Bronx, N.Y. – (March 19, 2024) – For the first time in five seasons, the Fordham baseball team will renew pleasantries with Hofstra Pride on Wednesday afternoon at Houlihan Park.
Fordham (6-13) is coming off a 3-2 week where the Rams picked up a win over Wagner and a pair of victories over Army West Point. Hofstra enters the week at 6-11 overall and will play at Columbia on Tuesday before heading to Rose Hill on Wednesday.
SERIES HISTORY: Wednesday will be the 77
th all-time meeting between Fordham and Hofstra, the first since 2019. Starting in 1942, Fordham holds a 51-25 series edge. The Rams have won each of the last six meetings. Hofstra's last win over Fordham came in 2014 in Hempstead.
OPPONENT OUTLOOK: Entering this week's action, Hofstra is 2-7 in their last nine games. Despite the record, the team is hitting very well at .292 for the season with 13 home runs and averaging just under seven runs per contest. Dylan Palmer has been impressive through the first 17 games, batting .437 with 23 runs scored, 12 RBI, and 11 stolen bases, while Alex McCoy is batting .373 with six doubles, three home runs, and 17 RBI. Pitching has been a slight different story, as the Pride have an 8.94 team ERA ad a .299 opponent batting average.
LAST TIME OUT (3/17): The Fordham Rams wrapped up their baseball round robin weekend with a split of two games at Houlihan Park, defeating Army West Point, 4-2, while falling to Fairfield, 13-3, in seven innings.
The Rams picked up a 1-0 lead in the third inning, when
Chris Genaro cracked a solo home run to left, his first of the season. Fordham extended the lead in the seventh, scoring three times for a 4-0 edge, highlighted by an RBI-single from
Daniel Bucciero.
Army was held in check for eight innings before the Black Knights scored twice in the ninth and got the tying run to the plate. However,
Connor Haywood struck out Braden Golinski to secure the 4-2 win.
Aidan Dowd (1-0) earned his first collegiate win, pitching five shutout innings, allowing two hits with six strikeouts.
Gannon Brady also added two scoreless innings of relief, while Haywood finished with four strikeouts in two innings of work. At the plate, Genaro was 2-for-3 with a home run, two runs scored and two RBI, while
Ryan Thiesse, Bucciero, and
T.J. Wachter each had two hits.
In game two, the Rams took the initial lead in the second inning on a two-run double to right by Genaro, but the lead was short-lived, as the Stags scored four times in the third for a 4-2 lead.
Fordham got a run back in the bottom of the third on a sacrifice fly by
Cian Sahler, making it, 4-3, but the Stags poured on the offense in the fifth and sixth innings, netted nine runs for the 13-3 final score. Genaro ended the game 2-for-3 with a double and two RBI, while Thiesse and
Madden Ocko were each 1-for-3 with a run scored.
WE'RE GOIN' STREAKIN': Cian Sahler is red hot over the last six games, batting .500 (12-24) with six run scored, a home run, and nine RBI…
Nico Boza has seven RBI in his last five games, while batting .368 in that stretch…
T.J. Wachter is batting .353 (6-17) in his last five games with a double and five RBI… In his first five appearances as a Ram,
Aidan Dowd is 1-0 with a 0.79 ERA and 18 striekouts in 11.1 innings pitched…
Declan Lavelle has a pair of wins in five starts to go with a 3.46 ERA and 18 strikeouts in 26.0 innings…
Connor Haywood has a save, a 2.35 ERA, and 13 strikeouts over his last sx relief appearances.
WHO'S NEXT: The Rams will take on the St. John's Red Storm in a three-game series this weekend. Fordham will be at St. John's for game one on Friday and game three on Sunday, while the Saturday contest will be at Houlihan Park at 1:00 PM.
