March 24, 2007

Box Score

ST. BONAVENTURE, NY - St. Bonaventure opened its Atlantic 10 Conference season on Saturday with a double-header split against Saint Jospeh's.

The Bonnies took game one, 6-3, behind the pitching of Jim Britton, but stumbled in the second contest, falling to the Hawks 12-4.

Britton controlled the tempo in game one, allowing three runs on eight hits in seven innings of work. The 6'4'' right-hander recorded five strikeouts on the afternoon, relying on a good fastball and a medley of off-speed pitches to keep the Hawks lineup off-balance.

The Bonnies led 2-0 after four innings thanks to a pair of RBI doubles from senior designated-hitter Matt Mardeusz and junior right fielder T.J. Pennino, but were knotted at 2-2 after the Hawks scored two runs in the top of the fifth.

St. Bonaventure answered with four runs of their own in the bottom half of the inning, including three on Tristan Mulcahy's bases-clearing single to deep center field, to push the lead to 6-2.

Britton improved to 2-1 on the season, while junior pitcher Cody Vincent picked up his first save. Saint Joseph's pitcher Adam Rivera was charged the loss.

The second contest of the afternoon did not go as well for the Brown and White, as the Hawks exploded for eight runs in the first inning. The Bonnies crawled back to within 8-3, but Saint Joseph's scored two runs in the fourth inning and one in the fifth to put the game out of reach.

All eight runs in the first inning were charged to Bona starting pitcher Eddie Williams, who allowed four earned runs on eight hits in two-thirds innings work. Williams fell to 2-2 on the season, while Hawks' pitcher Randall Mower picked up the win.

In addition to Mulcahy, who finished the day a combined 4-8 with three RBIs, the Bonnies got strong offensive performances from senior left fielder Joe Rizzo and sophomore second baseman Kevin Suminski Rizzo went 4-9 with three runs scored, while Suminski finished the afternoon 4-7 with one RBI and four runs scored.

St. Bonaventure (6-10) and Saint Joseph's (3-14) are now both 1-1 in A-10 play.

The Bonnies and the Hawks finish their three-game series on Sunday at Handler Park. The first pitch is set for 12 p.m.