Game Notes
Bronx, N.Y. – (February 23, 2022) – After posting a dominant home opening win on Wednesday, the Fordham Rams are back on the road this weekend, as the team heads to Blacksburg, Virginia for a three-game set with the Virginia Tech Hokies.
Fordham (1-3) earned its first win of the new season on Wednesday with a 19-0 win over Sacred Heart at Houlihan Park, after falling to Texas A&M three times last weekend.
The Rams will look to keep the momentum going against the Hokies, who are out to a perfect start after sweeping UNC-Asheville convincingly last weekend. The Rams last played the Hokies in 2008.
PROBABLE STARTERS/GAME COVERAGE:
Friday: Fordham – RHP Gabe Karlso (0-1, 4.50) vs. Virginia Tech - RHP Griffin Green (1-0, 0.00) //
Live Video (ACC Network Extra) |
Live Audio (HokieSports.com) |
Live Stats |
Twitter - @FordhamBaseball
Saturday: Fordham - RHP
Brooks Ey (0-1, 7.20) vs. Virginia Tech – LHP Ryan Okuda (1-0, 0.00) //
Live Video (ACC Network Extra) |
Live Audio (HokieSports.com) |
Live Stats |
Twitter - @FordhamBaseball
Sunday: Fordham - TBA vs. Virginia Tech - TBA // |
Live Audio (HokieSports.com) |
Live Stats |
Twitter - @FordhamBaseball
SERIES HISTORY: Fordham is 4-1 all-time against Virginia Tech with four of those games coming in 1998, when both teams were in the Atlantic 10. The Rams won three that year, including the final one in the Atlantic 10 Championship, giving Fordham its first Atlantic 10 title. The last meeting between the two teams came in 2008, where the Rams won a high scoring affair, 13-12.
Here is the recap from that game.
OPPONENT OUTLOOK: Virginia Tech is 3-0 to start the 2022 season after sweeping UNC-Asheville last weekend by scores of 17-3, 8-1, and 10-4. Offensively, the Hokies clicked on all cylinders against UNC-Asheville, batting .391 for the weekend, led by Cade Hunter, who was 5-for-7 with two doubles, two home runs, and six RBI. Jack Hurley and Nick Biddison also had big weekend as each hit .417 (5-12), with Hurley having four runs scored and five RBI. On the hill, the trio of Griffin Green, Drue Hackenburg, and Ryan Okuda each started a game last weekend with all three tossing five scoreless inning to earn wins. Okuda was the most impressive with eight strikeouts over five innings, allowing just one hit and two walks.
LAST TIME OUT: On a picture perfect afternoon at Houlihan Park, the Fordham baseball team gave their fans plenty to cheer about in the team's home opener on Wednesday. The Rams racked up 19 runs, while seven Fordham pitchers combined for a two-hit shutout, as the team came away with a 19-0 win over the Sacred Heart Pioneers. The 19 runs scored were the most by Fordham, since scoring 22 at Fairleigh Dickinson in 2019, while the win kept Fordham undefeated in home openers at Houlihan Park at 17-0, when the park re-opened in 2006 after a major renovation to the facility.
After a scoreless first inning, the flood gates opened up for the Rams in the second and third innings, scoring seven runs in each frame to build a 14-0 lead.
With the bases loaded and one out,
Ryan Meyer popped up to the second baseman, but in trying to double off a runner, Ryan Donnelly threw the ball away, allowing
Andy Semo to score from third. After a hit by a pitch reloaded the bases,
C.J. Vazquez dunked a double down the right field line to score two runners for a 3-0 lead. The Rams kept the scoring going with two-run singles by
Jason Coules and Semo later in the frame to go up, 7-0.
Jason Coules
In the third, it was more of the same, as the Rams loaded the bases again, and forced a run in with a walk to
Ryan Thiesse. After Vazquez plated another run with a sacrifice fly, the Pioneers would commit three errors in the inning allowing five more runs to score, making it a 14-0 game.
Fordham continued to pile on, getting an RBI-single in the sixth from
Nico Boza, an RBI-fielder's choice in seventh by
Chris Genaro, an RBI-double by
Michael Taylor in the eighth, and a two-run single from
Richard Grund also in the eighth for the 19-0 win.
Cameron Knox (1-0) pitched the opening two frames and was credited with the win, allowing two walks with two strikeouts, followed by
Anthony Scarlata pitching two scoreless frames, allowing one hit.
Robbie Stewart,
Trey Maeker,
Jake Clark,
Ben Kovel, and
Connor Haywood then finished out the shutout with one scoreless inning each. The Rams' pitching staff combined for 13 strikeouts in the game, led by Stewart, who struck out the side in the fifth inning.
At the plate, the Rams totaled 16 hits, led by
Jack Harnisch and
Sebastian Mexico, who were each 3-for-3 with two runs scored. Vazquez was 2-for-3 with two doubles and three RBI with Coules and Semo each having two runs scored and two RBI.
HOULIHAN PARK TO HOST 2022 ATLANTIC 10 CHAMPIONSHIP: For the fifth time, Fordham University's Houlihan Park will play host to the Atlantic 10 Championship in 2022. The Championship will take place May 24-28. Previously, Houlihan Park hosted the Atlantic 10 Championship in 2006, 2012, 2016, and 2019. The Rams hope to repeat the most recent result in 2019, when Fordham captured the league crown for the first time since 1998.
FORDHAM PICKED SIXTH IN A-10 PRESEASON COACHES POLL (2/15): The Atlantic 10 Conference announced its preseason baseball coaches' poll for the 2022 season with the Fordham Rams picked sixth in the 12-team poll.
VCU earned the top spot with 11 first place votes, followed by Dayton, who was the only other team to receive a first-place vote. Rhode Island was listed third, followed by Saint Louis, Davidson, Fordham, and George Washington to round out the top seven. The remaining teams in the poll were Richmond, Saint Joseph's, George Mason, Massachusetts, and St. Bonaventure.
WHO'S NEXT: The Rams will next be in action March 4-6, when the team heads to Boca Raton for a three-game series at Florida Atlantic.
