May 15, 2008

Final Stats

RICHMOND, Va. - The St. Bonaventure baseball team is heading to the Atlantic 10 Championship for the third season in a row and eighth time in program history thanks to sealing a spot in the six-team field following a 7-2 victory over Richmond on Thursday afternoon at Pitt Field.

The Bonnies (28-21, 14-11) will remain in Richmond for the next two days to finish the final regular season series of the season before traveling to Camden, N.J. for the 2008 A-10 Tournament beginning on Wednesday, May 21. Tomorrow's conference clash with the Spiders begins at 3:00 p.m., while first pitch for Saturday's game is scheduled for noon.

Following their third straight victory and seventh win in the last 10 games, the Brown and White matched the program's third highest winning output with 28 overall triumphs. Richmond dropped to 19-30-2, 9-15-1 following their fifth straight loss of the season.

Despite entering the contest during the fifth frame and surrendering the only Richmond runs of the afternoon, junior Jim Britton picked up the victory in relief to improve to 5-4 in his third season with the club. Britton allowed only a pair of hits in three innings on the hill. Fellow classmate Matt Stewart received the starting nod from head coach Larry Sudbrook and responded with 4 2/3 innings of scoreless work, allowing just three hits. Freshman Brad Steinbach finished the contest on the mound (1 1/3 innings) after starting the game at third base.

Following a scoreless two innings of play with just one hit between the two teams, St. Bonaventure crossed the plate first with one run in the top of the third to take a 1-0 advantage. Freshman Jamie Wallschlaeger and senior Randy Moley pounded out back-to-back one-out singles before junior Kevin Suminski knocked in Wallschlaeger with an RBI single into left field. The Bonnies nearly added another run in the third, but Moley was thrown out at home by the Richmond left fielder.

The Brown and White added two more runs in the sixth thanks to a T.J. Pennino one-run double towards left center and a sacrifice fly from sophomore Anthony Randich to extend their lead to 3-0.

Runs continued to cross the dish in the eighth inning as both clubs combined for five runs with the visiting Bonnies still on top by the score of 6-2. Suminski tallied his second RBI of the afternoon when his double scored freshman Jesse Bosnik from first base, while Pennino followed with his second RBI against the Spiders thanks to a one-run single into left field to put the Bonnies in front 5-0. Junior Brandon Salerno accounted for the club's final tally of the eighth as his ground out to third base scored Pennino.

Ryan Metzroth shattered the Bona shutout with a two-run homer into left center to slice the Brown and White lead to four runs at 6-2 heading into the final frame.

In their final appearance at the plate, St. Bonaventure tacked on their last run of the day following a lead off home run from Steinbach, the first of his collegiate career, to account for the 7-2 final outcome.

Bosnik, Suminski and Pennino each finished with two hits apiece, while Suminski and Pennino also registered a pair of RBI each. In all, seven different Bonnies recorded at least one base hit.