By Jack McLoone

Fordham Baseball’s final trip to warmer climes didn’t exactly go as planned. Not because the Rams played poorly-they swept their doubleheader against Coppin State-but the weather at first pitch was only in the 40s. With the two wins, the Rams are now 8-4-1.

Game one of the doubleheader saw the Rams carry over the hot bats from their last weekend series against James Madison. They had 13 hits and plated 10 in the 10-8 opening victory.

“I think, as a group, we have been putting together very good at bats, and this weekend we continued to get some big two-out hits,” said head coach Kevin Leighton. “We have a pretty dynamic offense when we get runners on, so we have to continue to find ways to get to first base.”

The opening run in game one was an example of how dangerous the Rams are on the basepaths.

Sophomore center fielder Billy Godrick led the game off with a single, part of a 3-8 day across both games. He then stole second and was able to advance to third on a pased ball. Sophomore right fielder Alvin Melendez then drove him in with a sacrifice fly for the 1-0 lead.

“Both Billy and Alvin have been keys to our offense, and both have the ability to not only swing the bat well but also steal second and third, which will lead to us scoring more runs,” said Leighton.

Coppin State answered right back in the bottom of the frame after an error by freshman third baseman C.J. Vazquez allowed runners to go to second and third with no outs. A sac fly to right drove in the run.

After scoring another in the top of the second, the Rams hung four on the Eagles in the top of the third to take a 6-2 lead. Melendez, sophomore shortstop Matt Tarabek, freshman left fielder Nick Labella and junior first baseman Brian Goulard notched the RBIs.

Senior starting pitcher Ben Greenberg struggled a bit in the bottom half of the third and was pulled after giving up a solo home run, two singles and a walk. He was replaced by junior Mike Cowell, who let one inherited run score. Greenberg finished with two earned runs (and one unearned) over the 2.1 innings he worked. They were the first earned runs he gave up this season.

Cowell was the victim of a throwing error in the bottom of the fifth when a two out double and a throwing error by Labella let two runs score. The tying run scored two batters later, making the score 6-6.

Both teams put up one in the sixth, but then the Rams woke up again with two outs in the seventh. Junior designated hitter Justin Bardwell started it off with an RBI double. He moved to third after a wild pitch and then scored on a bunt single from Goulard of all people. Freshman catcher Domenico Doria got in on the fun with an RBI single, making it 10-7.

The Eagles tacked on one more in the bottom of the frame, but then sophomore reliever Kyle Martin came in and threw two perfect innings to close the game.
After a hitting explosion in game one, it was junior starting pitcher Reiss Knehr who was the star of the show in the seven-inning game two.

An RBI double from Godrick in the second was all Knehr needed, going the full seven while giving up just one hit and one unearned run in the sixth. He struck out a season-high nine batters.

“Reiss was solid, and I thought he did a nice job making some adjustments throughout the game,” said Leighton. “Overall, I thought his command of all of his pitches was better and that allowed him to go deep in the game and only allow the one hit.”

While Leighton may have seen better command from Knehr, he did walk four batters and hit another. It was his second game in a row with four walks.

The bats did not go completely silent in this one either, as the Rams scored four runs on seven hits, including an RBI triple from Tarabek and an RBI double from Labella.

Fordham will finally return home for its first extended homestand of the season starting on Wednesday with a 3 p.m. game against the Wagner Seahawks. That game will be followed up with their first home weekend series of the season against Bucknell. That will start with a doubleheader on Saturday, March 17 at noon.

“Home games are always a plus, and we always seem to play well at home,” said Leighton. “We have some challenging games coming up, but the guys are definitely looking forward to competing again.”