Baseball Overwhelms UMass, 11-1

Bronx, N.Y. – A day after his teammate, Matt Mikulski, struck out ten batters to become just the fifth pitcher in Fordham history to fan 100 in a season, junior Gabe Karslo took a different track. Apparently, the junior right-hander agrees with Durham Bulls catcher Crash Davis that "strikeouts are boring. Besides that, they're fascist. Throw some ground balls. It's more democratic" as Karslo went six strong innings today without recording a strikeout to lead the Rams to an 11-1 Atlantic 10 win over Massachusetts in a game shortened to eight innings.
 
With the win, Fordham improves to 20-14 overall, 7-5 in the Atlantic 10, while Massachusetts falls to 12-26 overall, 3-13 in the conference.
 
Karslo went six innings, allowing just six hits and walking one to improve to 4-1 on the year.
 
While Karslo was keeping the Minutemen bats in check, the Fordham offense came alive, rapping out ten hits and taking advantage of four UMass errors. Freshman Chris Genaro led the Fordham offense, going 2-for-4 with three RBI while junior Jason Coules and sophomore Will Findlay each had a pair of hits, with Coules driving in two runs and Findlay scoring a pair of runs.
 
The Rams took advantage of a Massachusetts error in the second to score three unearned runs, two on a Coules single.
 
Fordham scored three more in the third as a walk, Findlay single and hit by pitch loaded the bases with no outs. Two runs scored when C.J. Vazquez's ground ball went under the glove of the Minuteman third baseman. Genaro brought in the third run later in the frame with an RBI ground out.
 
Another three-run outburst, this one in the fifth inning, gave the Rams a commanding 9-0 lead. Zach Selinger opened the inning with a single and stole second. One out later, Jack Harnisch moved him to third with an infield single and Genaro brought both runners in with a triple to right center. Andy Semo then plated Genaro with a sacrifice fly.
 
The Minutemen picked up their lone run in the top of the sixth, the final inning of work for Karslo, as Jack Popolizio came on for the seventh and was very un-Karslo like, fanning the side in his one inning of work.
 
Fordham ended the game with a pair of runs in the eighth, on a bases loaded walk to Colton Snelling followed by a hit-by-pitch to Aidan Tornquist, invoking the Atlantic 10 ten-run mercy rule.
 
The Rams return to action on Wednesday, May 5, as they host the Army West Point Black Knights at Houlihan Park at 4:00 p.m.