Fordham Baseball came into the past week sitting right in the middle of the pack with a 5-4 record in the Atlantic 10 Conference. They’d hoped to stay afloat above .500 against the A-10 leader Saint Louis University for a three-game series at home in the Bronx.
In game one of the series, St. Louis proved why they are the number one ranked seed in the conference with a convincing 6-1 victory over the Rams.
The Billikens began the scoring with three in the second inning, recording two RBI singles and a double. They added to their lead in the fifth with a solo shot. In the bottom of the inning, Fordham manufactured their lone run when senior Ryan Thiesse singled, advanced to second on a fielder’s choice and scored on junior Cian Sahler’s single. St. Louis responded with two more runs in the sixth to take a 6-1 lead, which they held until the final out. Although the Rams only scored one run, they had their fair share of opportunities with 12 hits, but they could not get the crucial base knock they needed, going 1-10 with runners in scoring position. Fordham left a total of 12 men on base and at least one in every inning.
In game two of the series, the Rams rode a career day from sophomore Daniel Bucciero, who had five RBIs, to an 8-4 victory and even the series at one game a piece.
The Billikens once again opened the scoring, with one in the first and third innings to take a 2-0 lead. In the bottom of the third, Bucciero’s big game began with an RBI single to cut the deficit in half. Two batters later, graduate student Andrew Kanellis scored Bucciero on a single to tie the game up at two. Fordham wasn’t done in the inning, as Thiesse, who doubled before Kanellis’ RBI single, scored on a wild pitch to give the Rams a 3-2 lead.
The game remained 3-2 until the sixth inning when Bucciero came up with two on and two outs, hitting a three-run home run to give Fordham some breathing room with a 6-2 advantage. Kanellis added another RBI single later in the inning to extend the lead to 7-2. After St. Louis cut the lead to three with two in the seventh, Bucciero continued his hot hitting with an RBI double for an insurance run to make the game 8-4. Junior Robbie Stewart pitched the final five innings in relief of freshman starter Aidan Dowd to earn the win, his first of the season. Bucciero finished 3-5 on the day, tying a career-high with five runs batted in and finishing a triple shy of the cycle.
In the rubber match of the series, Bucciero continued his scorching hot streak, hitting two more bookend home runs, leading the Rams to a 5-4 win and 2-1 series victory over the A-10’s top opponent. Bucciero started right where he left off last game, leading off for Fordham with a solo home run. Two singles and a Sahler run-scoring double followed the home run, putting the Rams up 2-0 before St. Louis could record a single out. Graduate student Henry Pelinksi added on to the lead in the third inning with an RBI single to make it 3-0 Fordham. In the fourth inning, the Billikens started to claw back with a solo shot, making it 3-1, before taking the lead with a three-run home run in the 6th to give them a 4-3 lead. It looked like the Fordham bats had gone quiet and the Rams were going to lose the game and the series. However, in the ninth inning, senior Chris Genaro hit a one-out single to bring up Bucciero as the game-winning run. Bucciero did exactly what he has been doing all season, leading the Rams offense to wins, this time by way of a walk-off two-run home run, to clinch the series victory 2-1. On the pitching side, it was a full bullpen effort, with sophomore Aric Berg leading the way with the final three scoreless innings, allowing Bucciero and the offense a chance to come back.
In the series, Bucciero went 7-14 with three home runs, eight runs batted in, a double, four runs scored and a stolen base, doing it all on the offensive side of the ball.
With the 2-1 series win, the Rams improved to 16-22 overall, along with pushing their conference record to 7-5. They currently sit in a tie for fourth place in the A-10 standings with the University of Richmond. Next up for Fordham is a Wednesday matinee home game against Fairleigh Dickinson University on April 24 before another three-game conference series at the University of Rhode Island over the weekend. Following that, they’ll have one last exhibition game at home against Manhattan College on April 30. They’ll close out the regular season with nine straight A-10 series against Saint Joseph’s University, Virginia Commonwealth University and St. Bonaventure University before beginning the A-10 Championship on May 21.
