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WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. – Not even 24 hours removed from a 14-run loss in its season opener, the baseball team bounced back in dramatic fashion Sunday afternoon to score three runs in the bottom of the 9th before capping the comeback in the 11th inning over Northeastern, 6-5.
Down 5-2 heading into their final at bat, the Bonnies (1-1) got a lead-off walk from sophomore Billy Urban. Ryan Skellie then reached on an error by the second baseman which advanced Urban to third.
Sophomore first baseman Austin Ingraham drove Urban home with a single up the middle which chased Skellie to third. After a pickoff attempt of Ingraham at first trickled down the right-field line, Skellie scored to pull the Bonnies within one at 5-4. Ingraham moved to second on the error, and junior Nick Brennen followed with a single up the middle to plate the tying run and force extras.
Robert Nalepa, who entered in the 7th inning in relief of starter Eddie Gray, worked out of a jam in the 10th to keep his team in the game. After surrendering a lead-off double and sacrifice bunt to move the runner to third with one out, the right-hander got a ball hit right back to him for the second out and then induced a fly out to Brennen in left to end the threat.
Brennen opened the bottom of the 11th with a lead-off single before advancing to second on a wild pitch. Senior Jamie Wallschlaeger then advanced Brennen to third on a sacrifice bunt down the first-base line. The game ended with senior Alex Calderon at the plate when the first pitch of the at bat was unable to be corralled by the Huskies' catcher and caromed over his head, plating Brennen with the game-winning run.
Gray started for St. Bonaventure and threw 6.2 innings of five-run (four earned) baseball, working around a rocky 5th inning in which he gave up all five of his runs to keep the Bonnies in the game. The southpaw sophomore surrendered just five hits while striking out six and walking two in his first appearance of the year.
From there Nalepa took over, and just as he did last spring in Florida proved to be a reliable arm out of the bullpen for Larry Sudbrook's club. The righty pitched 4.1 innings of scoreless relief while striking out three, walking two and giving up four hits.
The Bonnies opened the scoring in the bottom of the 4th when junior catcher Michael Grieco hit a solo opposite-field home run to right before the Huskies answered right back with their five-spot in the top of the 5th.
Brennen finished with a team-high four hits, all singles, while Ingraham finished with his own trio of singles in a 3-6 afternoon with 2 RBI. Urban went 2-3 with two walks and a hit by pitch, and the Bonnies pounded out 18 hits on the day.
The two teams will match up once again on Monday in a 3 p.m. start.
Game Notes: Freshmen Justin Brozick and Joe Chittester both recorded their first collegiate hit – Brozick a single to right in the 5th and Chittester a single in the 9th … after committing five errors Saturday, the Bonnies had just two Sunday … Brennen finished with 1 RBI on the afternoon … this was the first of three meetings between the two teams as they will also match up on Saturday, March 5 … Northeastern played the Boston Red Sox on Saturday, and jumped out to a 1-0 lead following a home run on the first pitch of the game before falling the AL East club, 13-2.
