Published: March 12, 2009

The Rams kicked off Fordham’s 150-year baseball anniversary on Feb. 20 with considerably less fanfare and worse results than anyone around here would have liked. After a disappointing 1-6 start, the Rams are ranked 12th in the A-10 division, in front of only Duquesne and St. Joseph’s, both of whom are winless this season.

Fordham opened the season with a three-game series against the Florida Atlantic Owls at FAU Stadium in Boca Raton, Fla.  In the season opener, the Rams could not hold a 2-run lead in the fourth as they gave up a pair of unearned runs in the bottom of the frame to allow the Owls to get back in before losing 8-6.

The Rams again let the Owls off the hook in game two of the series.  Holding a 5-2 lead in the sixth inning, reliever Greg Dimmling, FCRH ’09, was called in to get Fordham out of a bases-loaded, two-out jam.  Dimmling’s first pitch went to the backstop, allowing a runner to score from third.  Dimmling walked a batter to again load the bases before balking twice to knot the game at 5 without Florida ever having to swing the bat.  Another balk by reliever Bobby Coyle, FCRH ’09, in the next inning set the stage for a 4-run Florida seventh, punctuated by a 3-run shot by Nick Criaris that brought the final tally up to 9-5 in favor of the Owls.

The Rams rebounded from the disappointing loss with an offensive outburst in game three of the series, edging out a hard-fought 18-16 win in the final game against the Owls. P.J. Como and Bobby DiNardo, both FCRH ’09, homered on a day highlighted by an 8-run fifth inning that broke a 4-4 tie and gave the Rams a lead they would never relinquish.

“I was proud of how we handled adversity in that game,” said Fordham manager Nick Restaino. “The offense did a great job, and it was a tough day to pitch. The umpire had a very small strike zone.  We had every chance to lose that game, but our guys didn’t. They refused to lose.”

On Feb. 27, the Rams dropped two games to two separate teams in Charlottesville, Va. Playing at the home of the University of Virginia Cavaliers made the opener of Fordham’s double-header technically a neutral site game when they took on the Delaware Blue Hens.  Fordham again was first to get on the scoreboard but quickly found themselves in a tie game until Delaware took the lead in the bottom of the third.  The Hens continued to tack on, beating the Rams 6-2.

In game two against the Virginia Cavaliers, Fordham was down 3-0 at the end of the first and never recovered, losing that game 6-2 as well.

Continuing their stint in Virginia, the Rams played an early morning, 9 a.m. matinee against the Cavaliers on the Feb. 28 in the first game of a rematch of Friday’s competition.  The Rams were able to jump on the Cavaliers early, scoring twice on three Virginia errors in the first.  But the Cavaliers were able to settle down after that, and Virginia pitcher Andrew Carraway threw eight innings and limited Fordham to four hits and only one earned run.  Cavalier hitters were able to overcome the first inning deficit, and Virginia went on to win 7-3.

Game two against the Blue Hens started with Delaware jumping out to a 4-0 lead in the first and continuing on, turning the game into a route that ended 15-3 in their favor.

“In baseball, there are three facets of the game,” Restaino said. “You’ve got to hit, pitch and play defense. We’ve done all three things well; it’s just putting it all together and being consistent in all three areas. When you do two out of the three well, sometimes you can still win. But we’ll go out and pitch a real good inning and then not hit. Or if the offense is there, our pitching or defense suffers. It’s just where we’re at right now.”

Fordham’s home opener on March 4 was postponed due to the accumulation of snow still on the field from this weekend. That game against Manhattan College has not yet been rescheduled. Fordham plays the Virginia Commonwealth University Rams in Virginia over the weekend, and they play their first home game Wed., March 11 against the New York Institute of Technology.