Bronx, N.Y. – (May 15, 2024) – The Fordham baseball team's regular season comes to a close this week, as the Rams head to St. Bonaventure for the final Atlantic 10 series of the season with the Rams still in play for a spot in next week's Atlantic 10 Championship.
Fordham (19-30, 10-11 A10) is a game out of the final spot, as the top seven teams qualify for the Atlantic 10 Championship at Capital One Park in Tysons, Virginia. Currently, the Rams are chasing Saint Joseph's and Massachusetts, who are tied for the sixth and seventh positions at 11-10, along with George Washington and Richmond tied for fourth and fifth at 12-9.
The Rams enter the final weekend attempting to snap a five-game slide at St. Bonaventure, who stand at 15-31 on the year, 5-16 in the Atlantic 10. The Bonnies most recently dropped a 4-3 decision to Niagara on Tuesday.
PROBABLE STARTERS:
Thursday – Fordham – RHP
Declan Lavelle (6-5, 4.99 ERA) at St. Bonaventure – RHP Michael Salina (2-6, 4.89 ERA)
Friday – Fordham – RHP
Aidan Dowd (1-2, 3.19 ERA) at St. Bonaventure – RHP Luke Roggenburk (2-0, 6.43 ERA)
Saturday – Fordham – TBD at St. Bonaventure – TBD
SERIES HISTORY: Fordham and St. Bonaventure have met 76 times since the teams first met back in 1907. Outside of single games in 1907, 1929, and 1930, the remaining 73 contests have come during the teams' time in the Atlantic 10 Conference. The Rams lead the overall series, 47-29, having won nine of the last 11 meetings. Fordham and St. Bonaventure last met in 2022 with the Rams sweeping a three-game series at Houlihan Park. The last series at St. Bonaventure in 2021 was a four-game series, where the Rams won three of four games.
OPPONENT OUTLOOK: St. Bonaventure heads into the final weekend with a .275 team batting average and have five players over the .300 mark. Adam Rankie has been the most consistent bat in the Bonnies' lineup, hitting .328 with 15 doubles, three home runs, and 37 RBI and earlier this season had a 23-game hitting streak. David Marshall Jr. is also having a solid campaign, batting .322 with four home runs and 34 RBI. On the mound, Michael Salina has been at the top of the Bonnies' rotation, making 11 starts and recording a 4.89 ERA and 61 strikeouts in 53.1 innings of work.
LAST TIME OUT (5/12): William Bean and Ethan Iannuzzi each had three hits and two runs scored to lead the VCU Rams to an 8-3 win over the Fordham Rams to complete a three-game sweep at Houlihan Park on Sunday afternoon.
VCU opened the scoring with three runs in the third inning, highlighted by an RBI-double by William Bean and an RBI-single from Brandon Eike. They then added two runs in both the fourth and sixth innings to open up a 7-0 lead. In the fourth, it was a two-run single by Casey Kleinman, while the sixth inning saw an RBI-single by Bean and an RBI-double from Nic Ericsson.
Fordham got on the board in the seventh inning, as
Madden Ocko drew a walk and scored on a double to left center by
Tommy McAndrews. VCU got that run back on Eike's second RBI-single of the game in the eighth inning to make it 8-1.
Fordham got another rally going in the bottom of the frame, starting with a two-run double by
Ryan Thiesse, putting the score at 8-3. Ocko then singled to put two runners on with one out. VCU reliever Owen Tappy then came in and put a stop to the rally, getting the final five outs of the game to secure the win.
Everett Vaughan was the story of the game for the first six innings, giving up only one hit to
Chris Genaro in the sixth inning, while recording four strikeouts. For Fordham, Genaro was 2-for-4, while Thiesse was 1-for-4 with a double and two RBI.
Andres Perez (1-2) took the loss, allowing two earned runs on four hits over three innings of work.
LIGHTIN' IT UP: Though his school record hit streak was broken on May 5
th,
Cian Sahler certainly made the most of it, batting .407 over those 22 games with 10 runs scored and 19 RBI… Over the last ten games, Sahler and
Madden Ocko each have six RBI… In his last two appearances,
Zach Karson had earned a win with seven strikeouts in six scoreless innings…
Aidan Dowd has 12 strikeouts and a 3.75 ERA over his last three starts (12 innings).
GOIN' STREAKIN': Junior
Cian Sahler put his name in the Fordham record book on May 4
th, as he extended his streak to a school record 22 games. He surpassed the previous mark of 21 games, which was reached originally by Bob DiVincenzo in 1977 and then matched by Ray Montgomery in 1988. The streak would end the following day, as he went 0-for-2 with a walk and a sacrifice fly.
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: Depending upon Fordham's results and scores from around the league, the Rams hope to claim one of the final spots in the Atlantic 10 Championship, which will be held May 21-25 at Capital One Park in Tysons, Virginia.
