Baseball Plays St. John’s in Split Series This Weekend

Bronx, N.Y. – (March 18, 2021) – The Fordham baseball team will get back to work this weekend with a split series against the St. John's Red Storm.  Friday and Sunday's contests will be played in Queens at Kaiser Stadium, while Saturday will see a doubleheader at Houlihan Park.
 
The Rams are out to a 7-1 start for the first time since 2011, after taking two-of three games from Fairleigh Dickinson last weekend.  St. John's is also out to a very good start with a 7-3 record, but were swept last weekend at Western Carolina.
 
PROBABLE STARTERS/GAME COVERAGE:
Friday: Fordham – LHP Matt Mikulski (2-0, 2.00) vs. St. John's – LHP Nick Mondak (2-1, 2.12) // St. John's Audio | Live Stats | Twitter - @FordhamBaseball
 
Saturday (G1): Fordham – RHP Cory Wall (0-0, 0.00) vs. St. John's – RHP Ian Murphy (2-1, 4.15) // WFUV Audio | Live Stats | Twitter - @FordhamBaseball
 
Saturday (G2): Fordham – LHP Garrett Crowley (1-0, 2.70) vs. St. John's – RHP Sonny Fauci (1-0, 5.62) // Live Video (ESPN+) | WFUV Audio | Live Stats | Twitter - @FordhamBaseball
 
Sunday: Fordham – RHP Brooks Ey (0-0, 1.64) vs. St. John's – RHP Brian Hendry (1-1, 5.27) // Live Video (ESPN3) | Live Stats | Twitter - @FordhamBaseball
 
SERIES HISTORY: The Rams and Red Storm have a storied series history, dating back to the teams first meeting in 1907, playing at various locations, including Shea Stadium in 2000.  St. John's has the overall lead in the series with a 53-38-1 record.   The two squads played each other regularly up to 1990 before resuming the series in 1999 through 2002.  Since 2002 though, Fordham and St. John's have only met twice in 2009 and the last meeting in 2010.  Fordham's last win in the series came on March 10, 1998.
 
LAST TIME OUT (3/14): It was looking a bit like déjà vu for the Fordham Rams in the Sunday afternoon baseball game at Houlihan Park.  Yesterday, the Rams and Fairleigh Dickinson were tied at two through seven innings and the game went 16 innings.  Today, the game again was tied after two after seven.  However, Fordham broke through with a four-run eighth inning to take a 6-2 victory from the Knights and win the series.
 
The Rams grabbed an early 1-0 lead in the second on a sacrifice fly by Andy Semo, but the Knights quickly tied the game in the third on an RBI-single by Mike Veit.
 
Fairleigh Dickinson then took a 2-1 lead in the sixth.  With runners at the corners, James Donlon put down a perfect squeeze bunt to plate the runner from third.  Fordham battled back to tie the game at two in the bottom of the seventh.  With one out, Colton Snelling doubled to left center, while Jack Harnisch drew a walk.  Jake Guercio then delivered an RBI-single through the right side to plate Snelling for a 2-2 game.

 
The Rams followed with a four-run rally in the eighth for a 6-2 lead.  With one out, Jason Coules drew a walk and stole second.  After a fly out moved him to third, Nick Labella snuck a single out of the infield to plate Coules for the go-ahead run.  Snelling then had an RBI-single with Guercio connecting on a two-run single to give Fordham a four-run lead.
 
Alex Henderson (2-0) earned the win in relief, tossing two scoreless innings in relief of starter Brooks Ey.  Ey allowed one earned run over seven innings of work with four strikeouts.  At the plate, Guercio was 3-for-3 with three RBI and a stolen base, while Snelling was 2-for-4 with a double, two runs scored and an RBI.  Labella also finished with two hits and an RBI.
              
OFF TO A GOOD START: With the team having its best start in a decade, it's no surprise that the Rams' pitching staff is at the forefront.  Fordham leads the Atlantic 10 with a team 2.05 ERA, which is good for third in the NCAA.  So far, Fordham's top arms have been a pair of lefties in Matt Mikulski and Garrett Crowley.  Mikulski is 2-0 on the year with a 2.00 ERA and 15 strikeouts in nine inning pitched, while Crowley is 1-0 with a 2.70 ERA and 14 strikeouts in 10 innings.
 
THAT WAS A LONG ONE: On March 13^th, the Fordham Rams and Fairleigh Dickinson Knights played one of the longest games in Fordham baseball history going 16 innings with the Knights coming out on top.  For Fordham, it tied for the second longest game in school history (16 innings at St. John's – 5/10/1948) and only trailed the famous 19-inning affair between Fordham and Clemson at the 1988 NCAA Regional.
 
Additionally, the Fordham pitching staff combined to strike out 21 batters in the game, tying the single game record which was set on March 31, 1909 against Bowdoin College and then matched on May 1, 2018 against Hofstra.
 
HOME SWEET HOME: Over the last five seasons, Fordham's Houlihan Park has been a friendly home to the Rams.  The Maroon and White have a 69-23 regular season home record in that time, good for a .750 win percentage.  Recently, the Rams had a string of 15 straight regular season home wins that dated back to 2019 snapped on March 13^th.
 
WHO'S NEXT: The Rams will next be in action on Wednesday, March 24th, when they take on Sacred Heart, before having a split four-game series with Hofstra, March 26-28.