March 26, 2008

Box Score

Bronx, N.Y. - Junior Rob Dyer (Selden, N.Y.) went 2-for-4 including an eighth-inning grand slam but it wasn't enough as the Fordham Rams outlasted the Stony Brook University baseball team for a 10-8 victory on Wednesday afternoon at Houlihan Park. Stony Brook falls to 6-10 with the loss while the Rams improve to 12-8.

The Seawolves entered the eighth inning down 9-4 but loaded the bases with two out to bring up Dyer who crushed his second home run of the season over the right field fence to bring Stony Brook within a run. But Fordham added an insurance run in the bottom of the inning on a Bobby DiNardo RBI single and Chris Kaible then retired the Seawolves in the ninth to seal the win for the Rams.

In addition to Dyer, junior Stephen Mazzurco (Selden, N.Y.) also had a solid day at the plate with two hits and two runs scored. P.J. Como led the Rams offense with three hits and three RBI.

Stony Brook grabbed an early 1-0 lead with a run in the first on a sacrifice fly from junior Jeremy Nowak (Cheektowaga, N.Y.) but Fordham responded with two runs in the bottom half of the inning on run-scoring hits from Kaible and DiNardo. The Rams added two runs in the third against Stony Brook junior left-hander Michael Barbot (Clermont, Fla.) on RBI singles from Como and Angelo Ponte to extend their lead to 4-1.

The Rams made it 6-1 with two runs in the fourth but Stony Brook answered with a run in the fifth on a RBI groundout from junior Brian Witkowski (Lindenhurst, N.Y.). The Seawolves then added two more in the sixth as Mazzurco knocked in sophomore Michael Stephan (Patchogue-Medford, N.Y.) with a run-scoring double to make it 6-3 and then came home on RBI single from sophomore Chris Maier (Farmingdale, N.Y.).

But Fordham answered with three runs of its own in the bottom of the sixth highlighted by a two-out two-run triple from Como to make it 9-4. Max Krakowiak earned the victory for the Rams, allowing four runs and hits in 5.2 innings of work. Barbot took the loss for the Seawolves, giving up fours runs in 3.0 innings.

The Seawolves return to action on Friday, hosting New York Tech in their home opener. First pitch is set for 3:00 p.m.