Queens, N.Y. – (March 21, 2021) – In what is becoming a fairly regular occurrence, the Fordham baseball team needed extra innings once again on Sunday in the series finale with St. John's at Jack Kaiser Stadium in Queens. In the tenth inning,
Jack Harnisch drove in the game-winning run, as Fordham overcame a five-error game to defeat the Red Storm, 7-6.
With the win, Fordham improved to 9-3 on the year and 3-1 in extra-inning contests, while St. John's fell to 9-5.
The Rams opened the scoring with two runs in the second inning, as with runners at second and third and two outs,
Jack Harnisch delivered a two-run single to left, scoring
Will Findlay and
Casey Brown.
St. John's cut the lead to 2-1 in the third and then scored three times in the seventh to grab a 4-2 lead. In those two frames, the Rams committed three errors to help the rallies.
Fordham answered right back in the top of the eighth, posting three runs and re-gain a 5-4 advantage.
Nick Labella was hit by a pitch to start the inning and moved to second on a single by Brown. After a sacrifice, Labella scored on a ground out by
Trey Maeker.
Andy Semo followed with an RBI-double to tie the game with the Rams taking the lead on a single by Harnisch.
The lead was extended to 6-4 in the ninth on an RBI-double by Labella, but the Red Storm scored twice in the bottom of the inning to knot the game at six and force extra innings.
Nick Labella
The Rams were up to the task in the tenth, getting the go-ahead run to make it a 7-6 game.
Ryan Thiesse drew a leadoff walk and moved to second when Semo was hit by a pitch. Thiesse then stole third and scored on a squeeze bunt by Harnisch.
In the bottom of the inning, the Red Storm had a chance as Colin Wetterau drilled a ball to the outfield, but in trying to stretch the hit into a triple was thrown out at third for the second out of the inning. Fordham's
Declan Lavelle then struck out the final batter to win the game. He improved to 1-1 on the season, allowing one hit over 1.1 innings of relief with three strikeouts.
Brooks Ey once again received a no-decision despite pitching very well for the third straight week. He went the first 6.1 innings, allowing three earned runs on six hits with six strikeouts.
At the plate, Harnisch was 2-for-4 with a career-high four RBI, while Brown was 2-for-4 with two runs scored.
Jake Guercio and
Jason Coules each had two hits and a stolen base with Semo going 2-for-3 with a double and an RBI.
The Rams are next in action on Wednesday, March 24
th, when they play Sacred Heart.
