Baseball Shuts Out FDU Behind Pitching Gem

Bronx, N.Y. – (March 12, 2021) – Fordham's pitching duo of Matt Mikulski and Declan Lavelle almost made major baseball history on Friday afternoon, as the tandem tossed a one-hit 9-0 shutout against the Fairleigh Dickinson Knights at Houlihan Park.
 
With the win, Fordham improved to 6-0 on the young season, while Fairleigh Dickinson fell to 0-2.
 
The Rams opened the scoring with a four-run second inning.  After scoring a pair of runs on a throwing error, Jake Guercio connected on a two-run single to right center, scoring Colton Snelling and Jack Harnisch to extend the lead to 4-0.
 
Fordham made it 6-0 in the third inning.  Again, it was an error plating the first run of the inning, while Harnisch came up with an RBI-single to score Andy Semo for the second run.

 
The Rams then scored once in the sixth and twice in the eighth for a 9-0 lead.  In the sixth, Snelling roped an RBI-double to right center to score Harnisch, while Richard Grund came up with a two-run pinch hit single in the eighth, scoring Snelling and Joe Bladel.
 
Though the offense put up nine runs, the Fordham pitching duo of Matt Mikulski and Declan Lavelle were the story.  Despite walking six batters, Mikulski (2-0) fought his way through five no-hit innings with seven strikeouts.  Lavelle made his Ram debut by striking out the side in the sixth and taking the no-hitter into the eighth.  With one out, Mike Vett hit a sinking liner to left that Guercio made a diving attempt on, but could not come up with the catch, breaking up the no-hit bid.
 
Lavelle was not deterred by the hit allowed, as he closed out the game for his first career save, going the final four innings with six strikeouts.
 
At the plate, Guercio was 2-for-4 with a pair of RBI, while Harnisch was 3-for-3 with a pair of runs scored and an RBI.  Semo and Snelling each had a pair of runs scored with Grund driving in two.
 
The same two teams will match up for game two of the series on Saturday at 12:00 PM.