April 25, 2009

Box Score

ST. BONAVENTURE, N.Y. - Junior Nick Cunliffe's inside the park grand slam in the seventh inning vaulted the St. Bonaventure baseball team to a 6-5 comeback win over Richmond on Saturday afternoon in game two of the weekend series at Fred Handler Park.

The game-changing play came with one out with the Bonnies trailing 4-2. Cunliffe ripped the second pitch of his at-bat into a huge gap in right center field that was created due to the Richmond outfield playing the lefty to slap the ball to the opposite field. Cunliffe's first career home run allowed the Brown and White go from two down to up 6-4.

Junior Dennis Sherba pitched the final two and two-third innings and held the Spiders to just one run to preserve the Bona comeback. Sherba improved to an impressive 5-1 on the season, while the St. Bonaventure picked up a much-needed A-10 win to improve to 19-16 overall and 6-10 in the conference.

The Spiders scored the opening four runs of the game and just like Friday, kept the Bonnies off the scoreboard over the opening six innings. Two Richmond errors opened the gate for the Brown and White to score a pair of runs to cut it to a 4-2 deficit in the bottom of the seventh.

For the second straight game, reliever Josh Horn entered the game in the eighth inning for Richmond. Horn failed to record an out as the Bonnies loaded the bases for Cunliffe's heroics. Cunliffe's grand slam came of Ian Marshall, but three of the four runs and the loss were charged to Horn.

Freshman Sebastian Bellitto started the game on the mound for the Bonnies and pitched admirable before running into trouble in the sixth inning. Bellitto earned a no decision after giving up three runs on five hits and five strikeouts.

Cunliffe's home run was the only extra-base hit of the day for the Bonnies, who finished with eight hits. Junior Kyle Gorby went 2-for-4 as seven players contributed a hit.

The third and deciding game of the series on Sunday will start at noon.