After finishing the 2023 season with a 19-36 record, the Fordham baseball team looked to get the 2024 season started off on the right foot against three different teams in Winston-Salem, N.C.
The first of the three games was against the top team in the nation, Wake Forest University. This was the first time in program history that the Rams opened up the season against the top-ranked team. Although Fordham outhit Wake Forest, errors plagued the Rams in a 9-3 loss.
The game started off on a high note for Fordham after sophomore Daniel Bucciero reached on a single in the first inning and promptly stole second to put himself into scoring position. Fellow sophomore Tommy McAndrews scored Bucciero on a single of his own to give the Rams and starting pitcher senior Declan Lavelle an early 1-0 lead.
In the bottom half of the first, the Demon Deacons quickly evened the score with a lead-off home run on the first pitch of the game thrown by Lavelle.
With two outs and two on in the bottom of the second inning, three of Fordham’s four errors of the day allowed for three runs to score, all in one play, giving Wake Forest a 4-1 lead.
The Rams would settle down, and the game would remain that score for the rest of Lavelle’s outing. For a Fordham team that had its fair share of struggles with starting pitching last year, it was a welcome site for Lavelle to start the season pitching well. He ended the day allowing just one earned run on two hits over four innings of work, notching three strikeouts.
In the fifth inning, with junior Robbie Stewart on in relief for Lavelle, the Demon Deacons broke the game open with four runs on a two-run double and then a two-run single in back-to-back at-bats.
The Rams chipped away at the 8-1 Wake Forest lead in the eighth inning with a two-run home run from graduate student Steve Luttazi to cut the deficit to 8-3. However, Wake Forest added on a final run in the bottom half of the inning before closing out the 9-3 win.
The second game in Winston Salem was against the University of Akron, with Fordham as the home team this time.
The game started off with the Rams quickly in a 3-0 hole after Akron put up a three spot in the top of the first inning. The score would remain that way until the third inning when the Zips tacked on another run on an RBI single.
In the bottom of the third inning, Fordham struck back, putting up three runs of their own on four hits. With the bases loaded and nobody out, Luttazi singled up the middle to score two. Two batters later, graduate student Henry Pelinksi also singled up the middle to score the third run of the inning. Luttazi would get picked off second to end the Ram’s rally.
The fourth inning went almost identically to the third inning. Luttazi again came up with the bases loaded, but this time with two outs. An Akron error on the play allowed for Luttazi to reach and two runners to score to give Fordham a 5-4 lead. The very next batter, McAndrews, singled to center field to score the third unearned run of the inning. Another Luttazi baserunning mistake, this time caught stealing at home, ended the scoring at three for Fordham in the inning.
In the top of the fifth inning Akron chipped back with a run of their own to cut the Fordham lead to one. The Zips then took a 7-6 lead in the seventh with a two-run single.
With the Rams down one run, graduate student Andrew Kanellis pinch-hit for senior Nico Boza to lead off the bottom of the eighth inning. Kanellis came through for his team with a solo shot to the right to tie the game at seven going into the ninth inning.
All momentum was lost in the ninth inning when Akron broke out for seven runs to take a 14-7 lead and put the game out of reach. They would end up winning by that score in the bottom half of the inning.
The third and final game of the weekend was against the University of Illinois, with Fordham back as the away team at the neutral site.
The game was scoreless through the first two innings before Luttazi came up for the first time. As he had all weekend for the Rams, he came through, launching his second home run of the season and the weekend to right center field. This gave Fordham an early 1-0 lead, their only lead of the game.
From then on, the game would be all Illinois, with errors plaguing the Rams for the second time this weekend. It all started in the third inning after a leadoff single for the Fighting Illini was followed by an error to allow the second batter of the inning to reach. Both runners would score later in the inning to give Illinois a 2-1 lead.
The Fighting Illini tacked on another run in the bottom of the fifth before breaking out for five runs in the sixth to put the game out of reach at 8-1. One more run was added in the eighth for good measure, and the game ended in a 9-1 Illinois victory. Following the Luttazi homer for Fordham, the Rams only mustered one more hit on a single from senior Ryan Thiesse in the sixth.
The three losses for Fordham ultimately started them off on the wrong foot on the season at 0-3. They’ll head back down south this weekend to face three different opponents in DeLand, Fla.
