March 30, 2013

Box Score

MERION STATION, Pa. - The Saint Joseph's baseball team dropped its series finale on Saturday, falling to Fordham by a 4-3 score at Smithson Field. Sophomore catcher Brian O'Keefe hit his second home run of the weekend in the sixth inning, while junior Daniel Thorpe pitched into the eighth inning.

The two teams traded zeroes into the fourth inning until Fordham (11-14 overall, 1-5 Atlantic 10) loaded the bases with two outs for Joseph DeVito. DeVito's fly ball got lost in the sun, allowing him to pull into third with a triple and giving the Rams a 3-0 lead.

Saint Joseph's (12-14 overall, 4-2 Atlantic 10) clawed back into the game in the home half of the sixth. Mike Muha led off with a walk, chasing Fordham starter Joseph Serrapica from the contest, before O'Keefe launched his big fly into the Hawk bullpen to cut the deficit to 3-2.

Muha then tied the game in the seventh as he doubled in Stefan Kancylarz to put runners on second and third with one out. Tim Swatek then took the mound for the Rams and notched a strikeout and a fly out to keep the game tied.

The Rams scored what turned out to be the winning run in the top of the eighth as Mike Mauri led off with a double and came in to score two batters later on a double by Ryan McNally.

Thorpe gave up four runs on eight hits, notching eight strikeouts in seven and a third innings. He took the loss to fall to 2-4. Swatek tossed two and two-thirds innings of one-hit relief to earn the win.

The Hawks will host Lehigh on Tuesday before traveling to Bucknell on Wednesday. Live stats for both games and streaming audio for Tuesday's contest will be available at SJUHawks.com.