FROM CBD NEWS SOURCE
Bronx, N.Y. – Fordham baseball head coach Kevin Leighton announced the team’s 2012 schedule today, as the Rams will begin play on February 17th at Western Carolina in Cullowhee, North Carolina.
Except for 1944, the Fordham baseball program has played every year since 1859 and stands as the winningest program in NCAA history. The Rams will be competing for their sixth Atlantic 10 Championship tournament berth in the last nine years, in hopes of being at the 2012 Atlantic 10 Championship, May 23-26, which will be hosted at Fordham’s Houlihan Park for the second time in seven seasons. . The schedule features a tough slate with three NCAA teams from a year ago in FIU (Mar. 9-11), Seton Hall (Mar. 16), and Manhattan (Apr. 11 & May 1), as well as series against five of the six teams that made the Atlantic 10 Championship tournament last season.
The Rams open the schedule in North Carolina with a three-game series at Western Carolina from February 17-19, and then follow with a three-game set at Campbell from Feb. 24-25.
Besides these two non-conference series, Fordham will also play at FIU in March, as well as take part in the Seton Hall StrikeOut Cancer Tournament for the second straight season from March 16-18. The Rams will take on host Seton Hall in the opening game, and finish with two games against Maine.
The Rams final non-conference weekend series will be on May 12-13, when Fordham travels up to Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts for a two-game set against ACC opponent, Boston College. The two Jesuit institutions have had a longstanding baseball series, dating back to 1902, but have not met since 1997. The most memorable meeting between the schools came back in 1939, when the two teams were invited to play in the collegiate half of a baseball doubleheader in Cooperstown, New York, to celebrate the Baseball Centennial at Doubleday Field.
Fordham will also have mid-week road games against Florida Atlantic (Mar. 13), LIU (Mar. 28), Rutgers (Apr. 10), Manhattan, and Columbia (Apr. 25).
Fordham is scheduled to have 23 home games this season, which includes four Atlantic 10 weekend series at Houlihan Park. The Rams’ home opener will be on Wednesday, February 29th, against Fairleigh Dickinson, beginning a stretch of six straight home games. The stretch continues with doubleheaders against Quinnipiac (Mar. 2) and Hofstra (Mar. 4), and concludes with a single game versus Albany (Mar. 7).
Other non-conference home games will be against Stony Brook (Mar. 20), Marist (Mar. 21), Fairfield (Apr. 3), Iona (Apr. 17), and Manhattan.
In conference play, Fordham will have eight A-10 series, beginning at home, March 23-25, against Massachusetts. The Rams also host Temple (Apr. 6-7), La Salle (Apr. 20-22), and Rhode Island (May 4-6) at Houlihan Park this season, while having road series at St. Bonaventure (Mar. 30 – Apr. 1), Dayton (Apr. 13-15), Xavier (Apr. 27-29), and Richmond (May 17-19).
Full 2012 Fordham Baseball Schedule
