College Notebook: Saint Joseph's crusies past Fordham; Owls fall

By PATRICK GORDON | Managing Editor
May 22 2014, 8:00am EDT.
@Philabaseball

Tommy Cunningham's three-run home run in the opening frame set the tone on Wednesday afternoon as Saint Joseph's cruised to a 9-4 win over Fordham in the 2014 Atlantic 10 Championship at the Billiken Sports Center in Saint Louis on Wednesday afternoon.

Cunningham was one of four Saint Joseph's players to finish the day with a pair of hits.

John Brue contributed a two-run home run in the fifth to break the contest open.

Daniel Thorpe tossed five innings for the Hawks, surrendering just one run on six hits en route to tying a Saint Joseph's program record with is 10th win of the season.

The Hawks will face George Mason on Thursday afternoon with the winner facing either VCU or Saint Louis on Friday. The loser between Saint Joseph's and George Mason will face Richmond on Thursday night.

In other local action, Temple committed four errors and fell to Houston on Wednesday at Bright House Field in the opening round of pool play in the American Athletic Conference tournament in  Clearwater, 3-0.

The errors masked an otherwise suburb performance by Owls starter Matt Hockenberry. The senior tossed eight stellar innings, surrendering eight hits while striking out six.

Temple faces UCF on Thursday evening and realistically needs a victory to remain alive in the tournament. The Owls wrap up pool play against Connecticut on Saturday.

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