March 1, 2008
Final Stats
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. -
In a game that featured 29 runs on 39 hits off of nine different pitchers, St. Bonaventure plated three runs in the bottom of the 11th inning to come away with a 15-14 win over Atlantic Coast Conference member Boston College on Saturday afternoon.
Trailing 14-12 after the Eagles plated two runs in the top half of the 11th, the Bonnies began their comeback with a leadoff double by senior T.J. Pennino. After a one-out walk to Kevin Suminski, the Brown and White scored their first run of the inning as freshman Jesse Bosnik drove in Pennino with an RBI single. Senior Randy Moley then follow with an RBI single of his own, his sixth hit of the day, scoring Suminski to tie the game at 14-14. With the game-winning run Bosnik now on third, freshman Anthony Randich delivered the final blow with the team's third consecutive RBI single to win the game.
The top four batters in the Bona lineup combined to do most of the damage at the dish, going 16-for-26 with three extra base hits, nine runs scored and 12 RBI. One game removed from establishing a career-high with five hits against Mount St. Mary's, Moley broke his day old record with a 6-for-7 afternoon at the plate. The Buffalo, N.Y. native also drove in three runs and is 11-for-13 in his last two games.
Suminski finished a double short of the cycle going 3-for-6 with four runs a double, a home run and four RBI. Batting in the two spot, Bosnik also went 3-for-6 and added three runs and three RBI. Randich delivered three other hits besides the game-winner and finished with two RBI. Junior catcher B.J. Salerno was the fifth player with three hits adding two runs and two RBI.
On a day where pitching took a back seat to all the action at the plate, junior Matt Stewart earned his first start on the mound for St. Bonaventure. Stewart turned in a respectable performance lasting six innings, striking out seven and allowing five runs.
The Bona bullpen didn't fair as well as Stewart, allowing 10 runs, including nine earned, in five innings of work. Despite allowing two runs in the top of the 11th, freshman Aron Meindl was credited with the win.
St. Bonaventure will have no time to rest as it will take the diamond for its second game of the day against Lehigh. The Bonnies are now 4-2 on the season, while Boston College slips to 3-2.
The Bonnies jumped out to an early 4-0 lead with one run in the first and three in the second. Randich delivered a two-out RBI single in the first to score Bosnik for the 1-0 lead. Bosnik was back at it again in the second as he ripped a two-run single that scored Salerno and sophomore Kyle Gorby to make it 3-0. The final run of the inning came off the bat of Moley as he singled home Suminski.
After sitting down the first eight BC batters and 11 of the first 12, Stewart allowed two runs in the fourth. Both runs came with two outs as sophomore first baseman Michael Belfiore smashed a two-run home run.
Boston College used the long ball again in the top of the fifth and tied the game at 4-4 with two more runs. Just like the previous inning the home run came with two outs as freshman Marc Perdios smacked his first career home run, a two-run shot.
This time, St. Bonaventure answered by with two runs of its own in its half of the fifth to push it back to a two-run game, at 6-4. Salerno drove in both runs with two outs with a single that brought in Moley and Randich.
The Eagles brought one run across in Stewart's final inning, but the Bonnies extended their lead some more in the sixth. After starting the game with nine-straight singles, St. Bonaventure received a pair of run-scoring extra base hits to make it 8-5. The first came off the bat of Suminski by way of an RBI triple and the second was an RBI double by Moley.
The Bona lead quickly evaporated in the seventh, though, as hurler Cael Johnson ran into some serious trouble. Boston College beat up the freshman for six runs on five hits and surged into an 11-8 lead.
Suminski gave Johnson the support he desperately needed in the team's very next at-bat, delivering a three-run home run that knotted the game up at 11-11. Suminski's fourth career round-tripper brought home Salerno and Gorby who had both singled to leadoff the inning. The Bonnies weren't done as eventually regained the lead as Bosnik made his way around the base paths and scored from third on a pass ball to make it 12-11 in favor of the Brown and White.
Revived by the run support, Johnson sat down the side in order in the eighth; including strikeouts of the first two batters.
Johnson handed over the ball to lefty Cody Vincent for the save opportunity in the ninth. With a runner on first and second with one out, Vincent got Barry Butera to groundout to second into what appeared the game-winning double play. Suminski made the routine flip to second for the out, but Bosnik's throw to first was off target and allowed the tying run to score from second.
St. Bonaventure threatened with a runner in scoring position in the bottom of the ninth, but came away with no runs.
