Bronx, N.Y. – (April 10, 2025) – The Fordham baseball team is back on the road this weekend, as the Rams head to Philadelphia for a three-game series at Saint Joseph's.
Fordham (15-18, 7-5 A-10) hopes to break out of a four-game slide against the Hawks, following a 7-3 loss to Columbia on Wednesday. Saint Joseph's (13-17, 7-5 A-10) did not play a mid-week contest and are coming off a three-game sweep of St. Bonaventure.
SCOUTING REPORT: Saint Joseph's stands in a tie for fourth place in the Atlantic 10 with Fordham and Dayton at 7-5 in league play. The Hawks have been led by their starting rotation, headed up by Frank Ciccone and Colton Book. Ciccone is 3-2 with a 3.07 ERA and a .214 opponent batting average in eight starts, while Book is 5-1 with a 1.61 ERA and 77 strikeouts in just over 50 innings of work. Offensively, Owen Petrich is one of the Hawks' power bats with six home runs and 25 RBI on the season, while Blake Primrose is batting a team-best .403 with 12 runs scored, 11 stolen bases, and 17 RBI.
PROBABLE STARTERS:
Friday - Fordham – RHP
Aidan Dowd (2-2, 5.84 ERA) at Saint Joseph's – RHP Frank Ciccone (3-2, 3.07 ERA)
Saturday – Fordham – RHP
Mike Rabayda (1-4, 6.87 ERA) at Saint Joseph's – LHP Colton Book (5-1, 1.61 ERA)
Sunday – Fordham – RHP
Chase Hanawalt (0-1, 5.87 ERA) at Saint Joseph's – LHP Nathan Stein (1-2, 5.29 ERA)
SERIES HISTORY: Fordham and Saint Joseph's have played a ton over three decades in the Atlantic 10, playing 76 times in that span. The Hawks lead the series at 40-35-1 and have won five of the six meetings over the last two seasons. Last year at Fordham, the Rams won the opening game of the series, 8-6, while the Hawks rebounded to take the final two games, 6-1 and 7-1.
LAST TIME OUT (4/9): Columbia's Jack Kail, Ben Fishel, and Anthony Temesvary all homered, while six pitchers limited Fordham to five hits, as the Lions defeated the Rams, 7-3, at Houlihan Park on Wednesday.
The game started well for Fordham, taking a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the second inning on a solo home run by
Andrew Kanellis, his team-leading fifth of the season.
The game then changed in the fourth, as Columbia scored five times in the inning to take the lead. After an error allowed the leadoff batter aboard, Anton Lazits doubled to left center, scoring Cole Fellows. Jack Kail followed with a two-run home run to right, his fourth of the year. Later in the frame, Ben Fishel and Anthony Temesvary each hit a solo home run, their second and third home runs of the season, respectively.
The score remained that way until the eighth, where each team scored twice. The Lions scored their two runs on a first and third steal and an RBI-single by Fishel, while Fordham got its runs on a two-run single by
Taylor Kirk, extending his hit streak to a season-long 12 games.
Zach Karson (1-1) took the loss for Fordham, allowed three earned runs on six hits over 4.1 innings of work.
Ryan Egan pitched 2.2 scoreless innings of relief with two strikeouts with
Anthony Scarlata (1 IP, 2 R) and
Koen Smith (1 IP, 1 K) closing out the game. At the plate, Kirk finished 1-for-3 with two RBI, while
Reid Lapekas was 1-for-2 with a double and a run scored.
GOIN' STREAKIN': Taylor Kirk is on a season-long 12-game hitting streak, batting .413 over that span with 15 runs scored, 11 RBI, and five stolen bases…
Tommy Markey is hitting .382 in his last 11 games with eight runs scored, two home runs, and six RBI…
Andrew Kanellis has a .340 batting average over the last 12 games with nine runs scored, five extra-base hits, and 13 RBI…
Daniel Bucciero has 12 runs scored, 12 RBI, and 12 steals in the last 12 games.
MEN OF STEAL: The Rams have gotten back into a stealing mode with 78 stolen bases this season, ranking 20
th in the NCAA, entering this weekend's play, while being 24
th in stolen bases per game (2.36). Fordham has nine players with at least three stolen bases this season, led by
Daniel Bucciero, who is 21
st in the country with 21.
WHO'S NEXT: Following this series, Fordham is back at home for its next game on Tuesday, April 15
th, against FDU, starting at 3:00 PM.
