Bronx, N.Y. – (May 14, 2025) – The 2025 Fordham baseball season is in its final weekend of the regular season, as the Rams are battling three teams for one of two spots in the seven-team 2025 Atlantic 10 Championship, which is scheduled for next week, May 20-24.
Fordham (23-30, 13-14 A-10) is in a four-way tie for sixth place with George Washington, Richmond, and Dayton. The Rams face off against George Mason this week, who are currently in second place in the Atlantic 10, while Richmond is hosting Davidson, George Washington is at Saint Louis, and Dayton hosts St. Bonaventure.
SCOUTING REPORT: George Mason sits in second place in the Atlantic 10 standings at 19-8 with a 35-17 overall record. The Patriots are a game back of Rhode Island for first place and sit among the Atlantic 10 leaders in team batting average (.333) and team ERA (4.62). James Quinn-Irons stands as one of the top contenders for Atlantic 10 Player of Year, as he enters the weekend hitting .415 with 20 doubles, 13 home runs, 74 RBI, and 26 stolen bases. Owen Hull is also having an outstanding season, batting .392 with 73 runs scored, 14 doubles, seven home runs, 57 RBI, and 38 stolen bases. On the mound, George Mason boasts a pair of seven-game winners in Connor O'Hara (7-3, 2.58 ERA) and Brandon Cassedy (7-1, 3.08 ERA).
PROBABLE STARTERS:
Thursday – Fordham – RHP
Mike Rabayda (2-5, 5.32 ERA) at George Mason – RHP Connor Knox (2-0, 3.63 ERA)
Friday – Fordham – LHP
Ameer Hasan (2-1, 3.20 ERA) at George Mason - TBD
Saturday - Fordham – TBD at George Mason - TBD
SERIES HISTORY: Fordham and George Mason have met 24 times with the first game dating back to 1968. The Patriots hold a 14-10 series lead after winning four of the last six meetings during the 2022 and 2023 seasons.
LAST TIME OUT (5/13): Marist's Noel Rivera drove in three runs, while Ty Morris threw three innings of two-hit relief, as the Red Foxes held on for a 7-4 win over the Fordham Rams at McCann Baseball Field on Tuesday afternoon.
After Marist scored on an error in the third inning for a 1-0 lead, Fordham answered with a three-run fourth inning to take the lead at 3-1.
Madden Ocko was hit by a pitch to start the frame, while
Daniel Bucciero drew a walk.
Andrew Kanellis then drove an RBI-double to left to score Ocko. Bucciero then scored on a sacrifice fly by
Matt Dieguez with Kanellis scoring on a sacrifice bunt from
Carson Chavez.
The Red Foxes quickly regained the lead in the bottom of the fourth, loading the bases and scoring five times to go up 6-3. The rally was highlighted by a two-run single by Noel Rivera. Rivera later extended the Marist lead to 7-3 in the sixth with an RBI-triple.
Fordham tried to put together a comeback in the ninth, loading the bases with no outs on a hit by pitch to
Reid Lapekas and walks to Chavez and
Jack Brennan. After a fielder's choice recorded the first out,
Cian Sahler plated a run with a sacrifice fly to center, making it 7-4. Ocko then drew a walk to re-load the bases for Bucciero. However, Bucciero grounded out to third to end the game.
Zach Karson (1-2) took the loss, allowing six runs over 3.2 innings of work. At the plate, Fordham managed only five hits in the game. Chavez was 1-for-2 with a double, a run scored, and an RBI, while Ocko, Bucciero, and Kanellis each had a hit and a run scored.
RARE AIR: Freshman
Taylor Kirk has had an impressive first season with the Rams, standing among the team leaders in batting average (.337), runs scored (47), walks (26), and stolen bases (26). As of late, he has been on a heater, reaching base safely in his last 40 games, while having a 19-game hitting streak this season. The hit streak was the second-longest by a Ram since 1995 behind only
Cian Sahler's school record 22-game hit streak from last season, while his 40-game on-base streak makes him one of three Rams to reach at least 40 games in the last 30 seasons, joining Mike Marchiano (67) and Eric Reese (49).
MEN OF STEAL: The Rams have gotten back into a stealing mode with 116 stolen bases this season, marking the 13
th time in program history that the team has reached the century mark. The Rams rank 22
nd in the NCAA in total stolen bases and 29
th in per game average (2.19). Fordham has 10 players with at least three stolen bases this season, led by
Daniel Bucciero, who is 21
st in the country with 32.
Taylor Kirk is also at 20-plus steals with 26, marking the first time since 2019 that Fordham has had two players with 20 or more steals in the same season.
MILESTONE HIT: Daniel Bucciero joined some exclusive company in the Fordham record book against URI. Having already cracked the top 15 in career doubles, home runs, and total bases at Rose Hill, he hit his 20
th career home run against Rhode Island, joining Bobby Kingsbury (2000-02) as the only two Rams to ever have 100 runs scored, 40 doubles, 20 home runs, 100 RBI, and 50 stolen bases in their careers. He is also just seven hits shy of 200 for his career at Fordham, as Bucciero looks to become the 16
th member of the 200-hit club.
WHO'S NEXT: Based on this weekend's results, the Rams hope to be a part of the 2025 Atlantic 10 Championship, which takes place, May 20-24, at Capital One Park in Tysons, Va.
