After two weekends in North Carolina resulted in a 1-6 start to the season, Fordham Baseball returned to the Bronx this past week for the team’s home opener against the Iona University Gaels, before heading down to Florida to face the Florida Atlantic University Owls.
On their familiar ground, the Rams began the week defeating the Gaels 18-10 in an over three-and-a-half-hour midweek matinee.
Iona struck first with a six-run second inning fueled by a two-run double and a two-run single. The Rams responded in the third inning, recording a four-run frame courtesy of junior Daniel Bucciero’s Runs batted In (RBI) single, a two-run double from sophomore Matt Dieguez and a sacrifice fly off the bat of graduate student Andrew Kanellis.
Iona added another run on a sacrifice fly in the fourth inning, but Fordham once again fought back with two in the bottom of the frame with a Bucciero sacrifice fly followed by sophomore Madden Ocko’s RBI single, closing the gap to 7-6. The Rams tied the game in the fifth inning after a run scored on an error and took the lead on another Bucciero sacrifice fly. Ocko extended the advantage to 10-7, after plating two on a double.
A two-run home run by the Gaels in the sixth cut Fordham’s lead to one run before the Rams responded with an eight-run outburst. Both Kanellis and freshman Caden Young led off with singles, scoring on freshman Tommy Markey’s double. Freshman Taylor Kirk sent in Markey with a triple, and then graduate student Reid Lapekas followed with an RBI single. Ocko’s second RBI double and Kanellis’ three-run homer capped the rally, extending Fordham’s lead to 18-9. Iona added one in the seventh, but the Rams secured the 18-10 win.
Following the win in the first home game, Fordham was unable to carry the momentum south, opening their three-game series against the Florida Atlantic Owls with a 5-2 loss. The Rams scored at the top of the first inning when Lapekas reached on a dropped third strike, advanced to third on a Bucciero double and scored on an RBI groundout from Ocko. However, the Owls quickly responded, tying the game at one with an RBI single in the bottom of the frame before taking a 2-1 lead in the second.
The score remained 2-1 until the fifth inning when Florida Atlantic extended its lead to 3-1. Fordham’s offense was left quiet until the eighth inning when Kirk, Lapekas and Bucciero all reached base to load the bases. Ocko was hit by a pitch, bringing in a run to cut the deficit to 3-2. With momentum shifting and only one recorded out, the Rams looked poised to take the lead and potentially steal a victory. However, Lapekas was thrown out at the plate on a Dieguez flyout, ending the rally. The Owls added two insurance runs with a two-run homer in the eighth to seal a 5-2 win.
Both missed opportunities and sloppy play plagued Fordham in game two of the series, resulting in an 11-1 loss. Kirk, Lapekas and Bucciero all reached to start the game, loading the bases with no outs for the heart of the order. However, Fordham only came away with a single run on a fielder’s choice by Dieguez. Florida Atlantic responded immediately in the bottom half of the inning with three runs. The Owls extended the lead after scoring twice in the second and once in the third. It remained 6-1 until the sixth inning when the Owls added two more runs and then another three in the seventh inning.
Fordham did not help themselves by any means on either side of the ball, committing five errors that led to four Florida Atlantic runs. On offense, despite having nine hits, the Rams only managed to push across one run. Fordham also left 13 men on base, including seven in the final three innings of the 11-1 loss.
In the final game of the series, the Rams showed more fight, coming back from an early 4-0 deficit, but were walked off in a 6-5 loss. The Rams started behind the eight ball when the Owls scored four runs in the first inning. After the Fordham starter, freshman A.J. Pino, lasted only a third of an inning, sophomore Koen Smith relieved him with 2.2 scoreless innings.
During the fifth inning, Fordham got on the board when Kanellis scored on sophomore Carson Chavez’s suicide squeeze. The Rams continued to chip away in the sixth with a Bucciero RBI single and then again in the seventh on a Chavez RBI single to pull Fordham within one. Florida Atlantic earned one back in the bottom half of the seventh inning before Dieguez tied the game at five on a two-run single during the eighth inning. The score remained until the bottom of the ninth when Owls junior Jake Duer led off the inning with a walk-off home run to right center to win the game 6-5 and send the Rams back to the Bronx without a win.
The Rams will look for a bounceback from the series sweep as they head back north to face the United States Military Academy at West Point in a three-game series over the weekend.
