March 20, 2008

Final Stats

BRONX, N.Y. - Junior Jim Britton limited Fordham to just two hits over eight innings to lead St. Bonaventure to a 4-0 shutout win over the Rams in the Atlantic 10 opener for both teams on Wednesday afternoon at Houlihan Park.

Britton put down 10 Fordham batters on strikes without allowing a single walk en route to picking up his second win of the season. Junior Matt Stewart came on in the ninth to preserve the shutout and was aided by a traditional 6-4-3 double play.

"J.B. had all three of his pitches working today and anytime a pitcher has that kind of control, it really forces the batters to swing," said head coach Larry Sudbrook. "He did a great job of getting ahead of the hitters all day."

With the win, the Brown and White snap a three-game losing streak to the Rams and improve to 7-5 on the season. The loss snaps Fordham's 10-game win streak as it falls to 10-6 overall.

"We knew coming in this would be a tough matchup because this is a tuff field to score on," Sudbrook stated. "We came in with a plan to be aggressive at the plate and to move runners over when they got on, and it worked."

The Bonnies' game plane was executed in the first inning, as they manufactured a run in their first at-bat to take the early lead. Junior Kevin Suminski led off with a single up the middle on the first pitch of the game and was moved into scoring position by freshman Jesse Bosnik on a well-executed sacrifice bunt. Senior Randy Moley then singled to third base, moving Suminski one base closer to the plate. Moley then stole second and in the meantime, Fordham catcher Chris Kaible's throw sailed high and allowed Suminski to score.

Britton sat down the Rams in order four times leading up to the top of the seventh inning and struck out eight over the span.

St. Bonaventure rewarded Britton with some run support in the top of the seventh, plating three runs to take a commanding 4-0 lead in the low-scoring affair. Junior Tristan Mulcahy led thing off with a double to right center. Sudbrook's game plan came into play again as the next batter Ryan Pillitteri dropped a sacrifice bunt to advance Mulcahy to third, but got more than he bargained for as Rob Iacono's throw to first was offline allowing the run to come in. Suminski then laid down a sacrifice bunt of his own to move Pillitteri over to third with one out. Bosnik then grounded out to shortstop, scoring Pillitteri to make it 3-0. Just as it seemed the Bonnies were done, Moley laced a two-out ground-rule double and was brought home by Anthony Randich's single to right field for the final run.

Britton retired six of the final seven Fordham batters he faced before handing the ball over to Stewart in the ninth.

More important than the team's eight hits were the five successful sacrifice bunts that led to three of the runs by the Brown and White.

Moley's hit parade continued as he went 2-for-4 and extended his hit streak to 15 games, dating back to last season. Randich and Mulcahy each chipped in with two hits.

St. Bonaventure and Fordham will square off on Thursday for game two of the three-game set. Tomorrow's first pitch will be at 11 a.m.