Box Score April 20, 2012
Box Score
Bronx, N.Y. -
Behind two career milestones, the Fordham baseball team opened its Atlantic 10 series against La Salle in style, as senior Daniel Munday pitched his first complete game shutout, while Brian Kownacki recorded his 200th career hit, as the Rams shut out the Explorers, 5-0, at Houlihan Park on Friday night.
With the win, Fordham improves to 16-24 overall, 8-5 in the Atlantic 10, while the Explorers fell to 16-21 on the year, 3-7 in the league.
The game was scoreless through the first three innings, before Fordham rallied for three runs in the fourth inning to take the lead. Matthew Cianci led off with a walk and was sacrificed to second by Ryan Maghini. Ryan Lee followed with an RBI-double down the right field line, scoring Cianci for the 1-0 lead. Mike Mauri continued the scoring with an RBI-single up the middle to score Lee. After Mauri stole second, Brian Kownacki ripped a double down the right field line, scoring Mauri and recording his 200th career hit.
Kownacki is now the 12th Ram to reach the 200-hit plateau, joining Jack Allen, Santy Gallone, Pete DeLuca, Mike Marchiano, Tom Stein, James Cisco, Kurt Thomas, Greg Smith,
Eric Reese,
Rich Goulian, and
Danny Leach.
Fordham added to the lead in the sixth, as Maghini and Lee connected for back-to-back singles to put runners at the corners. Mauri plated Maghini with an RBI-single with Lee coming home from third on a sacrifice fly by Stephen McSherry.
The rest of the game belonged to Fordham senior pitcher Daniel Munday, as he allowed only one base runner to reach third base in the game, and did not give up a hit until the fifth inning. In total, Munday gave up just five hits and two walks, as he improved to 3-3 on the season, while striking out a career-high nine batters. His previous high was eight earlier this season against Fairfield on February 28th.
At the plate for Fordham, Mauri led the charge going 3-for-3 with two RBI and a stolen base, while Lee was 2-for-4 with a double, an RBI, and two runs scored.
The same two teams will match up for a doubleheader on Saturday to conclude the series. First pitch of game one has been moved up to a noon start, due to the weather forecast.
