Fordham went 1-2 in its first three games. Ram Archives
By Sam Belden
At last weekend’s Atlanta Challenge, the Fordham baseball team kicked off its 2015 season. The Rams lost their season opener to Georgia State before splitting a doubleheader with Georgia Tech, good for a 1-2 start to the year.
Of the three games, the most lopsided was the opener against Georgia State. Sophomore pitcher Brett Kennedy got off to a shaky start, surrendering three runs in the second inning thanks to a rally of singles engineered by Panthers players Joey Roach, Sam Few, Trae Sweeting and Ryan Blanton. An inning later, Georgia State’s Matt Rose hit the first of his two home runs during the game to give his team a four-run lead.
Over the next two innings, Kennedy settled down, leaving the game after five innings of work. After that, the Panthers opened up on Fordham’s relief pitching, scoring seven runs over the next three innings.
Meanwhile, Panthers’ starter Nathan Bates was dialed in, throwing no-hit ball for nearly seven innings and refusing to surrender a single run. Late in the game, the Rams made a charge; senior pinch hitter Jordan Gajdos parlayed an infield single into an RBI in the eighth, while sophomore shortstop Luke Stampfl blasted a two-run homer in the ninth. However, it was not sufficient, and the Rams lost by a score of 11-3.
Fordham’s second game was a 9-4 win over Georgia Tech, the first of a Saturday doubleheader. It was scoreless until the top of the fifth inning, when Stampfl smashed a bases-loaded double, knocking in three runs. In the bottom of that inning, the Yellowjackets scored their first run off a Daniel Spingola single.
After surrendering two earned runs to Georgia Tech in the sixth, junior starter Jimmy Murphy left the game. It was his first start since missing almost the entirety of the 2014 season due to injury. Sophomore Kirk Haynes entered the game for Fordham, gave up one run and settled in, blanking Georgia Tech for the rest of the game.
Meanwhile, Fordham’s bats came alive over the second half of the game. Stampfl hit another double, bringing his RBI total of the day to five. Junior leftfielder Ryan McNally, junior third baseman Ian Edmiston and sophomore first baseman Matthew Kozuc each contributed an RBI over the game’s final three innings to get the win for Hayes and get a 9-4 win for Fordham.
Three hours later, the two teams squared off again. Fordham took an immediate lead when sophomore rightfielder Mark Donadio hit a bases loaded double in the first inning. However, junior pitcher Joe Serrapica never found his groove, and by the time he left in the middle of the fourth inning, the score was tied thanks to a series of hits from sophomore catcher Arden Pabst and freshman rightfielder Kel Johnson.
The Rams retook the lead via a Kozuch single in the top of the fifth, but junior pitcher Cody Johnson gave up four runs in the bottom. Freshman pitcher David Manasek finally settled down on the mound and pitched two and a third scoreless innings. With his performance, the Rams were well positioned to make a comeback, but they were unable to get anything more than an RBI single from Edmiston in the sixth. The game was scoreless over the final three innings and ended with a score of 7-5.
Stampfl was the Rams’ standout player in Atlanta. He batted .333 over the course of the weekend, along with a home run, seven RBIs and four runs. The strong offensive performance was paired with sound defense in what was an auspicious start to his second season at Fordham.
With the Atlanta Challenge in the rearview mirror, the Rams will head down to Florida this weekend for a series of games against Florida Gulf Coast and Illinois. After that, they will travel to California to play a series with the Univerity of Southern California before returning to the Bronx on March 4. In their home opener they will battle the Wagner Seahawks.
