Lions look to regain confidence in single-game affair against Fordham

Coming off a devastating doubleheader on Monday—when Columbia was swept by Princeton—the Lions will take on local rival Fordham tomorrow in the Bronx.

Not only did Columbia extend its losing streak to three with the losses, but the Lions also coughed up sole position of first place in the Gehrig Division.

Columbia is now stuck in a three-way tie with Princeton and Cornell as all three teams feature a 5-7 record in Ivy League play.

The doubleheader at Fordham will give the Lions an opportunity to bounce back from the Princeton games and rectify some of their problems before they play host to Cornell in a critical, season-defining series this weekend.

But knocking off the Rams will be no easy task for Columbia. Fordham enters the series after taking two of three games from Duquesne on the road last weekend. Last night at home, they lost to Rutgers, a team that Columbia beat 9-1 on April 7. With an 8-4 conference record, the Rams currently sit in third place in the Atlantic 10 Conference, just behind Temple and Rhode Island.

The Columbia pitching staff, which performed well last weekend, allowing 19 runs over four games, will have a daunting challenge in deciding how to pitch to Fordham senior Bobby DiNardo. The answer might be not to pitch to him at all, as DiNardo leads the Rams with a .357 batting average and 10 home runs on the season. Over half of DiNardo’s hits have gone for extra bases this year and the infielder’s .732 slugging percentage sits far above that of any of his teammates.

DiNardo aside, Fordham has a general lack of raw power, but the Lions will need to feature a pesky attack in order to offset a Fordham offense that has scored 184 runs this season.

Scoring runs against Fordham can be difficult, especially if Columbia has to face southpaw J.P. Mack. Mack was recently named Atlantic 10 co-pitcher of the week and the senior has an impressive 3.95 ERA this season to go along with a 4-2 record. Mack has hurled complete games in one out of every four starts and has fanned 34 batters in 54.2 innings of work.

Outfielder Bobby O’Brien currently leads the Lions with a .327 batting average and Mike Roberts and rookie Jon Eisen have also contributed with averages that hover around the .300 mark. Senior Ron Williams leads Columbia with 20 RBI.

Joe Scarlata continues to prove that he is the ace of the Lions’ pitching staff with a 4.94 ERA. He has thrown complete games in half of his starts in the 2009 campaign.

Last year, Columbia split the season series against Fordham in a pair of one-run games, dropping the first contest 8-9 before winning the second 2-1.

The first pitch is scheduled for 4 p.m. this afternoon at Houlihan Park.