RICHMOND, Va. – A three-run home run from
Pierce Hendershot in the seventh inning propelled the St. Bonaventure University baseball team past Richmond, 8-7, Saturday afternoon in Virginia.
With the Bonnies trailing late following a back-and-forth battle, Hendershot stepped up to the plate with two outs in the top of the seventh and hit a three-run round tripper off Richmond's reliever Esteban Rodriguez to move the Brown and White from two down to one up with what would be the game-winning blast.
The Spiders took an early 3-0 advantage, capitalizing off some miscues by St. Bonaventure in the field during the first inning.
The Bonnies got a run back in the top of the second, thanks to a solo home run from
Adam Rankie, his third homer of the season.
St. Bonaventure batted around in the fourth inning, scoring four runs to take a 5-4 lead.
Thomas Grilli kicked off the scoring in the frame with an RBI single and he was followed by a sacrifice fly from
Christian Szablewski.
The fourth inning was capped off by a two-run single from
Kyle Caccamise to drive in Grilli and Hendershot.
However, Richmond responded in the bottom half of the inning with a two-run home run off the bat of Chase Conklin to reclaim a 6-5 lead.
The Spiders (20-24, 9-7 A-10) added another run in the fifth, but Hendershot came up in the seventh and with one swing of the bat took the lead back for the Bonnies.
Graduate student
Liam Devine earned the victory out of the bullpen by throwing five innings in relief, only allowing one run on five hits with seven strikeouts. Devine walked only one in his outing on his way to his second win of the year as the Bonnies improved to 5-12 in Atlantic 10 play. He now has factored into the decision in seven of Bona's eight wins on the season.
At the plate, Caccamise notched two hits and two runs batted in, while Hendershot delivered three RBIs.
For Richmond, Jordan Jaffe and Chase Conklin each had two hits and two runs batted in.
The Bonnies and Spiders will decide the winner of the series Sunday afternoon. First pitch is set for noon.
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