BRONX, N.Y. – The outfield at Fordham's Houlihan Park is lined for football, so the Saint Joseph's baseball team felt right at home hanging 13 runs on the scoreboard in the first two innings en route to a 16-9 win over the Rams on Friday afternoon.
 
HOW IT HAPPENED
• Immediately, as Saint Joseph's (23-16 overall, 8-5 Atlantic 10) opened up a 7-0 lead after a half-inning.  Brett Callahan and Conlan Wall drew walks ahead of Nate Thomas, who ripped a pitch over the wall in right center for an early 3-0 advantage.
 
• Brendan Hueth then walked and stole second base before scoring on a double by Liam Bendo, who came in himself along with Tim Cavanaugh, who was hit by a pitch, on a double by Luca Trigiani.  Callahan then doubled in his second plate appearance of the inning to score Trigiani.
 
• A two-out bases-loaded double got the Rams on the board with a three-spot in the bottom of the inning, but the Hawks answered with six in the second to open up some breathing room.  Two hit batters and a walk loaded the bases for Bendo, who drew a walk to force in a run before Cavanaugh did the same.  Trigiani then tripled to clear the bases before a sacrifice fly by Nate Thomas made it a 13-3 game after an inning and a half.
 
• Another Bendo walk was sandwiched between singles by Brandon Drapeau and Cavanaugh to start off the third; Trigiani followed with a sac fly before Callahan singled in another run.  In the fourth, Cossetti drew a one-out walk and eventually came in to score on a wild pitch to make it 16-3.
 
• Fordham (11-28 overall, 4-9 Atlantic 10) added single runs in the fifth and eighth before tacking on four in the ninth to set the final margin.
 
BEHIND THE BOX SCORE
• Ian McCole allowed four runs on seven hits, striking out five and walking one in six innings to earn the win. Gabe Karslo started for Fordham and was charged with seven runs on five hits and three walks in one inning to take the loss.  David Owsik earned a three-inning save.
 
• Trigiani finished the day with six RBI while Thomas added four.  Callahan was 4-for-5; Cavanaugh and Trigiani joined him as Hawks with multiple hits in the game.  Bendo scored three times, one of six Hawks to cross the plate more than once on the day.
 
• SJU drew 12 walks on the day, the third time this season the Hawks have hit double-digits in free passes.
 
UP NEXT
The teams will continue the series at 1:00 p.m. on Saturday.