St. Bonaventure, N.Y. – (May 21, 2021) – If you were looking for polar opposite games in a doubleheader, then the Fordham-St. Bonaventure doubleheader on Friday at Fred Handler Park was right up your alley.
Game one was all about Fordham senior
Matt Mikulski, as he struck out 12 batters in a 2-1 win over the Bonnies.
After giving up a solo home run in the first, Mikulski anchored down quickly to strike out two batters in the first as well as two in the second, which set a new single season record for the Rams with 116, surpassing Hank Borowy's 1939 mark of 115.
The Rams' offense got the game tied in the second, as two singles and a stolen base put runners at the corners with one out.
Trey Maeker then hit a high chopper to first, which the throw came home, but not before
Jack Harnisch slid in safely to score the tying run.
Matt Mikulski & Head Coach Kevin Leighton
The third inning saw Mikulski's second milestone of the day, as he struck out Tyler Kelder to end the inning for his fifth strikeout of the day. More importantly, it was the 265
th of Mikulski's career, setting a new career record for the Rams, passing Javier Martinez's mark of 264 from 2004-07.
Fordham rewarded Mikulski with the lead in the fourth to go on top 2-1.
Nick Labella led off with a single through the left side and stole second. After moving to third on a ground out,
C.J. Vazquez singled through the left side to score Labella for the lead.
Mikulski made that lead hold up, as he finished out the game with 12 strikeouts, including striking out the final four batters of the game, giving him 124 for the season and 272 for his career. He improved to 9-0 on the year, allowing just one run on three hits.
Vazquez led the offense, going 2-for-3 with an RBI and a stolen base, while Labella and Harnisch each had a hit, a run scored, and a stolen base.
In game two, the offenses took center stage, totaling 23 runs over ten innings with St. Bonaventure pulling out a 12-11 extra-inning victory.
Fordham jumped out to a 2-0 lead by the second inning, as
Jason Coules had an RBI-single in the first, while
Jack Harnisch cracked his first career home run in the second.
St. Bonaventure answered with a five-run second inning, getting a two-run home run by Danny Manion and a three-run home run by Matt Williams.
The Rams tied the game at five in the top of the third, but Manion hit his second two-run home run in the bottom of the inning to give the Bonnies a 7-5 edge.
The score remained that way until the Rams scored once in the sixth and seventh innings to knot the game at seven. After Coules had a sacrifice fly in the sixth,
Richard Grund knocked in
Andy Semo from third base with a base hit to force the game into extra innings.
In the eighth, Fordham re-took the lead on a two-run home run by Coules, his second of the season, but the Bonnies battled back with two runs in the bottom of the frame to keep the game going. Then in the tenth, Fordham once again went up by two, scoring runs on a squeeze bunt by
Alvin Melendez and an RBI-double from
Will Findlay for an 11-9 lead. St. Bonaventure though would get the last big hit, loading the bases with two out and getting a bases clearing double by Pierce Hendershot to win the game, 12-11.
For Fordham, Coules was 3-for-4 with a home run, three runs scored, and four RBI, while Semo went 3-for-5 with a double and a run scored. Harnisch finished 2-for-5 with a home run and two RBI with Vazquez and Labella also having two hits each.
The two teams will conclude the regular season on Saturday with a noon game.
