March 22, 2008
Final Stats
BRONX, N.Y. -
After scoring just two runs in the last two games, Fordham plated eight unanswered runs to overcome an early St. Bonaventure lead en route to a 9-7 win in the final game of the series on Saturday afternoon at Houlihan Park.
The loss leaves the Bonnies just short of a three-game sweep of the Rams after taking the first two games of the series. The Brown and White are 2-1 in the Atlantic 10 and 8-6 overall. Fordham improves to 11-7 on the year while picking up its first conference win.
Seven of the nine St. Bonaventure starters finished with at least one hit as the team compiled a series-best 13 hits. Senior Randy Moley continued his assault on opposing pitchers with a 3-for-4 day at the dish that included two runs and one RBI. Moley's hit streak is now at 16 games and his multi-streak is now at 10 straight. Junior catcher Brandon Salerno tied a season-high with three hits, including his fourth double of the season. Freshman Ryan Pillitteri laced a two-run single and finished with his first career multi-hit game. Junior Kevin Suminski also contributed two hits, highlighted by a double.
The Rams did most of their damage from the fifth to the eighth inning after struggling in the early going against St. Bonaventure starter Michael Proctor. The senior lefty matched a season-high with nine strikeouts, but left with one out left in the sixth after giving up four runs in the fifth and sixth. Junior Matt Stewart went the rest of the way, but was also tagged for two runs in both the seventh eighth innings.
Fordham starter Jake Rabinowitz was credited with the win despite giving four runs on nine hits in just over six innings of work.
For the third straight game, the Bonnies plated a run in the first inning to take the early lead. With freshman Jesse Bosnik of first after a single, Moley laced a single of his own into center field. On the play, Bosnik was thrown out in an attempt to get to third and Moley advanced to second on the throw. Junior Anthony Randich picked up his team-high 20th RBI of the season by driving home Moley in the next at-bat, but was thrown out at second on the play. Randich's single was his only hit of the game, but extended his hit streak to 10 games.
Proctor kept the Rams off the board in the first two innings, retiring the first six batters of the game with four coming via the strikeout.
The Brown and White added to their lead in the top of the third as leadoff hits by Pillitteri and junior Kevin Suminski put two runners in scoring position with no outs. Moley successfully brought home Pillitteri with a sacrifice fly into center field to make it 2-0.
Fordham plated its first run in its half of the third to cut the lead in half at 2-1.
The top of the fourth for the Brown and White began with back-to-back singles by Salerno and sophomore Kyle Gorby. A wild pitch moved both into scoring position, but a pair of strikeouts made the team's chances of scoring a run bleak. Pillitteri revived those chances with a timely two-out, two-run single down the left field line to score both runners and stretch the lead to 4-1.
Proctor promptly retired the Rams in order in the fourth but ran into big trouble in the fifth. Fordham reeled-off three straight extra-base hits to start the fifth, including two triples, and pushed three across to tie the game at 4-4.
Fordham took its first lead of the contest in the sixth on a two-out RBI single by Alex Kenny. The hit also took Proctor of the game.
With Stewart now on the mound, the Rams continued to push runs across the board as they made it four consecutive innings with at least one run by scoring two in both the seventh and eighth. The end result of Fordham's 8-0 run was a 9-4 lead with three outs remaining.
The Bonnies refused to quit, loading the bases with no outs on two singles and a fielder's choice with a throwing an error. Randich picked up his second RBI of the game as he was hit by a pitch from Fordham reliever Ryan Sheflott to make it 9-5. Sheflott then gave up an RBI single to Salerno that made it a three run game, 9-6, with the bases still loaded.
With the go-ahead run at the plate in Gorby, the Rams entered Chris Kaible in place of Sheflott. Gorby kept the Bonnies' hopes alive with a sacrifice fly that easily scored Moley for a 9-7 game. Neither runner on first or second was able to advance on the play leaving the possibility of a double-play still open. That's exactly what Kaible got freshman Brad Steinbach to bounce into, as Fordham ended the game with a 4-6-3 double play.
St. Bonaventure will hit the road again for its second A-10 series as it travels to Pittsburgh to take on Duquesne. Game one of the three-game set will begin on Friday at 3 p.m.
