2023 Bonnies Baseball Preview: Pitchers and Catchers

The St. Bonaventure University baseball team will kick off the 2023 season on Friday, Feb. 24 with a four-game series at Middle Tennessee.

The Bonnies are under the first-year leadership of head coach Jason Rathbun, who has brought a new-found energy and excitement to the program after a successful 17 years at Herkimer Community College. 

There are many new faces around the diamond in Rathbun's first season, with several question marks still to be answered when it comes to roles on the pitching staff.

Coach Razz, as most around the program know him as, started talking about the pitching staff and referred to it as a “beautiful mystery.” 

“The exciting aspect of the team this year is the depth on the mound that we have,” Rathbun said. “We have 18 arms, which includes nine freshmen, so it’s a very young group but at the same time we are returning 360 innings of experience. This season we have a good mix of new guys paired with experienced arms.”

As of right now, there is not a clear Atlantic 10 conference rotation, but a pair of freshmen and second-year pitchers are expected to be significant starters.

Noah Czajkowski is a freshman who sits upper 80’s with his fastball and works on his craft every day, while fellow freshman Ryan Klementowski has been hitting low 90’s in the fall and is expected to have a significant role on the mound.

Sophomores Bryce Hediger (eight starts/41 innings pitched) and Luke Roggenburk (seven starts/47 innings pitched) look to factor into the rotation after being a huge part of the pitching staff last season. Both pitchers were part of the conference rotation last year as freshmen with Hediger posting a 3.49 ERA in five A-10 starts.

Left-handed senior Kyle Caringi (15 appearance/42.1 innings pitched) has seen an increase in his velocity this past fall and will get some spot starts on the bump for the Brown and White. In all, he's worked 74 innings the past three seasons. 

The bullpen includes veterans with a wealth of experience such as right-handers Tripp Breen (63 career innings, 62 strikeouts), Rushil Bhat (team-high 22 appearances in first season with SBU last year), and Ryan O’Connell (17 appearances in his SBU debut). Left-handed pitchers Gabe Watts (18 appearances as a freshman), Bobby Finn, and Andrew Ayers will be matchup guys who have shown this fall that they have the ability to get out tough left-handed hitters with their plus off-speed pitches.

True freshmen Nathan Klodowski, Jonny Lintell, Chase Playfair, Tucker Fenton, and Samuel Gil will also be new pieces in the Bonnies’ bullpen this season.

To close out games, Coach Razz will call on fifth-year left-hander Liam Devine. As a starter last year, Devine led the team in innings pitched (68) and strikeouts (55). His deceptive motion from the left-side, along with his loads of experience makes it a seamless transition to closer for him. He's tossed over 100 innings as a Bonnie, mostly as a starter. He did pick up a save last year as well.

Behind the dish, senior captain Jackson DeJohn will be one of the A-10's better defensive backstops with a strong arm and an ability to shut down the opposition's running game, throwing out 15 base runners a season ago. DeJohn has improved his swing coming into the season, hitting .315 in the fall, and looks to give the Brown and White a boost in the five-hole position of the lineup.

Backing up DeJohn will be fellow senior Jake Biscailuz, who Coach Razz describes as a “tough out” and can be plugged in at third base or the outfield if necessary. Graduate student Teddy Bishop is viewed as a great receiver and redshirt freshman Jack Pawlowicz round out the catchers this season.

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