In last nonconference games, Columbia falls twice to Fordham

The final midweek matchups for an already melancholy Columbia team ended in more disappointment on Wednesday against an old crosstown foe.

“We weren’t able to put complete games together as well as we had over the first part of spring break and earlier in the season,” senior pitcher Dan Bracey said on Monday of the Lions’ struggles in the second half of the season in Ancient Eight play. “I’d say that’s kind of the way the season broke down for us.”

The theme persisted on Wednesday, when, despite a renewed spark from the Lions’ bats—something they sorely lacked in last weekend’s three losses to Princeton—they could not keep up with a prolific offensive display from Fordham, which outscored Columbia 16-8 over the twin bill.

Just like in Monday’s second loss to the Tigers, which officially took Columbia (17-21, 7-9 Ivy) out of contention for the division title, the Lions scored first in game one against the Rams but let their lead slip away. Freshman Zack Tax, who has been a solid reliever for the Light Blue this year, made his first collegiate start and was almost flawless through three innings, allowing just a hit and a walk and keeping the game scoreless.

The Lions took the lead in the top of the fourth on three straight extra base hits.

Alexander Aurrichio sparked the rally, rebounding from a 1-7 performance at the plate on Monday to make a contribution. After Jason Banos walked with one out, Aurrichio tripled him home and came around himself a batter later on Enmanuel Cabreja’s double down the line in left. Next up was Alex Ferrera, who sent a 3-2 pitch over the left-center wall on a hop for a ground-rule double.
In typical midweek fashion, head coach Brett Boretti limited his starters’ innings and sent in junior Harrison Slutsky to relieve Tax in the fourth. Slutsky didn’t have the same luck on the mound, relinquishing the team’s early lead. He worked himself out of a bit of a jam after giving up a two-out double and walk, throwing a third strike past Fordham’s Joe Russo for the final out. That was the final out he would record, though. After left fielder Stephen McSherry reached on an fielding error by sophomore Eric Williams at first, Slutsky gave up a hit, walk, and hit in succession and was pulled from the game with the bases loaded, having already surrendered an unearned run. All three runners that Slutsky left came home to score, all credited to the righty. After reliever David Speer secured the first out on a strikeout, he gave up two hits before ending the inning on a 4-6-3 double play.

The Rams tacked on two more the next inning with four straight hits against Speer with two outs to go up 6-3, a lead they maintained until the finish.

In the second game, Fordham scored twice in each of the first two innings against Columbia senior starter Max Lautmann. The Lions threatened to pull even, scoring three in the third on a two-run blast from rookie catcher Mike Fischer and an RBI grounder by sophomore right fielder Dario Pizzano that brought in junior Jon Eisen, who played second base in game two.

Fordham pulled away in the bottom of the inning, though, aided by poor fielding by the Lions. The little-used junior Anthony Potter, who made just his third start of the season in game two at first base, committed two errors in the inning, first throwing away a potential double-play ball with one out and one on, and later making a fielding error with two runners in scoring position. Eisen also dropped a fly ball, Lautmann hit a batter to load the bases, and sophomore reliever Ricky Kleban threw a wild pitch that allowed a run to score. In all, the Rams plated six runs in the inning to go up 10-3. Columbia scored two in the top of the next inning, but could manage no more.

The losses further reflect the disparity between this year’s Lions team and last year’s, which went 14-6 in the Ancient Eight to win the division easily. Last season, Columbia swept its doubleheader against Fordham.

The Lions still have a chance to pull out a second-place finish in the Lou Gehrig Division when they play 8-8 Penn this weekend.