BRONX, N.Y. – No. 4 Fordham scored three runs in the eighth inning to force a tie and then got a walk-off single from Jake MacKenzie in the 10th inning to rally past No. 5 Richmond in the first round of the 2019 Atlantic 10 Baseball Championship at Fordham’s Houlihan Park.
The Rams (35-22) advance to play top-seeded VCU at 1:30 pm Thursday. Richmond (27-24-1) falls into the consolation bracket and will face the loser of that Fordham/VCU matchup at 8:30 pm Thursday.
Trailing by three entering the eighth after stranding three runners in the seventh, Fordham got a bases-loaded single from Jake Baker that fell into left and drove in Nick Labella and Justin Bardwell. Billy Godrick then tied the game from third on a sac fly by Jason Coules.
Richmond managed one ninth-inning baserunner on a walk issued to Daniel Little, and Fordham again stranded three, but neither team scored in the ninth, setting up the MacKenzie’s 10th-inning heroics. The shortstop’s single to right drove in C.J Vazquez from third for the win.
Richmond had the early lead after scoring twice in the second when D.J. Lee singled to right center to push Johnny Hipsman home. A Little sac fly then scored Justin Cook. The teams traded single runs in the third and fourth before Richmond scored three times in the top of the sixth to take a 6-1 lead. Jordan Schulefand, who also had an RBI single in the fourth for the Spiders, singled to center to drive in Cook. A bases-loaded walk by Sage Bruhl and a groundout by Anthony Forte scored the other two sixth-inning runs, with Forte’s out pushing Little home.
The Rams set up the rally with a pair of runs in the bottom of the sixth to cut into the Spider lead. Bardwell singled to center to score MacKenzie and Labella doubled to drive in Matt Tarabek.
Schulefand led Richmond with a 3-for-6 performance at the plate with two RBI while Vazquez went 4-for-6 for Fordham. Coules and Baker each recorded two RBI.
Kyle Martin (6-2) got the win for Fordham, who used seven pitchers in the victory. Martin went 1.1 innings of hitless ball, striking out three. Dalton Light (1-1) took the loss for the Spiders, throwing 2.1 innings and allowing just three hits and one unearned run. He walked two and struck out two.