Bronx, N.Y. – (February 27, 2025) – The Fordham baseball team is back on the road this weekend, following its home opening win on Wednesday afternoon, as the Rams head to Boca Raton, Florida for a three-game series at FAU.
PROBABLE STARTERS:
Friday - Fordham – RHP
Aidan Dowd (0-1, 15.63 ERA) at FAU – Trey Beard (1-0, 5.00 ERA)
Saturday - Fordham – RHP
Mike Rabayda (0-2, 6.23 ERA) at FAU – Tyler Murphy (1-0, 8.38 ERA)
Sunday - Fordham – RHP
A.J. Pino (0-0, 13.50 ERA) at FAU – James Litman (1-0, 0.00 ERA)
SCOUTING REPORT: FAU is 7-1 on the season with wins over Miami, UConn, & UCF. The Owls are clicking at the plate and on the mound, posting a .334 batting average and a 4.19 ERA. Jake Duer is third in the NCAA with 19 hits on the year, batting .514 with six RBI, while Marshall Lipsey has been an on-base machine at .667 with five hits, seven walks, and eight hit by pitches in eight games. In two starts on the hill, James Litman is 1-0, having not allowed a run in 8.1 innings of work, while Trey Beard has 20 strikeouts in nine innings
SERIES HISTORY: Fordham and FAU have met seven times previously with the last series in 2022, when FAU swept a three-game set from the Rams. The Owls are 6-1 all-time against Fordham, dating back to their first match-up in 2009. The 2009 series saw the lone win for Fordham, taking the series finale. The teams also played a single game in 2012.
LAST TIME OUT (2/26): Behind an offensive explosion, the Fordham baseball team opened its home schedule with an 18-10 win over the Iona Gaels at Houlihan Park on Wednesday afternoon. The win moved Fordham to 9-0 all-time in home February games.
After falling behind 6-0, Fordham clawed its way back into the game with a four-run third inning, sending nine batters to the plate. With two on and one out,
Daniel Bucciero got the Rams on the board with an RBI-single, followed by a two-run double from
Matt Dieguez.
Andrew Kanellis capped the scoring with a sacrifice fly.
After Iona scored once in the top of the fourth, Fordham answered with two in the bottom of the frame on a sacrifice by Bucciero and an RBI-single by
Madden Ocko. The Rams then took their first lead in the fifth, netting four runs for a 10-7 lead. After the first run came in on an error, Bucciero posted his second sacrifice fly of the game, while Ocko had a two-run double.
Iona pulled back within one in the sixth at 10-9, but Fordham responded with an eight-run rally in the bottom of the sixth to go up by an 18-9 score.
Tommy Markey got the inning rolling with a two-run double, while
Taylor Kirk recorded an RBI-triple. After an RBI-single by
Reid Lapekas and an RBI-double by Ocko, Kanellis connected on a three-run home run to right for his first of the season. The Gaels closed out the scoring with a single run in the seventh for the 18-10 final.
At the plate, Ocko was 3-for-3 with two doubles, two runs scored, and four RBI, while Kanellis went 2-for-4 with a home run, two runs scored and four RBI. Bucciero drove in three runs with Kirk and Markey each scoring four runs each.
Jack Clark (1-0) earned the win in relief, allowing two runs over 1.1 innings of work.
QUICK HITS: A trio of Rams,
Anthony Grabau,
Matt Dieguez, and
Caden Young each hit their first career home runs on February 15
th. Grabau did so in his first career at bat, while for Young, it came in his second career game… Young almost matched his father, Colin, on the accomplishment. Colin, who played for the Rams in the late 1990s, hit a home run in his first career game back in 1998… Dieguez had a career-high three RBI in the series finale at N.C. State. It was his first career multi-RBI game, which he then matched with three RBI in Fordham's win over Harvard…
Gannon Brady recorded his first career save with three shutout innings of relief against Harvard…
Jack Clark recorded his first win as a Ram against Iona.
HOT STICKS: Through the opening eight games of the season,
Madden Ocko has gotten out to a great start, batting .360 overall and had a career-high four RBI againt Iona.
Taylor Kirk is hitting .333 with a team-high eight runs scored and has reached base safely in all eight contests, while
Matt Dieguez has driven in eight runs to go with a .321 average after having only three RBI and a .185 average as a freshman.
Daniel Bucciero has continued his steadiness at the plate from his first two seasons, hitting safely in seven of eight games this year, batting .308 with four RBI.
TEAM CAPTAINS: Fordham has announced that graduate student
Andrew Kanellis, seniors
Gannon Brady and
Connor Haywood, and juniors
Tommy McAndrews and
Daniel Bucciero will serve as the team's captains this season. This will be the second year as a team captain for Haywood and McAndrews.
WHO'S NEXT: After this weekend, Fordham returns to Houlihan Park for a mid-week match-up against Stony Brook on Tuesday, March 4
th at 3:00 PM, followed by a three-game series with Army West Point, March 7-9. That series will be a split series with Friday and Sunday at Fordham and the Saturday contest at West Point.
