Stevens Leads Cardinal Mooney Past Lakewood Ranch

On some nights, good pitching is all you need to come away with a victory. Cardinal Mooney starting pitcher Spencer Stevens exemplified that saying with a two-hit, complete-game 1-0 shutout against Lakewood Ranch on Thursday night. The home victory brings the Cougars’ record to 7-1, while the Mustangs fall to 4-2 on the year.

Taking the ball for Cardinal Mooney and displaying a mastery of all his pitches, Stevens threw 64 percent of his 89 pitches for strikes and recorded five punchouts on the night while only walking one Mustang. Stevens also was efficient from the first batter he faced, throwing first-pitch strikes to fourteen of the twenty-four Lakewood Ranch hitters that went up against him.

Driving in Cardinal Mooney’s lone run was third baseman Josh Bonynge by way of a first-inning RBI single that drove home leadoff man T Hebda. Hebda singled to lead off the first inning and moved to second  after a four-pitch walk to catcher Parker Shanahan.

On the hill and taking the tough-luck loss for the Mustangs was Matt Ambrosino, who was near-perfect following a rough first inning that saw him give up two hits and the only run of the ballgame. Throwing 57 percent of his pitches for strikes on the night, Ambrosino struck out two and only allowed four hits across 83 pitches in six innings. Ambrosino, like his counterpart Stevens, did a good job at getting first-pitch strikes as thirteen of the twenty-three hitters who came to the plate started the count with a 0-1 count.

First baseman Colton Zimmering and second baseman Ryley Zunica recorded the only two hits for the Mustangs (4-2). Zunica had the only extra-base hit — a one-out double in the top of the fifth inning — between either team.

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