May 4, 2008

Game One Box Score| Game Two Box Score

ST. BONAVENTURE, N.Y. - A bases loaded walk issued to senior Randy Moley in the bottom of the ninth helped St. Bonaventure escape with a split against visiting La Salle on Sunday in an Atlantic 10 doubleheader at Fred Handler Park.

Behind the freshman left arm of Sean Kennedy, the Explorers cruised to a 6-1 win in the opener. Game two looked to be the same, but for the Bonnies as senior lefty Cody Vincent appeared to be coasting along with a five-run lead until things got interesting. The Bonnies prevailed in the bottom of the ninth with two outs for the 7-6 victory.

The split keeps St. Bonaventure A-10 mark even at 10-10 heading into tomorrow's final game against La Salle at 2 p.m. The game one win was just the 12th of the season for La Salle, who is now 7-13 in league play.

Vincent went the distance on the hill for his fifth complete game of the season and fourth victory. The southpaw from Russell, Pa. struck out six batters in the game and in the process moved into first place all-time in the program record books with 211 career strikeouts. The complete game was the 16th of his career moving him into a tie for first.

The Bonnies provided Vincent solid support in the early going of game two with one run in the second and four in the third for a 5-1 lead. The four-run third inning was capped by freshman Brad Steinbach's two RBI single through the left side.

Vincent fed-off the run support through the first five innings, allowing just three hits while striking out four. La Salle started to figure Vincent out in it's the third time through the lineup as John Rickards ripped a three-run homer to the deepest part of the park in centerfield to close the gap to 6-4. Vincent then gave up singles to the next two batters eventually leading to a sacrifice bunt to score a run for a 6-5 ball game.

While Vincent began to hit a wall, so did the Bona bats as they went quietly in the sixth, seven and eighth innings.

A single by pinch hitter RJ Hollinshead to leadoff the ninth for La Salle put the eventual game-tying run on the bases. Hollinshead made his way to second on a sacrifice bunt was unable to advance to third on a fly out to short leftfield during the second out. After some defensive shifts, Vincent induced a groundball by Justin Handler that was fielded cleanly by shortstop Jesse Bosnik, but the throw sailed high allowing Hollinshead to motor all the way around from second to tie the game, 6-6.

Freshman Jamie Wallschlaeger woke up the bats to start the bottom of the ninth with a single - the team's first hit in over three innings. Senior T.J. Pennino then laid down a sac bunt to move the speedy Wallschlaeger into scoring position at second. After intentionally walking senior Josh Sova to setup a possible double play option, La Salle reliever Shane Frangiosa got Brandon Salerno to fly out to centerfield for out number two. Frangiosa then walked junior Kevin Suminski to load the bases, bringing Moley to the plate with a chance to be the hero on senior day. Moley didn't have to do much as Frangiosa walked the senior on five pitches allowing Wallschlaeger to come home for the game-winning run.

After going 0-for-3 in the opener, Suminski responded to being moved down in the lineup for game two with a 4-for-4 performance that included three runs and a triple. Sova picked up to singles and was walked twice during the game two victory. Besides earning an RBI on the bases loaded walk to win it, Moley had three hits on the day and became the fifth player in program history to go over 200 for his career.

The opener featured junior Matt Stewart on the mound for the Brown and White. Stewart struggled to find his control from the outset, allowing five walks that helped to lead to five earned runs in four innings of work. Sophomore Cory Sudbrook tossed a scoreless fifth inning before handing the ball over to freshman Aron Meindl who made his second consecutive strong showing. Meindl went the remaining four innings giving up just one hit.