Atlantic 10 matchups are finally underway for the Fordham baseball team as they underwent their second A-10 matchup last week against George Washington University, dropping the series 1-2. The Rams also played two out-of-conference games against Columbia University and Sacred Heart University, dropping the former and winning the latter.

Last Wednesday, the Rams faced off against the Columbia Lions for a one-game series. While Fordham stomped on the gas early in the first through third innings, pitching imploded in the fourth and fifth innings, with Rams pitchers giving up a total of 12 runs.

Things calmed down going into the rest of the game, but the Rams were shut out after the third inning. The Lions constantly rotated through their pitching staff, using a total of eight pitchers in the game.

On the Rams side, freshman Aric Berg took the loss for the Rams as he gave up six runs across one inning of work. The Rams dropped the matchup 9-16, with a big A-10 series ahead of them.

One shining light for the Rams has been graduate student Peter DeMaria, who drove in four RBIs for the game with one run and two hits. Similarly the top half of the lineup was stellar, as junior Ryan Thiesse delivered four hits, three runs and two RBIs across six at-bats.

Heading into the series between George Washington and Fordham, both teams had comparable records thus far, so it was sure to be a tough battle between both teams as they fought to battle out of the bottom third in the A-10.

The opening matchup between George Washington and Fordham was filled with tons of runs on both sides. With a collective 29 runs and 29 hits, the matchup was surely filled with excitement for all nine innings.

George Washington struck first in the first inning as Fordham junior starting pitcher Declan Lavelle got off to a bit of a rocky start, giving up two RBI singles to Noah Levin and Robby Wacker.

Red-hot DeMaria tied things up for the Rams in the bottom of the first. DeMaria, as well as the top half of the Rams lineup, consistently drove in hits and runs for the Rams in this series.

In game one, Thiesse had four hits, three runs and two RBI. Meanwhile in the two spot, freshman Daniel Bucciero produced two hits, three runs and one RBIs. Batting fourth DeMaria racked up one run, two hits and four RBIs.

Fordham pitching crumbled in the fourth after taking a three-run lead. Junior Nolan Hughes and sophomore Connor Haywood had difficulties getting the George Washington batters out, giving up six runs across the inning.

After narrowing the lead down in the fifth after a crucial two-run home run courtesy of senior Zach Selinger and a fielding error bringing home another Ram, Fordham was still hanging on to the game.

The Rams got their breakthrough opportunity in the eighth inning, with six runs to tie the game. Thiesse started things off with a single, scoring junior Michael Taylor. Then, DeMaria with a double to bring in two Rams, followed by a sophomore Cian Sahler double to clear the bases.

After quietly struggling in the first two games of the week, it was all up to freshman Tommy McAndrews in the bottom of the ninth to walk things off for the Rams. He blasted a double to center field bringing home junior Chris Genaro to bring the final score to 14-15 Rams.

The rest of the series for the Rams lacked the same offensive momentum we saw in game one. In game two, the Rams were shut out until the fifth inning where they piled on four runs, the only runs they would accumulate over nine innings.

The routine strong hitting in the top of the lineup was missing, leaving it up to the bottom half of the lineup to pick up the slack.
Taylor, batting seventh, brought in a two-run double in the fifth, followed by an RBI single from Thiesse to continue the scoring.

The last run was driven in by a balk from pitcher Teddy Brennan, bringing Thiesse home.

The nail in the coffin for the Rams was the grand slam home run hit by Michael Kohn in the top of the sixth, letting George Washington take the lead, 6-4.

As the Rams conceded three more runs through the rest of the game, the final score resulted in a 9-4 loss for the Rams.

The final game in the series did not fare much better for the Rams as the offense diminished even further, resulting in a 2-9 loss.

A sacrifice fly by McAndrews began the scoring for the Rams, but after that, the Rams went cold until the sixth inning.

In the sixth, an RBI single from Sahler brought the Rams up to a measly two runs in comparison to George Washington, who had piled on eight already.

Fordham graduate student pitcher Austin Sachen took the loss for the Rams, with nine hits, eight runs and three walks over 4.1 innings.

On the flip side, it was a stellar pitching performance from Chris Kahler from George Washington as he pitched a complete nine innings only conceding two runs and delivering 10 strikeouts.

On a brighter note, the Rams ended their week with a big win over Sacred Heart on the road, 9-7.

The Rams’ scoring came on efforts from across the starting lineup, as Sahler began things with an RBI double, followed by a McAndrews double to score two runners in scoring position.

Up 3-2, Sahler added another RBI, this time a single, to the Rams total.

Sacred Heart was able to make a comeback in the mid-innings for the Rams capitalizing on mishaps from Rams pitching, taking the lead 7-4.

But the Rams were saved by the star of the day, Bucciero, as he lifted the Rams to the lead with a grand slam home run.

An insurance run in the ninth continued the scoring for the Rams to keep them in the lead for the 9-7 victory.

The Rams raised their record to 15-22 as the season will continue to roll on with more A-10 matchups to be had. Fordham currently sits at 3-6 in the conference at 10th place out of 12 teams.

Fordham now continues to roll through the season, facing the University of Richmond on the road for a three-game series before traveling to Poughkeepsie, N.Y. to face Marist College for a one-game series on Tuesday. The first game of the Richmond series starts on Friday at 2 p.m.