Box Score April 29, 2011
Box Score
St. Louis, Mo. -
With two of the top pitching staffs in the Atlantic 10 facing off, it was no surprise that Fordham's Brian Pendergast and Saint Louis' Alex Alemann put on a pitching clinic in the series opener on Friday at the Billiken Sports Center in St. Louis, Missouri. Despite Pendergast's second complete game of the season for the Rams, it was Alemann coming away with a 1-0 win for the Billikens.
With the loss, Fordham falls to 26-16 overall, 7-6 in the Atlantic 10, while Saint Louis improved to 23-18 on the year, 5-8 in the league. It also marked the first time Fordham had been shut out this season.
Both offenses were held in check by Pendergast and Alemann, as the only run of the ball game came in the bottom of the second.
After Fordham missed a scoring opportunity in the top of the inning with two on and one out, the Billikens cashed in on theirs, as Nick Becker led off with a double down the right field line, and scored one out later on an RBI-single by Jerry Mancuso.
Alemann would keep that 1-0 lead into the ninth, as at one point he retired 12 straight Ram batters. However, Fordham would try to rally in the ninth, as Tim Swatek connected for a two-out single to keep the Rams' hopes alive. Alemann was then relieved by Travis Parker, while Matt DeSilva would come in to pinch run for Swatek. Brian Kownacki met the SLU reliever and greeted him with his third hit of the game, moving the tying run to third.
Kownacki then stole second, giving the Rams the potential go-ahead run in scoring position. Parker though induced a ground out by Stephen McSherry to end the ballgame, earning his seventh save of the season.
Alemann improved to 4-4 on the season, as he scattered seven hits and struck out a season-high ten batters for Saint Louis.
Pendergast was once again a hard luck loser for the Rams, as his record dropped to 2-6 on the season. This was the second time this season that Pendergast threw a complete game and got a loss. He worked in and out of multiple jams, stranding three runners at third base, as he allowed just one run on five hits with one walk and six strikeouts in eight innings.
At the plate, Kownacki was 3-for-4 with a stolen base, while Ryan David posted a pair of hits, extending his hit streak to 13 games. Nick Martinez also extended his hit streak to 10 games with a base hit in the eighth, with Ryan Maghini having the Rams' final hit of the night.
The same two teams will be back in action on Saturday, beginning at 1:00 PM Eastern, 12:00 PM local time. This is a time change due to threat of inclement weather.
