Box Score March 25, 2011
Box Score
Philadelphia, Pa. -
Facing a mirror image of itself in the La Salle Explorers, the Fordham baseball team opened Atlantic 10 play on Friday at Hank Devincent Field in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The game turned a pitcher's duel between Fordham's Brian Pendergast and La Salle's Kevin Fuqua, but it was the Explorers who came away with a 2-1 win.
With the loss, Fordham is now 12-9 on the season, 0-1 in the Atlantic 10, while La Salle moves to 13-8 overall, 1-0 in the league.
The first lead of the game came in the second, as La Salle's Jon Gyles led off with a walk and was sacrificed to second. After a wild pitch moved Gyles to third, Marc Schoch lifted a sacrifice fly to center, scoring Gyles for the 1-0 lead.
Fordham knotted the game at one in the top of the fifth, as Stephen McSherry connected for a solo home run to right, his first of the season.
La Salle would come right back in the bottom of the inning to regain the lead at 2-1. Schoch doubled down the left field line with one out, and moved to third on an error. Joe Bennie then followed with a RBI-single to right, scoring Schoch.
The Rams tried to tie the game in the seventh, when Chris Walker led off with a double to left center, and was sacrificed to third by Brian Kownacki. However, La Salle starting pitcher Kevin Fuqua got McSherry to pop out and struck out Ryan Maghini to end the threat.
Fordham's final chance to tie the game came in the ninth, as Ryan Lee hit a leadoff single off Fuqua. La Salle then brought in their closer Pat Christensen, who retired the next three batters, to seal the win and record his fifth save of the season.
Fordham's Brian Pendergast (1-4) was the hard luck loser, as he pitched his first career complete game, allowing two runs on six hits in eight innings of work, throwing just 82 pitches in the game. Besides McSherry, Walker, and Lee, Ryan David managed the only other hit for the Rams, an infield single in the sixth, as Fordham reached base only six times in the game.
Fuqua improved to 2-3 on the year for La Salle, allowing one run on four hits with six strikeouts.
The same two teams will match-up on Saturday for a noon start, which is a change from the original schedule.
