The New York Mets’ games last week featured some familiar faces as the team’s season wound down. On Oct. 5, Fordham University President Tania Tetlow, J.D., threw out the ceremonial first pitch at the Mets game before they took on the Washington Nationals. 

Tetlow sported a Fordham Softball hoodie and was accompanied to the game by members of the Fordham softball team, who were honored for their Atlantic 10 championship last season. Tetlow threw the pitch to Fordham Athletic Director Ed Kull. After adjusting her grip of the ball in her glove, she fired a strike to the amusement of the crowd. 

A few days later, on Oct. 8, former Fordham pitcher Nick Martinez, now a pitcher for the San Diego Padres, entered the game at Citi Field against the Mets. The pitching performance came at a crucial moment, as the Padres faced their east coast rival in the second game of the Major League Baseball (MLB) three-game National League Wild Card Series.

Martinez entered the competition in relief in the fourth inning after starter Blake Snell struggled. Martinez navigated his way through the inning, preventing both of the runners he inherited from scoring. In the fifth inning, however, he allowed a leadoff home run to Mets slugger Pete Alonso to break a 2-2 tie. 

Tetlow’s pitch showed her support for Fordham Athletics while also demonstrating Fordham’s enduring passion for the community that it finds itself in.

Because of this, Martinez, who studied at the Gabelli School of Business at Rose Hill until he was drafted by the Texas Rangers in 2011, earned the loss for the game when the Padres ultimately fell 7-3. Martinez pitched 2.2 innings in the game. He accumulated one hit, one earned run and one walk. Despite being pinned with the loss due to the lone run he allowed, Martinez’s metrics were strong, and he ate innings in a desperate moment for the Padres. It was undoubtedly the biggest stage of his turbulent career, and by many accounts it was a successful outing. 

As the Padres defeated the Mets in the two games Martinez did not pitch in, they will trudge on, and the Fordham grad will likely be called on in important situations as the playoffs continue. Only a year ago, Martinez was pitching in his fourth season in the Nippon Professional Baseball league, Japan’s highest level of professional baseball, after struggling in MLB. Now, in a storybook twist, he finds himself as an integral member of the Padres as they inch closer to a potential World Series appearance. 

Tetlow’s pitch showed her support for Fordham Athletics while also demonstrating Fordham’s enduring passion for the community that it finds itself in. It proved that the university does not take its slogan “New York is our campus” lightly, and it gave Fordham a personable platform for individuals to evaluate the institution. 

Meanwhile, Martinez’s success underlines what can be done by Fordham alumni. Despite a rollercoaster of a career, Martinez overcame adversity at the age of 31 and is contributing at a high level to one of the best baseball teams in the world. 

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Local fans of the Mets witnessed two sides of the same maroon coin. On one side, Tetlow’s pitch showed a representation of a new era for Fordham, with Tetlow and her agenda underlining everything great that Fordham can become. On the other, Martinez’s success highlights the greatness that individuals who pass through Fordham can achieve, surmounting obstacles to accomplish lifelong goals. And it all happened just a borough away at Citi Field.