MERION STATION, Pa. – John Brue reached base safely in all five of his plate appearances on Sunday afternoon and homered in his third consecutive game to help lead the Saint Joseph's baseball team to a 10-0 rout of Fordham and a three-game sweep of the weekend series between the teams at Smithson Field.
Pat Vanderslice was outstanding on the mound for the Hawks, tossing seven shutout innings and allowing just five hits while walking two and striking out three.
Saint Joseph's (28-19 overall, 14-7 Atlantic 10) never trailed, using four first-inning singles to take an early lead. Deon Stafford, Jr., started the cavalcade with a single through the left side, advancing to second on Brue's first hit of the day. Two batters later, Charlie Concannon and Matt Maul followed with consecutive singles to give the Hawks a 2-0 advantage.
Stafford led off the third with a double before Brue connected with his 15th home run of the season to double the SJU lead and chase starter Kirk Haynes, Jr., from the game.
Fordham (26-26 overall, 12-9 Atlantic 10) threatened in the fourth, putting two on with one out, but Vanderslice induced a popout and a groundout to emerge unscathed.
The Hawks tacked on two more in the fourth. Brian Lau led off with a double and Taylor Boyd drew a walk to bring Marc Giacalone to the plate. After a fielder's choice grounder retired Lau, Stafford followed with an RBI single, reaching base for the 10th consecutive plate appearance before ending his streak in his next at bat.
Brue was then hit by a pitch to load the bases for Charlie Coghlin, whose single up the middle scored Giacalone to make it a 6-0 game.
The Rams had another opportunity in the sixth as Joseph Runco beat out an infield single with two outs, advanced to second on a wild pitch, and went to third on an infield single by Ryan McNally, but Vanderslice got Mark Donadio to ground into a fielder's choice to end the inning without a run crossing the plate.
Brue led off the bottom of the sixth with a walk before going to third on a single by Coghlin. Concannon hit into a double play, but Brue came in to score on the play and extend the lead to 7-0.
In the eighth, after a Giacalone walk and another Stafford single, Brue notched his third run batted in of the day with a single. Coghlin walked to load the bases for Concannon, who beat out a fielder's choice to allow pinch runner Graham Leib to score. Two batters later, Cal Jadacki singled home Brue to bring in the game's final run.
All told, Saint Joseph's pounded out 16 hits on the afternoon, and every Hawk in the starting lineup reached base. Over the course of its five-game winning streak, SJU has now outscored the opposition 59-13, including three 14-run performances.
Vanderslice improved to 6-2 on the season, while Nick Roth tossed a pair of shutout innings in relief. Haynes fell to 3-5 after he was charged with four runs on six hits in two-plus innings.
The Hawks will close out the regular season this week when St. Bonaventure visits Smithson Field. Game time in the series opener is set for 3:00 p.m. on Thursday.
