Bronx, N.Y. – Behind the pitching duo of Brooks Vial and Sam Donko and a couple of two-out rallies, the VCU Rams shut out the Fordham Rams, 3-0, on Saturday in baseball action at Houlihan Park.
With the loss, Fordham falls to 18-17 on the year, 7-6 in the Atlantic 10, while VCU improved to 24-15 overall, 12-2 in the league.
The two teams battled through a rainy Saturday, with VCU taking the lead right away in the first inning. With two outs, Steven Carpenter and Paul Witt connected on back-to-back doubles to account for the first run of the ballgame.
VCU made it 2-0 in the third, once again with a two-out rally. Logan Farrar doubled to left center and then scored on a single by Carpenter.
Then in the sixth, VCU tacked on a third run on a sacrifice fly by Brett Willett for a 3-0 edge.
The three runs was enough for VCU starter Brooks Vial, who scattered five hits over 7.2 innings of work with two walks and eight strikeouts to earn his sixth win of the season. Sam Donko came on for the final four outs to record his 11
th save of the season, and second in as many days.
Jimmy Murphy
Fordham pitcher
Jimmy Murphy (4-5) was the hard luck loser, allowing two earned runs over seven innings with seven strikeouts.
Kyle Martin and
Shane McDonald finished the game with a scoreless inning of relief each.
At the plate, Fordham was limited to six hits for the second straight game with
Mark Donadio having three of them, going 3-for-3 at the dish.
Jake Baker,
Luke Stampfl, and
Alvin Melendez rounded out the hits with one each.
The same two teams will conclude their series on Sunday with a noon contest.
