Bronx, N.Y. – (March 24, 2019) – St. Bonaventure's Donovan Moffat and Ben Contento combined to throw a two-hit shutout on Sunday, as the Bonnies posted a 1-0 win over the Fordham Rams to take the Atlantic 10 series finale at Houlihan Park.
With the loss, Fordham falls to 14-10 on the year, 2-1 in the Atlantic 10, while St. Bonaventure improved to 1-2 in the league, 3-11 overall.
The only run of the ball game came in the first inning, as Sam Fuller led off the game with a triple to left center and then scored on a sacrifice fly by Ryan O'Connor for a 1-0 lead.
Fordham had few opportunities against St. Bonaventure started Donovan Moffat, who allowed just an infield single and two walks over the first five innings. Then it was more of the same against reliever Ben Contento, as he allowed just one hit over the final four innings.
The Rams did have their opportunity to get on the scoreboard in both the seventh and ninth inning. In the seventh, Contento loaded the bases on three walks with one out, issuing free passes to
Justin Bardwell,
Matt Tarabek, and
Nick Labella. However,
Jason Coules struck out on a dropped third strike, where the ball did get away from Bonnies catcher Kevin Koziol, but not far enough, as Bardwell was tagged out trying to score.
In the ninth,
Jake MacKenzie just missed hitting a game-tying home run, as he hit a double off the left center field wall with one out. The Rams though continued to struggle at the plate, as Bardwell grounded out to short, while Tarabek popped up to first to end the game.
The loss spoiled another outstanding effort from the Fordham pitching staff, as
Alvin Melendez,
Cory Wall, and
Kyle Martin combined to allow just one run with 13 strikeouts. Melendez (2-1) was the hard luck loser, allowing one run on three hits with four strikeouts, while Wall tossed three innings of two-hit relief with five strikeouts. Martin wrapped up the game with three innings of two-hit relief with four strikeouts.
MacKenzie was the lone Ram to record a hit in the game, going 2-for-4 with a double.
The Fordham baseball team will next be in action on Wednesday, March 27
th, when the Rams travel to Sacred Heart for a 3:00 PM game.
