In the first week of Atlantic 10 conference play, Fordham Baseball dropped their opening series one game to two. It also marked the end of the team’s five-game win streak, something they had amassed since March 21.

As the Rams traveled to Davidson College, they had a test ahead of them. Davidson was on a five-game win streak of their own, with a record of 13-10 heading into game one.

The Rams jumped to scoring first with a sacrifice fly from freshman Daniel Bucciero to score junior Ryan Thiesse. Bucciero, a key part of the freshman core, has excelled at the plate. The freshman went one-for-four on the day with two RBIs.

Davidson answered back in the second with an RBI single and double to put the Wildcats ahead 1-4 with help from Michael O’Shaughnessy, who went on to be named A-10 Rookie of the Week following the series.

Fordham was able to slowly chip away at the Wildcats’ lead as Bucciero once again delivered an RBI, this time in the form of a single, to score Thiesse.
Following that in the fourth, sophomore Sebastian Mexico singled to centerfield, scoring senior Will Findlay. The tying run came into play courtesy of a Nico Boza double to right field to bring in Mexico.

However, the Wildcats regained the lead immediately after putting up three RBIs, and the Rams were not able to counter.

A late Selinger home run would make the final score 5-7, and the Rams dropped the first matchup of the three-game series.

Game two would fare horribly for the Rams as they dropped the game with a football-esque score of 7-23.

Fordham pitchers struggled on the mound as graduate student Gabe Karslo had an irregular outing, giving up a total of seven hits, nine runs and recording only two strikeouts across 3.1 innings pitched.

Junior relief pitcher Nate Scott also was unable to combat the red-hot Davidson bats as he got shelled in 0.1 innings pitched with a total of four hits, seven runs and two walks.

Fordham did have some offense from Thiesse, who had himself a day. Thiesse went four-for-four in a career best game with a double, home run and three RBIs. Freshman Tommy McAndrews also delivered some runs for the Rams in the form of a home run and two runs.

In total, Davidson tacked on 18 hits and 23 runs to overcome the Rams by a landslide. The Rams had one final game left to go to prevent the sweep.
In game three, Fordham once again got off to a rough start, with Davidson taking an early lead in the third courtesy of a three-run homer from Davidson’s Ryan Wilson.

Fordham was able to catch a break as the Wildcats’ pitching broke down, giving the Rams the ability to tie the game.

In a three-batter series walk, the Rams were able to tie it all up at three heading into the bottom of the fourth.

While Davidson delivered another home run ball, this time from Henry Koehler, the Rams were saved by the hero of the day, graduate student Peter DeMaria, who homered to left center, bringing home himself and McAndrews.

McAndrews would also step up to the plate and get on base again, with an RBI single to bring the Rams’ scoring total to six for the game.
A final score of 6-4 would wrap things up for the Rams against Davidson and ensure that they wouldn’t be swept in their first A-10 series. Up next to close out the week, they traveled up to Siena College to face the Saints for a one-game matchup.

Things did not start off on the right foot for the Rams, as they went down 0-4 in the first inning, as Fordham starting pitcher Dominic Cunha allowed the first six Saints to reach base. After a pitching change in which graduate student William Simeone came in the first inning to close things out for the Rams.

In the second inning, Simeone gave up another run to make the score 0-5, but Fordham still had some fight left in them.
DeMaria doubled down the left field line to deliver two RBIs to bring the Rams up to five but yet another run for Siena made it impossible to come back.

Rams pitching would once again crumble under talented hitting and Siena went on to record 11 runs, while the Rams only added one more run after the third, with DeMaria homering to centerfield to make the final score 3-11.

There’s still a lot for the Rams to improve upon, but the Rams offense has some bright spots. New additions to the team in McAndrews and DeMaria have delivered offensively with their batting averages being strong.

McAndrews currently leads the team in batting average at .322, meanwhile DeMaria leads the team in RBIs with 22.
The Rams still have time to improve their 12-17 record as they embark on their next series against the University of Rhode Island at Houlihan Park in the Bronx this week. The first game starts on April 6 at 1 p.m.