In another week of Atlantic 10 play the Rams still struggled to take a series, this time against the University of Richmond Spiders. While Fordham picked up game two for another win to their record, they couldn’t get the job done and take the series. After that, the Rams suffered a loss against Marist College on Tuesday.

In the opening matchup between the Rams and the Spiders, Fordham’s powerful offense was on display, with an opening single from senior Zach Selinger, scoring two.

A pair of home runs for the Spiders put the Rams in hot water in terms of pitching, as starting pitcher Declan Lavelle and Nolan Hughes took a beating from the Richmond batters.

Lavelle gave up four runs and four hits across 2.1 innings, while Hughes relinquished eight hits and nine runs over two innings of work.

But the Rams offense was able to pick things up across the fifth and sixth innings with stand-out performances from graduate student Peter DeMaria and junior Chris Genaro, who both delivered big two-run and three-run home runs. On top of that, junior Ryan Thiesse also got in on the scoring action with an RBI single.

Immediately after the Rams retook the lead, the Spiders delivered a harsh blow in the form of a three-run home run, retaking the lead and securing the win as they went on to tack on nine more runs across four innings.

The first game in the series finished with a 15-8 loss for the Rams.

Game two shaped up much stronger for the Rams. Highlighted by junior Michael Taylor’s grand slam home run in the second inning off of Brenden Argomaniz, that quickly eliminated any stress the pitching staff had after conceding a solo home run to the Spiders in the first.

In a game featuring eight home runs, fans were in for a thrilling offensive battle.

Selinger delivered a grand slam of his own in the fourth after the Rams’ lead was eliminated, bringing the score up to 8-4, Fordham.

DeMaria, coming off a big game one, added to his unbelievable offensive stats this year with two home runs in the game.

The first came in the seventh, scoring himself and freshman Daniel Bucciero and then in the ninth to cap off the game, this time scoring other freshman Tommy McAndrews.

With a final score of 12-9, Rams pitching was able to hold their own as the offense continued to shine.

Combined efforts from sophomore Connor Haywood, freshman Aric Berg, junior Nate Scott and senior Ben Kovel helped the Rams propel themselves to take game two, 12-9.

Unfortunately, Fordham couldn’t hold on for a victory in game three, even amidst another strong offensive performance from DeMaria.
Featuring two home runs from the graduate student, who is batting .288 on the season, DeMaria has also recorded 10 home runs leading the team in that category as well as RBIs, with 37.

Outside of his efforts, the Rams offense couldn’t find the groove as Richmond piled on RBI singles and doubles to bring in a total of seven runs.
Junior Nico Boza also added a home run of his own, but the solo shot was not enough to bring the Rams to victory. They lost the final game of the series 7-4.

For his efforts on the diamond this week, DeMaria received A-10 Player of the Week honors for the first time. DeMaria was also named one of Collegiate Baseball’s National Players of the Week as well.

To wrap things up on the week, the Rams took on Marist for a one-game series in Poughkeepsie. The Rams lacked their usual offense, only managing to score two runs.

The offense capitalized on an error in the fourth, scoring DeMaria, while the second run of the day was scored on a wild pitch, bringing home McAndrews.

All in all, it seems that the Rams ran out of gas by the time they got to Tuesday but had major success in their hitting this past week, regardless of the loss.

Now the Rams have yet another A-10 series, this time against Saint Joseph’s University starting Friday. Then, the Rams will play an out-of-conference game against the New Jersey Institute of Technology in the Bronx at Houlihan Park on Tuesday.