Bronx, N.Y. – (April 23, 2024) – The Fordham baseball team will finish a five-game homestand at Houlihan Park on Wednesday afternoon, where the Rams welcome the FDU Knights for a 3:00 PM game.
Fordham (16-22) is 3-1 thus far on the homestand, picking up a win over Sacred Heart last Tuesday and two over the weekend against Saint Louis. FDU (14-23) has struggled over the last few weeks, dropping nine of their last 11 games.
SERIES HISTORY: Fordham and FDU have met pretty regularly since the first meeting in 1965. The Rams hold a 32-20-1 lead in the series with the last meeting being a 9-4 win in 2022. Fordham has won each of the last 13 meetings with FDU's last win coming in 1997.
OPPONENT OUTLOOK: The Knights are 14-23 overall this season with a 10-10 mark in the Northeast Conference. FDU is batting .259 as a team, but speed is the team's calling card with 102 stolen bases, which is tied for sixth in the country. Offensively, Hunter D'Amato is having a solid campaign, hitting .341 with 27 runs scored, 10 doubles, three home runs, 36 RBI, and 17 stolen bases. Justin Sierra has a team-best 25 stolen bases, while hitting .291 with 27 runs scored and 19 RBI.
LAST TIME OUT (4/21): After tying a carer-high with five RBI on Saturday, Fordham's
Daniel Bucciero checked off another career first on Sunday, hitting both a lead-off home run and a walk-off home run in the same game to lead the Rams to a 5-4 win over the Saint Louis Billikens at Houlihan Park.
Fordham got the ball rolling early, as the first four Rams reached base on hits, starting with a lead-off home run to left by
Daniel Bucciero, his fifth of the season. After back-to-back infield singles by
Ryan Thiesse and
Andrew Kanellis,
Cian Sahler ripped a double to the right field wall to score Thiesse and extend his hit streak to 15 games and give Fordham a 2-0 edge.
The Rams made it 3-0 in the third, as
Tommy McAndrews doubled with one out and moved to third on a single by
Madden Ocko. One out later,
Henry Pelinski singled up the middle to score McAndrews from third.
Saint Louis got on the board in the fourth on a solo home run to center by Drew Winters, his seventh of the season. The Billikens used the long ball again in the sixth to take a 4-3 lead, as Graham Mastros connected on a three-run home run to left for his fifth of the year.
Then in the ninth,
Chris Genaro blooped a one-out single to right, putting the tying run on base with Bucciero coming to the plate. Bucciero then greeted new reliever Evan Gray with a two-run walk-off home run to left for the 5-4 win. Bucciero finished the game 3-for-5 with two home runs and three RBI to lead the offense, while
Aric Berg (5-4) earned his fifth relief win of the season, pitching three scoreless innings with two strikeouts.
PROMISING START: The first half of conference play has been pretty good for the Rams, hitting .316 as a team and averaging 6.1 runs per game.
Cian Sahler is batting .400 in conference play with 10 RBI, while
Daniel Bucciero is also tearing it up at .389 with 14 runs scored, six home runs, and 18 RBI.
Ryan Thiesse is seeing the ball well in A-10 play, hitting .358 with 12 runs scored and five stolen bases. On the hill,
Declan Lavelle has been an ace, going 3-1 with a 4.91 ERA in 29.1 innings with 28 strikeouts.
LIGHTIN' IT UP: Cian Sahler is currently on a 15-game hit streak, batting .397 (23-58) over that stretch with 12 RBI…
Daniel Bucciero is hitting .393 in his last 14 games with 15 runs scored, five doubles, six home runs, and 18 RBI…
Ryan Thiesse is batting .361 in his last 14 games with 12 runs scored, six extra-base hits, and five RBI… Since taking over as the Rams' starting second baseman,
Madden Ocko is hitting .344 over nine games with a pair of RBI… In his last four starts,
Declan Lavelle is 3-1 with a 4.91 ERA in 29.1 innings with 28 strikeouts…
Aric Berg has two wins and three saves in his last eight appearances…
Robbie Stewart is 1-0 with a 3.21 ERA in his last four appearances, recording 12 strikeouts in 14 innings.
MILESTONES HIT: With a win in the series opener at UMass, Fordham head coach
Kevin Leighton hit a pair of coaching milestones. He recorded his 300th win at Fordham, as well as his 500th career coaching win. Previous to Fordham, he notched 200 wins at Manhattan College.
RAMSES CHALLENGE: Show your support for Fordham Baseball all season long by signing up for the Ramses Challenge! Whether it's wins, home run hits or strikeouts thrown during the 2024 season, now is the perfect time to give back to the program and its student-athletes. Make your pledge by going to
FordhamSports.com/RamsesChallenge.
WHO'S NEXT: Fordham will return to the road this weekend, as the Rams will play a three-game Atlantic 10 series at Rhode Island, April 26-28.
