Baseball Opens Conference Play With Win Over St. Bonaventure

Bronx, N.Y. – (March 22, 2019) – Though it was windy and chilly at Houlihan Park on Friday, Fordham pitchers were on fire, as the trio of Matt Mikulski, Brian Weissert and Mike Cowell combined for 18 strikeouts in an 8-2 win over the St. Bonaventure Bonnies to open conference play.
 
With the win, Fordham improved to 13-9 on the season, 1-0 in the Atlantic 10, while St. Bonaventure fell to 2-10 on the year, 0-1 on the league.
 
The Rams got out of the gate quickly, scoring four times in the first inning on just one hit.  Alvin Melendez got things rolling as his fly ball was carried away from the right fielder for a triple.  After a walk and stolen base by C.J. Vazquez, Jake MacKenzie hit a ground ball back to the pitcher Tyler Germanowski.  Germanowski tried to get Melendez at third, but his throw went wide, allowing both Melendez and Vazquez to score with MacKenzie taking second.  MacKenzie then stole third with Justin Bardwell drawing a walk.  Matt Tarabek then drew a walk with ball four getting past the catcher, allowing MacKenzie to score.  After a sacrifice bunt moved the runners up a base, Bardwell scored on a wild pitch.
 
Fordham added to the lead with single runs in the second and fifth innings for a 6-0 lead.  In the second Melendez singled with one out, stole second and third, and scored on a wild pitch.  Then, in the fifth, it was MacKenzie scoring from third on an RBI-single by Tarabek.

 

St. Bonaventure closed the gap to 6-2 in the sixth, as Brandon Henshaw hit a two-run home run to right, his first of the season.
 
The Rams then closed out the scoring with two runs in the seventh for the 8-2 win.  MacKenzie drew a leadoff walk, stole second and third, and scored on an RBI-double down the left field line by Bardwell.  He then scored on a single by Nick Labella.
 
The cushion was plenty as Fordham's pitching trio of Matt Mikulski, Brian Weissert, and Mike Cowell were dominant, as they combined for 18 strikeouts in the game.  Mikulski (2-3) earned the win, as he pitched six strong innings, allowing two runs on five hits with a career-high 10 strikeouts.  Weissert pitched a perfect seventh inning, as he struck out the side, while Cowell tossed two perfect relief innings with five strikeouts.
 
At the plate, Melendez was 2-for-4 with a triple, two runs scored, and two stolen bases, while MacKenzie was 1-for-2 with three runs scored and four stolen bases.  Bardwell was also 1-for-3 with a double, two runs scored, and an RBI.
 
The same two teams will play game two of their series on Saturday at 2:00 PM.