  The team certainly did that winning the 1990 MAAC and ECAC Championships to earn a berth in the NCAA Midwest Regional in Wichita, Kansas.
 
Similar to 1987, it was a packed Regional for the Rams with defending NCAA champion Wichita State, Arkansas, UCLA, South Alabama, and Georgia Southern among the teams placed in Wichita.
 
The first day saw the Rams make a statement, defeating the top seed Arkansas Razorbacks, who were ranked #6 nationally, by a score of 8-5.  It was the 36^th win of the season, tying the 1988 team for the then-modern day record (after 1920) for single season wins.
 
Fordham got out to a fast start with five runs in the first inning off Arkansas ace Doug Bennett, who entered the game with a record of 10-1.  The highlight of the inning was a grand slam by catcher Kevin Secor.  The Rams added to the lead in the third, when Bill Champi knocked out a solo blast, his eighth home run of the season.
 
Arkansas couldn't get a bead on pitcher Bobby Aylmer, who was told when the team arrived at Eck Stadium that he would start that day. Aylmer went seven plus innings, keeping the Razorbacks off-balance. Aylmer turned the game over to Jay Hutchinson after Arkansas closed the gap to 6-5. Hutchinson nailed the coffin shut, while his teammates gave him two insurance runs following a Ray Montgomery two-run single to make it an 8-5 final.
 
Though the Rams would fall in the next two contests to UCLA and South Alabama, it was still a fantastic season for the Maroon and White.
 
As a team, the Rams were stacked offensively, batting .328 on the year and averaged 7.7 runs per game.  The team had power with 90 doubles and 35 home runs, while also having speed with 14 triples and 121 stolen bases.

 
Individually, the Rams were led by ABCA.Rawlings Second Team All-American and MAAC Player of the Year Ray Montgomery.  Montgomery batted a team-best .429 with 46 runs scored, 15 doubles, four home runs, 48 RBI and 45 stolen bases.  He also registered a single season record 75 hits in 1990.
 
He was not alone as the Rams had a number of cogs to keep the offense rolling.  Six other Rams hit over .300 (minimum 100 at bats), and among that group at the top of the lineup was the dynamic duo of Santy Gallone and Pete DeLuca.  Gallone, a 1990 All-MAAC selection, was a run producing machine, scoring 52 times, while driving in 48, as he hit .360 with six home runs and 21 stolen bases.  DeLuca, who was an All-MAAC selection in 1989, batted .366 in 1990 with 48 runs scored, 16 doubles, 43 RBI, and 23 stolen bases.  Other heavy hitters for the Rams included Mike Anquillaire (.343, 34 R, 5 HR, 38 RBI), Bill Champi (.333, 35 R, 9 HR, 43 RBI), Jim McDermott (.301, 22 R, 14 RBI, and Kevin Secor (.303, 26 R, 12 2B, 3 HR, 25 RBI).
 
Even with a bunch of heavy hitters, the Rams' pitching staff had plenty of stud arms with four recording sub-3.00 ERAs.  Among the starters, Joe Maniscalco was the top hurler with a 7-2 record and a 2.90 ERA, while Paul LoGuidice posted five victories and a 4.93 ERA in 12 starts.  In the bullpen, Fordham had the trio of Jay Hutchinson (2.01 ERA), Bill Conkling (2.57 ERA), and Bobby Aylmer (2.16 ERA), who combined for 15 saves, a team record at the time.
 
Following the season, both Montgomery and Aylmer were selected in the 1990 MLB Draft, as Montgomery went to Houston in the 13^th round, while Aylmer was selected by Toronto in the 33^rd round.