Courtesy of GoBonnies.com
ST. BONAVENTURE, N.Y. – The St. Bonaventure baseball team came through with some clutch late hitting in game one, then held off a late Dayton rally in the second contest to complete a doubleheader and series sweep of the visiting Flyers Sunday afternoon at Fred Handler Park.
St. Bonaventure fended off Dayton, 6-4, in the early game before winning a slugfest, 18-14, in the night cap.
With the victories, the Bonnies improve to 10-10 overall and more importantly, 5-4 in Atlantic 10 play. Dayton falls to 9-16, 1-5.
GAME ONE: St. Bonaventure 6, Dayton 4 | Box Score (PDF)
Three runs in the eighth broke a late tie and sent the Bonnies to victory in the opener.
Tied 3-3 heading for the bottom of the eighth, Bona scored three times on three hits to seize the lead. Taishi Terashima was hit by a pitch to lead off, moving to third on a base hit by Aaron Phillips. Following a stolen base by Phillips, Jared Baldinelli put the Bonnies ahead with a single to center, scoring Terashima. Later in the inning, Brad Gresock came through with what turned out to be the game-winning hit by punching a single past the Flyers drawn in shortstop, scoring both Phillips and Baldinelli.
Dayton got a run in the ninth, but it wasn’t enough as Donovan Moffat (1-0) picked up his first career victory by recording the final four outs.
An RBI double in the fifth from Ryan MacCarrick got the scoring started, but the Flyers tied the game in the sixth following a passed ball.
St. Bonaventure immediately took the lead back in the home half of the sixth as T.J. Bakerdoubled and scored on a triple by Terashima. A Flyers throwing error put the Bonnies up, 3-1.
Dayton scored a run in the seventh, then tied the game in the eighth. Mitch Coughlin hit a fly ball to right with a man at third and one out and it looked as though Dayton would score, but a perfect strike from right fielder David Vaccaro gunned down the runner at home. After that drama, however, the Flyers would still tie the game, 3-3, on a single by Cale Dineen to set up the Bonnies rally in the bottom of the inning.
Casey Vincent started and went six-plus innings, allowing one earned run on two hits though six walks chased him from the game. The freshman struck out four in a no-decision. Danny Urban threw 1.1 innings and allowed an unearned run, striking out one while Moffat had his career-long outing to earn the win.
GAME TWO – St. Bonaventure 18, Dayton 14 | Box Score (PDF)
The Bonnies and flyers filled the box score with a lengthy and offensive buffet in the nightcap.
Bona belted out a whopping 21 hits, scoring 18 times in an impressive showing at the plate.
St. Bonaventure led 3-0 after the first, but the Flyers responded with three of their own in the second for the tie.
A T.J. Baker RBI single in the second and a sacrifice fly from Ben MacDonald gave Bona a two-run edge, but Dayton scored twice in the fourth and once in the fifth for a 6-5 advantage.
After falling behind a run the Bonnies answered in emphatic fashion. The bottom of the fifth saw SBU send 14 men to the plate and score 10 runs on nine hits to take complete control.
MacDonald drove in two with a single to right, then Cole Peterson plated two more with a single to center. The biggest blow came off the bat of Vaccaro who drilled a three-run homer to left before a two-run triple by Phillips and RBI double by Baldinelli capped the scoring.
The Bonnies scored three more times in the eighth for an 18-7 lead, but Dayton would not go quietly. The Flyers scored seven times in the top of the ninth to make things interesting before the Bonnies finally put it away.
Baker and Vaccaro each had four RBIs apiece while MacDonald drove in three runs, the first of his career. Baldinelli, Baker, Peterson, and Phillips all had three hits apiece for SBU.
Roman Wild (2-2) got the win by throwing two scoreless innings of relief. Murphy O’Brienstarted and struck out four in 2.1 innings.
Next up, the Bonnies take on Little Three rivals Canisius and Niagara Tuesday and Wednesday respectively in two single games.
GAME NOTES
- The 18 runs are the most for the Bonnies in an Atlantic 10 game in a decade. St. Bonaventure scored a 17-4 win at Davidson last month.
- Bona’s 21 hits are the most for the program since having 22 in a 24-6 win over Ohio on March 15, 2014.
- Phillips had five hits on the day to lift his batting average nearly 40 points for the season.
- Peterson went 3-for-5 with two RBIs in game two with three runs scored. MacCarrick also scored three times in the nightcap.
- MacDonald had his first career start behind the plate and delivered, going 2-for-4 with three RBIs and two runs scored.
- Game two represented Baldinelli’s fourth three-hit game of the year.
- Both Moffat and Wild threw in each game of the doubleheader.
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