By Dave Diamond
Suddenly, the ball is rolling! The Pride baseball team won consecutive games for the first time this season with a 9-3 local victory over the Fordham Rams Tuesday in the Bronx, and seem to be getting primed for their Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) schedule that is right around the corner.
It is safe to say the win was battery-powered. Senior captain and catcher Steve Oliveri went 3-4 with four runs batted in to lead the Pride to their second win after 10 tough losses to start the year. On the other end of the battery, junior pitcher Patrick Rogers threw five shutout innings, allowing only two hits en route to his first victory of the season. The Pride was able to jump out early and never looked back.
“We want to beat everybody we play, but it’s nice to beat teams that are in our region,” Oliveri said. “It looks good for the program.”
The Pride wasted no time taking a lead. Back-to-back singles by sophomore left fielder Anthony Sarno and senior shortstop Josh Stern set the tone. The tandem then pulled off a double steal moving both into scoring position with only one out. Rams pitcher Tom Davis pitched a little too carefully to Pride slugger Ricky Caputo which led to a walk, loading the bases for Oliveri. The catcher drove a single to right, scoring both Sarno and Stern. Then, Oliveri produced even after making a mistake.
While trying to grab second on the play, Oliveri got caught in a run down when Davis cut off the throw from the outfield. Fordham spent too much time trying to get Oliveri out, allowing Caputo to score before Oliveri was tagged out, giving the Pride a 3-0 lead before the Rams even came to bat.
“I got up in some situations where I could drive in some runs,” Oliveri said. “I was just trying to put a good swing on the ball and drive it hard somewhere. My teammates did a great job of getting on base all day.”
The situation looked remarkably similar in the seventh inning. Having already built a 5-0 lead, Oliveri put the game out of reach. David Cole singled to right center to start the inning and Tony Schmitt was awarded first base on a catcher’s interference call. Beautiful execution of a double steal put Pride runners in scoring position and Caputo reached this time on a throwing error. Oliveri came through once again with a base hit to right center, scoring two to give the Pride a 7-0 lead. Andy Campana drove in another run later in the inning sending the Pride to the easy 9-3 win.
While the early season was a major struggle, the two victories give the Pride a much better attitude heading into the major part of the schedule. It would have been easy for the team to lose confidence starting 0-10, but credit the players for putting forth the effort in the past two games to get on the right track. In fact, when the early losses are examined more closely, the Pride lost many one-run games in which they failed to produce in key situations like they have the past two games.
“We have played and competed with teams from the top conferences in the country such as the SEC and ACC. These games should help and prepare us now in the starting weeks of conference play,” Pride starting pitcher Ryan Dunn said. “Hopefully those games are past us, and we can turn over a new leaf.”