March 30, 2008

Final Stats

PITTSBURGH, Pa. - The St. Bonaventure baseball team never seemed to find its groove during its stay in the "Steel City" this weekend as it dropped its third consecutive game to Duquesne, 13-2, on Sunday afternoon in the series finale.

The Bonnies (8-9, 2-4) plated the first two runs of the game before surrendering 13 unanswered en route to their fourth consecutive loss. After dropping their first 10 games of the season against nationally-ranked teams, the Dukes have responded with 10-straight wins and a 6-0 start in the Atlantic 10.

Besides pounding out 14 hits, Duquesne received nine free passes to the base paths from a struggling St. Bonaventure pitching staff. Starter Michael Proctor gave up four runs on five hits before giving way to Cael Johnson. The freshman righty entered the game in a tough situation and never found a rhythm, allowing eight runs fueled by seven hits and five walks.

Five of St. Bonaventure's seven hits came in the first two innings when it took an early 2-0 lead. Senior Josh Sova, junior Kevin Suminski and sophomore Anthony Randich each had two hits apiece. Randich's first hit of the game was an RBI single. Junior Tristan Mulcahy contributed the other hit, also an RBI single.

The Bonnies got on the board in their first at-bat as Randich drove home his third run of the series to make it a 1-0 game. Suminski led the inning off with a single and moved all the way to third on a pair of sacrifices. Randich's RBI single to bring home Suminski came with two outs.

After using a double play to work out of a jam in the second inning, Proctor ran into trouble over the next three innings. Duquesne plated one run in both the third and fourth innings to tie the game up at 2-2.

The real trouble for Proctor and the Bonnies came in the fifth as the lefty walked the opening two batters of the inning. Johnson relieved Proctor with no outs and two on and also walked a batter to load the bases. Both of Proctor's base runners came around to score as Mike Carrol delivered a two-run single to make it 4-2. The last run of the inning was charge to Johnson.

The Bonnies went down in order in the sixth and seventh innings, but had a chance in the top of the eighth to close the gap. The visitors loaded the bases with two outs for junior Richard Pillitteri, who routinely flew out to right field.

Duquesne put the game out of reach in its next at-bat, plating eight runs for the final 13-2 outcome.

St. Bonaventure has a busy week in its future with six games in seven days. The Bonnies will begin with a road trip to Syracuse, N.Y. on Tuesday to take on Le Moyne. The Brown and White will then return to campus for their home-opening doubleheader against Buffalo on Wednesday and Atlantic 10 weekend series against Dayton.