Published: April 17, 2008

The Fordham baseball team looked to be in danger of losing the rubber game of a three-game set against George Washington University on April 13 until they scored four runs in a wild bottom half of the eighth inning to claim a 6-4 victory. The win improves the Rams’ record to 18-15 on the season, 5-7 in the Atlantic 10.

Fordham looked to be in for a long afternoon after starter Jake Rabinowitz, FCRH ’09, recorded just one out, allowing four runs (two earned) on four walks and a hit.

J.P. Mack, FCRH ’09, entered in relief and quickly stymied the Colonials offense, picking up the win in 7.2 innings of three-hit, shutout pitching.

After Fordham responded with two runs of their own in the bottom of the first inning, both offenses combined for just four hits until the eighth, when George Washington miscues, including an error and a wild pitch, plated two Rams. Catcher Ryan David, FCRH ’11, capped the scoring with a two-run blast.

“We are going to stick to our game plan for now in the A-10 because we have a very good team, yet [we] just have not had pitching and hitting at the same time in games,” said pitcher Peter Kennelly, FCRH ’09. “When these two things come together, we are going to be a highly feared team in the A-10, as we showed against GW this weekend.”

The two squads combined for 23 hits the day before in a 9-6 George Washington victory. Kennelly picked up the loss after allowing six earned runs on seven hits and five walks through 6.2 innings.

Fordham was held scoreless through the three innings and did not manage to collect a hit over that span.

The Rams did make a late push, however, rallying for two runs in the bottom of the ninth, but the Colonials staved off Fordham to hold on.

In the first game of the series, pitcher Tom Davis, FCRH ’08, became Fordham’s all-time leader in innings pitched by throwing eight frames of shutout baseball. Fordham did most of their offensive damage in the third inning scoring twice on a single to left field by second baseman Eric Reese, CBA ’08, who is tied for the team lead with 34 RBIs.

Chris Kaible, FCRH ’08, came in to close out the game and quickly induced two ground balls and a pop fly.

Fordham also swiped four bases in the contest bringing their total to 107 on the season, first in the NCAA.

“Stealing and base running were a focus for us in the preseason,” said P.J. Como, FCRH ’08. “[Fordham head coach Nick] Restaino has a lot of confidence in our base runners and understands the importance of getting into scoring position. He has allowed us to run free on the base paths.”

By taking two of three from George Washington, Fordham won its first A-10 series of the season.

“We are a better team than our conference record shows,” said Alex Kenny, FCRH ’11. “We are not going to make any drastic changes, just focus on playing the full nine innings and string together all aspects of the game.”

On April 9, the Rams dropped a 2-1 contest to Seton Hall University. Seton Hall scored twice in the top of the fourth inning, despite failing to record a hit in the frame, and it proved enough to hold off Fordham the rest of the afternoon.

Fordham scored in the first, playing small ball to put a run on the board. Third baseman Danny Leach, FCRH ’08, singled through the right side and then swiped second. Reese then singled, scoring Leach on the play.

That would be it for Fordham’s offense, though, as they would record just four more hits on the afternoon.

“Seton Hall pitched very well,” Como said. “None of us saw many pitches to hit…We just could not put hits together. I think we had six or seven in the game, but they all came in different innings.”

Seton Hall took advantage of Max Krakowiak’s, FCRH ’11, lack of control in the fouth frame, when he gave up five walks to go along with a wild pitch.

John Young, FCRH ’09, came in to stop the bleeding and induced an inning-ending groundout, but the damage was done.

Fordham’s bats went silent in the late innings, and Seton Hall retired the last nine Fordham batters in order.