Courtesy of GoBonnies.com
ST. BONAVENTURE, N.Y. – The St. Bonaventure University baseball team couldn’t make an early lead stick in non-conference play Tuesday afternoon at Fred Handler Park, dropping a 4-2 decision to America East Conference-leading Binghamton.
The Bonnies now stand 20-18-1 overall on the year while the Bearcats improve to 20-20.
Bona grabbed a 2-0 advantage in the third behind a double from Cole Peterson to bring home both Alex Schutz and Taishi Terashima.
Bonnies starter Aaron Phillips impressed in the early going, retiring nine of the first 10 batters he faced while not allowing a hit through the first three frames and just one through five.
Binghamton, which entered the day batting .291 as a team for the season, finally broke through in the sixth. A double from Reed Gamache brought home two runs to tie the game and a single to left by Eddie Posavec gave the Bearcats the lead.
The visitors never let go of that advantage, adding a run of insurance on a seventh inning sacrifice fly.
The Brown and White made things interesting in the ninth, however. With two outs, Thad Johnson started a rally effort with a single up the middle. David Vaccaro and Phillips then both walked to load the bases for Tommy LaCongo. The junior catcher gave a ball a ride to deep left center, but it was caught to end the game.
Phillips (2-2) lasted 5.2 innings, allowing three runs on five hits with a strikeout. T.J. Baker was charged a run on one hit in 1.1 innings while Connor Grey tossed two scoreless frames of relief.
Nick Gallagher (3-2) picked up the win for Binghamton out of the bullpen, working four scoreless innings with three strikeouts. Rob Hardy avoided trouble in the ninth for his fourth save.
St. Bonaventure returns to action Wednesday afternoon by hosting Little Three rival Canisius with first pitch slated for 3 p.m.
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