On Thursday, May 16, 2019 Fordham began a crucial three-game series against A-10 rival Dayton needing to win two of the three games in order to qualify for the conference tournament. They sent their Friday starter to the mound hoping to get the first win under their belt and only needing to win one of the next two after that.
Dayton had other plans, though. They wound up scoring 7 runs (6 earned) on their way to an easy 17-4 win.
It turns out that loss lit a fire under the Rams who wound up winning the next two games to lock up the No. 4 seed in the Atlantic-10 tournament – which they hosted. Now as the host team, Fordham turned their game up another notch. They captured the first game against Richmond, 7-6, in 10 innings. They kept that momentum going into the next game against VCU, 2-1, as they had a rematch with Dayton on the Saturday. In that game, they won 4-2, with Anthony DiMeglio going 7 strong innings to send them into the championship game against Dayton once again.
They turned to that lefty starter hoping that the second time around against Dayton would be a reverse of fortunes. That’s exactly what happened. That lefty was Matt Mikulski, who wound up firing 5.1 shutout innings with six strikeouts as the Rams won on a walk-off walk in the 10th inning to capture the Atlantic-10 for the first time since 1998.
Fordham LHP Matt Mikulski (#40 on latest PG T400) cruising along at 91-94 over first three, bumped a 5 in first. Filling zone & showing 3 pitches for strikes. pic.twitter.com/kI9BAVNikE
— PG College Baseball (@PGCollegeBall) May 1, 2021
“I got my revenge on them – looking back on it now striking out the side in the first inning was one of the best moments of my career,” said Mikulski. “We were on a bit of a roll, and it was special what happened that day,” said Mikulski in regards to winning the A-10 Title. Since that time, Mikulski’s stock has sky rocketed and is now in the conversation with the top starting pitchers in the country. He has compiled an unblemished record of 7-0, with a miniscule 1.33 ERA and struck out a ridiculous 102 batters. He has been named in virtually every media publication and recent reports have him pegged potentially as a late first-round pick. Just don’t expect him to buy into the hype.
“It doesn’t really effect me,” he said. “I’m just going to go out there and attack. I put everything I have into pitching. I’m not going to read the articles. I didn’t read it before I got written about so I’m not going to read any of it now,” he said.
As Mikulski’s numbers have continued to be dominant, he’s garnered more an more attention from the likes of Baseball America, Perfect Game and D1 Baseball – the leading publications in the industry. To be fair, it would be impossible and reckless to ignore his numbers but what they really are impressed by is his uptick in velocity. Whereas he was touching the low 90s in the past, he’s now sitting in the low 90s and flashes triple-digits – enough for any grizzled scout to perk up.
A big reason for the uptick in velocity has been a simple arm path adjustment.
“I made my arm path a little shorter at the back side. I worked on my legs a lot – it really plays into the way I pitch,” said Mikulski. The improved statistics actually began last year during the shortened season when he went 2-1 with a 1.29 ERA through 21 innings pitched. Had there been a full draft, nobody knows what would’ve happened but there would’ve at least been a shot that he heard his name called.
He called it “disappointing” about not having a season but “it makes you realize how you can’t take this game for granted” but he’s glad it’s “in the past now.”
As for the right now, Fordham is right on the cusp of making another playoff run as the regular season winds down. They will host La Salle this weekend, Mikulski will start Game 1 of Saturday’s DH. La Salle is No. 1 in the North division with Fordham currently at third.
Mikulski said that he is hopeful that the Rams can finish strong and potentially win another Conference title – which is his focus right now. He stated that winning his first won felt great because “a lot of people thought I made a mistake with committing to Fordham”, he said that he was recruited by schools like Stony Brook, St. John’s, Villanova and Siena but “the biggest factor was can I play right now and at that time Fordham only had one lefty. During my freshman year I was the only lefty on the team.” He accrued plenty of experience, making 17 appearances and five starts. That paved the way for him to become the pitcher he is today. He also mentioned 2019 Baltimore Orioles draft pick Kyle Martin as someone that helped him learn more as a pitcher.
Now he’s the anchor of the staff, the leader of the team and someone that younger pitchers try to learn from. With a future in professional baseball appearing likely, Mikulski will have a lot of eyes on him. Just don’t expect him to notice it.
