MERION STATION, Pa. – The Saint Joseph's baseball team matched a single-game program record with five home runs on Saturday afternoon as the Hawks routed Fordham, 14-3, at Smithson Field. Cal Jadacki led the way with a pair of longballs, including a grand slam, and seven runs batted in.
Charlie Concannon started the home run derby in the second inning, giving Saint Joseph's (27-19 overall, 13-7 Atlantic 10) a 1-0 lead with a solo shot to start the inning.
Fordham (26-25 overall, 12-8 Atlantic 10) went ahead in the fourth. After a one-out double by Mark Donadio and a Luke Stampfl walk, Justin Bardwell singled through the left side to plate the tying run. Stampfl went to third on the play and came home on a fielder's choice by Ryan Mahoney to give the Rams a 2-1 lead.
The Hawks seized control for good in the fifth. Taylor Boyd led off with a single and advanced to third on a pair of wild pitches. Deon Stafford, Jr., then drew one of his four walks on the afternoon before Joseph Serrapica uncorked his third wild pitch of the inning to advance Stafford to second and score Boyd with the tying run. John Brue followed with his 14th home run of the season to give SJU the lead at 4-2.
Charlie Coghlin kept the inning going with a double before Concannon was robbed of extra bases by a diving Matthew Kozuch at first base; the play kept the ball in the infield and left runners at the corners until Jadacki came up two batters later and deposited an offering from Serrapica between the bullpens in right field for a 7-2 SJU lead.
Boyd started things off once again an inning later, leading off with a single before Marc Giacalone reached on a walk. After a pitch got away from catcher Justin Bardwell, Giacalone was nearly caught off of first base, but Bardwell's throw resulted in an error that advanced Boyd to third.
Stafford then walked again – he would finish the day with free passes in all of his plate appearances – and when ball four bounced away from Bardwell, Boyd broke for home. Bardwell fielded the ball quickly, leading Boyd to scamper back towards third and get caught in a rundown. Stampfl's throw from third was offline, however, allowing Boyd to score and the runners to advance to second and third. Brue then extended the advantage to seven with a sacrifice fly.
The Hawks batted around for the second time in the bottom of the eighth. Pinch hitter Graham Leib was hit by a pitch before Coghlin drew a walk. Two batters later, Matt Maul singled to load the bases for Jadacki, who took reliever Anthony Zimmerman deep for a 13-2 advantage.
Moshup Galbraith then came on to replace Zimmerman, but it was more of the same for SJU as Brian Lau greeted him with a solo home run to left to tie the single-game record and make it a 14-2 game.
The Rams closed out the scoring with a singleton in the ninth on a two-out single by Jason Lundy.
Tim Brennan was solid on the mound for Saint Joseph's, allowing two runs on seven hits in seven innings to improve to 7-1. He walked two and struck out two as well. Serrapica fell to 4-5 after allowing seven runs on eight hits, four walks, and three wild pitches in four and two-thirds innings of work.
The Hawks will go for the sweep on Sunday. First pitch at Smithson Field is set for 1:00 p.m.
