SOUTH KINGSTOWN, R.I. (Interstat) — Evan Maloney pitched five innings of two-hit shutout ball and the Rhode Island Rams defeated the Fordham Rams 5-1 on Sunday afternoon at Bill Beck Field to claim the Atlantic 10 series rubber match.

Maloney struck out seven and did not allow an earned run, rebounding from a rough outing a week earlier in which he allowed four earned runs in 3 1/3 innings against Saint Louis. He exited after the fifth inning with Rhode Island holding a 2-1 lead. Joe Sabbath followed with four innings of two-hit scoreless relief, striking out three, to help the home side improve to 20-26 overall.

Fordham fell to 23-26 after the loss. The Rams from the Bronx had taken the series opener Friday 8-5 before Rhode Island evened the set Saturday with a 6-5 win.

The game remained scoreless through three innings as Fordham starter Aidan Dowd matched Maloney early. Dowd allowed no hits over his six innings of work but was charged with two earned runs thanks to a walk, a hit batter and two stolen bases that set up Rhode Island’s first scoring.

Rhode Island broke through in the fourth inning. Jack Hopko led off with a triple down the right-field line and Ryan King was hit by a pitch. King stole second base, and Brian Connolly then doubled to left field, driving in both Hopko and King to give Rhode Island a 2-0 lead.

Fordham answered in the sixth. With one out, Kirk singled and Grabau reached on an error, then both runners stole bases. After a strikeout, Joey Donnelly lifted a sacrifice fly to center field, scoring Kirk to cut the deficit to 2-1.

The pivotal sequence came in the seventh inning. Fordham brought in reliever Andrew Kapica, who faced four batters. The inning started with a hit batter, a sacrifice bunt, and then a run-scoring single by Penney that made it 3-1. Thompson followed with a double to left-center, plating Penney and stretching the lead to 4-1. Fordham then turned to Aric Berg, who retired the next two batters to end the inning.

Rhode Island added an insurance run in the eighth. King singled, moved to third on a single by Leikus, and scored on a sacrifice bunt by Hindle to make it 5-1.

Fordham threatened in the ninth when Young singled, but a flyout, a groundout and another flyout ended the game.

For Rhode Island, Thompson finished 2-for-4 with a double and an RBI. King went 2-for-3 with a walk and two stolen bases. Connolly drove in two runs with his double. Donnelly had Fordham’s lone RBI on the sacrifice fly and finished 1-for-3.

Fordham’s Dowd struck out two and walked one in his six innings. Berg allowed one run in 1 2/3 innings, and Kapica was charged with two runs in one-third of an inning.

Both teams now head on the road. Fordham will host Saint Louis for a three-game series starting Friday, followed by a midweek game against Hofstra before traveling to Saint Bonaventure. Rhode Island travels to Davidson for a three-game set beginning Friday.

The Interstat game simulator had projected a final score of Fordham 8, Rhode Island 4, while the Interstat ELO system gave Rhode Island a 63.10 percent probability to win.