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ST. BONAVENTURE, N.Y. – Jason Radwan had his first career two home run game, and the St. Bonaventure baseball team (23-23, 13-11 Atlantic 10 Conference) kept its postseason chances alive with a 10-5 regular-season finale victory over Massachusetts (17-29-1, 8-15-1 A-10) Saturday afternoon.
The win puts the Bonnies in a multi-team tie at 13-11 with at least two other teams and potentially three other clubs pending the outcome of tonight's Xavier (13-10) at Fordham (12-10-1) game. Those two clubs will battle at 7 p.m. in lieu of Fordham's graduation ceremonies earlier today.
If Xavier wins, St. Bonaventure will be in a three-way tie at 13-11 with Richmond and La Salle for the fifth, and sixth, postseason spots. Official confirmation from the league office is still needed to determine which teams would win those tiebreakers. Only the top six teams qualify for next week's A-10 tournament.
If Fordham wins, St. Bonaventure will be in a four-way tie at 13-11 with Richmond, La Salle and Xavier for the fifth, and sixth, postseason spots. Once again, official confirmation from the league office is still needed to determine which teams would win those tiebreakers.
If the Bonnies do win either tie-breaking scenario, they are guaranteed to open A-10 postseason play on Wednesday as either the fifth or sixth seed. The tournament is scheduled for Wednesday, May 25 through Saturday, May 28, from Campbell's Field in Camden, N.J. Official seeding will be announced on Sunday by the league office. For up-to-the-minute updates on where the Bonnies stand, visit the Go_Bonnies Twitter handle or Facebook page.
Regardless of the outcome of the tiebreakers, St. Bonaventure will finish the regular season in a tie for fifth after being picked in preseason voting to check in at 12th place.
They capped their regular season Saturday with an offensive explosion, jumping out to a 10-1 advantage behind the bat of Radwan. The sophomore hit the first of his two-run homers as part of a four-run 4th inning. With senior Jamie Wallschlaeger on first following a lead-off single, Radwan pulled the first of his home runs over the left-field fence to give the Bonnies a 3-0 lead.
An inning later, Radwan delivered his second round-tripper of the day, a towering shot over the left-center fence. Once again, Wallschlaeger started the inning off – this time with a triple to dead center. That home run gave the Bonnies a 7-1 advantage, and they were able to hold on comfortably from there to run their overall record to .500 on the year.
Radwan finished with a career-high four RBI in his 2-for-4 afternoon. Wallschlaeger went a perfect 3-for-3 at the dish in his final game at Fred Handler Park, while classmate Alex Calderon pounded out three hits as well in his final game at McGraw-Jennings Field. Eric Jutca went 3-for-5 out of the 8th spot in the lineup, driving in a run and scoring another.
On the mound, redshirt sophomore Eddie Gray pitched 7.1 innings, and while he surrendered 12 hits was able to limit UMass to five runs while getting plenty of run support. Gray's win was the sixth of the year for the left hander, tying him for sixth on the single-season program record list in that category.
Freshman Asa Johnson relieved Gray, and got out of a bases-loaded jam in the 8th before closing the door on the Minutemen in the 9th, allowing just one hit in 1.2 innings of work.
