Richmond, Va. – (April 22, 2023) – Saturday's match-up between the Fordham Rams & Richmond Spiders was moved to an earlier start to try and avoid the weather but another offensive explosion by the two teams could not finish before Mother Nature forced the suspension of the game until Sunday morning. After 22 hours and 10 minutes, the game resumed with the Rams getting the final three outs to finish off a 12-9 win at Pitt Field.
After the teams combined for 23 runs in the series opener on Friday, the fireworks started right away in the first inning, when Richmond's Johnny Hipsman hit a solo home run for a 1-0 lead.
Fordham answered in a big way, loading the bases in the second inning and getting a grand slam home run by
Michael Taylor, his first of the season and the fifth grand slam home run by the Rams this season.
The Spiders tied the game at four in the bottom of the third, getting solo home runs by Jared Sprague-Lott and Jordan Jaffe and an RBI-single by Christian Beal.
The Rams regained the lead in the top of the fifth inning with another big swing. The team loaded the bases on a walk, double, and hit by pitch with one out.
Zach Selinger then cleared the bases with the Rams' second grand slam of the game. It was Selinger's team-leading eighth home run of the season and third grand slam home run this year.
Richmond came right back with three runs in the bottom of the inning to make it an 8-7 game, highlighted by a solo home run by Jason Neff.
Fordham pushed the lead back to three in the top of the seventh inning at 10-7.
Daniel Bucciero beat out an infield single and was followed by
Peter DeMaria demolishing a two-run home run to left, his seventh of the year.
The Spiders got those two runs back in the bottom of the frame, and get the tying run on base, but
Nate Scott was able to get the Rams out of the jam with a strikeout and a fly out to end the rally.
Richmond got the tying and go-ahead runs on base in the eighth, however
Ben Kovel wiggled his way out of that threat with consecutive strikeouts to keep Fordham ahead by one.
The home run derby between the teams continued in the ninth, when DeMaria cranked another two-run home run for the Rams, this time to right center, to put the lead at 12-9. That's when the game was suspended due to the weather.
The game resumed on Sunday morning with a Selinger single, but
Will Findlay popped out to end the top of the ninth. Kovel remained in the game to record the final three outs for his sixth save of the season.
For Fordham, DeMaria is 2-for-2 with two home runs, two walks, four runs scored, and four RBI, while Taylor and Selinger each had four RBI on their respective grand slam home runs.
The final game of the series is slated to begin at 11:45 AM on Sunday.
