May 29, 2004

Box Score

NORWICH, Conn. - St. Bonaventure's improbable run in the Atlantic 10 Baseball Championship just keeps getting longer and more incredible.

A three-run top of the ninth gave the Bonnies a 10-9, come-from-behind win over Richmond on Saturday afternoon at Dodd Memorial Stadium and a berth in Sunday's finals of the Atlantic 10 Championship.

The Bonnies, who advance to the A-10 Championship game for the first time since 1994 and second time in school history, will face either Richmond, George Washington or Rhode Island at noon on Sunday. The winner of the A-10 Championship earns an automatic bid to the NCAA Championship.

St. Bonaventure is now 3-0 in the double-elimination Championship.

Trailing 9-7 in the top of the ninth, St. Bonaventure rallied. With freshman outfielder Joe Rizzo at second and senior shortstop Eric Wilson at first, senior center fielder Matt Landahl drove a triple over center fielder John Cronin's head to tie the game at 9-9. Freshman Brian Pellegrini followed with a RBI sacrifice fly to right field to score Landahl from third with the go-ahead run.

Pellegrini, who had come on in the seventh inning to relieve starter Mike McCormack, pitched a 1-2-3 ninth to secure the victory for the fourth-seeded Bonnies.

"This has been very exciting and we probably weren't picked to be in the position," said St. Bonaventure head coach Larry Sudbrook. "We certainly have a better chance now than when we showed up on Wednesday."

The Spiders got on the board first, scoring once in the bottom of the second. Cronin drew a two-out walk and stole second base, then came around to score on the next play as Bobby LeNoir singled to center field.

The Richmond bats came alive in the bottom of the fifth when the Spiders took a 4-0 lead against McCormack. Cronin scored the first Spiders' run on a sacrifice fly off the bat of Ben Zeskind. With LeNoir at third base, Fasano took McCormack deep over the right field wall for his 17th home run of the season.

St. Bonaventure got one back in the top of the sixth as Wilson scored on Pellegrini's double to the left field gap.

The Bonnies fought back to take a 7-4 lead in the top of the seventh. Blakeley doubled to the right-center gap with one out and advanced to third on an infield single by Malone. Blakeley came around to score on the next play as sophomore left fielder Dan Bratys hit a sacrifice fly to left field. Rizzo followed with double to deep centerfield, scoring Malone all the way from first. Rizzo then advanced to third on a wild pitch by Bolinski and tied the game on a passed ball. Following a walk to Wilson, Landahl blooped a single to left field to put Wilson In scoring position. Pellegrini then took the first pitch from reliever Matt McLoughlin deep over the left center field wall to give the Bonnies a three run lead.

Richmond rallied to retake the lead in the bottom of the seventh. Following Bona errors that put Pritz and Zeskind on first and second, Fasano drilled his second home run of the game to left field. On the next pitch, A.J. Board homered down the left field line to put the Spiders ahead 8-7.

The Spiders added one more in the bottom of the eighth as Zeskind laced a double down the right field line off Pellegrini to score LeNoir.

Pellegrini improved to 4-3 on the season, allowing one run on one hit in three innings of relief. McCormack went six innings and allowed eight runs, only three earned, on 10 hits.

At the plate, Pellegrini went 2-4 with a home run, double and five RBI. Landahl went 3-5 with two RBI and two runs scored and Wilson finished 3-4 with three runs scored.

"Brian is a very intelligent hitters, far beyond most 18-year-old freshmen," Sudbrook said of Pellegrini. "If he throws strikes, he's going to give us a chance to win, and he did that."

McLoughlin took the loss and fell to 3-2. He allowed fours runs on four hits in an inning and two-thirds. Fasano went 3-4 with two home runs and five RBI for Richmond.

St. Bonaventure improved to 28-20 with the win, while Richmond fell to 33-23.