Milwaukee, Wis – Former Fordham baseball standout Nick Martinez will start Game One of the World Series for the Tampa Bay Rays on Friday night. He becomes the fifth Ram to pitch in a World Series game, joining Hank Borowy, Johnny Murphy, Dick Rudolph, and Ed Walsh.
Martinez will face the Milwaukee Brewers and right-hander Jacob Misiorowski as Tampa Bay opens the Fall Classic on the road as the American League champion. The start caps a career year for the 36-year-old, who earned his first Major League Baseball All-Star selection after establishing himself as one of the American League's top starting pitchers.
The Rays are 24-9 in Martinez's starts, as he produced a 3.10 ERA in 180 innings over 31 starts.On the road, Martinez has a 2.38 ERA in 16 starts this season, setting him up for success in Friday night's Fall Classic showdown.
Most recently, Martinez allowed just one run over 5.1 innings in Game Four of the American League Championship Series against Cleveland.
Martinez was drafted by the Texas Rangers in the 2011 MLB Draft after three seasons at Fordham, splitting time as the Rams' starting second basemen and relief pitcher. In that time, he had a career batting average of .295 with 109 runs scored, 26 doubles, 66 RBI, and 22 stolen bases. On the hill, he appeared in a total of 15 games, posting three saves and 22 strikeouts in 26.1 innings pitched.
