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PHILADELPHIA – The St. Bonaventure baseball team (18-20, 8-8 Atlantic 10 Conference) jumped out to an eight-run lead and held on for a 9-6 win at Temple (21-22, 3-13 A-10) Friday afternoon to even its A-10 record.
The Bonnies raced out to an 8-0 start after their portion of the 4th inning, allowing Bona starter Eddie Gray plenty of support in picking up his team-leading fifth win of the campaign.
Senior Brad Steinbach set the pace for the offensive battle with the first at bat of the game as the right fielder laced a triple into the right-center gap. He then scored his club-high 28th run of the year when classmate Jamie Wallschlaeger dragged a bunt to the right side for his fifth RBI of the campaign, giving the Bonnies a 1-0 lead.
The St. Bonaventure scoring continued with an Austin Ingraham RBI double to right to plate Wallschlaeger. Sophomore Billy Urban then plated second baseman Jason Radwan, who had walked and advanced to third on the double, with a sacrifice fly to right field, giving Gray a 3-0 lead before he threw a single pitch.
St. Bonaventure added to its lead in the 3rd when Ingraham sent a solo home run to right center – the first baseman's second round-tripper of the year.
Then in the 4th, Radwan singled to center with the bases loaded to plate two runs before back-to-back RBI singles by Urban and Eric Jutca gave the Bonnies that 8-0 lead.
Gray was going up against the nation's best-hitting team, as Temple entered the contest with a team batting average of .333. The left hander kept the Owls off the scoreboard until the bottom of the 4th when a three-run home run broke the ice. However, all of those runs were unearned, and the redshirt sophomore shut the Owls down during the rest of his time on the hill. The Pulaski, N.Y. native hurled six innings in which he scattered eight hits and struck out six in running his record to 5-2 on the year.
Temple added a run in the 7th and two more in the 8th to get back within four at 9-6, but that was as close as it would get as Steinbach came in and shut the door. The hard-throwing right hander allowed just one hit in 1.2 innings of work.
Steinbach also got the job done at the plate as he finished 3-for-5 with two runs scored. Ingraham also went 3-for-5 with two RBI, and Radwan and Urban both pounded out a pair of hits as well. Urban's first hit of the contest extended his hitting streak to 11 straight games, tied with Steinbach for the longest stretch by a Bona batter this year. Radwan also extended his hitting streak to six straight, and eight consecutive A-10 games.
With the win, St. Bonaventure is now tied with Xavier and Fordham – both of whom lost Friday – for the sixth, and final, postseason slot with eight league games remaining.
After starting the season 0-3 in A-10 action, the Bonnies will look to go above the .500 mark in conference play for the first time all year with a win in game two of the series on Saturday. First pitch is set for 1 p.m., with Jordan Crane scheduled to start for St. Bonaventure.
