ST. BONAVENTURE, N.Y. – Sophomore Noah Czajkowski struck out eight in a sterling performance on the mound and the Bonnies senior class did the rest as St. Bonaventure capped an Atlantic 10 series sweep of visiting Fordham with a 6-5 victory on Senior Day Saturday afternoon at sun-soaked Handler Park.

Fordham (19-33, 10-14 A-10) grabbed an early 2-0 lead in the top of the third, but the Bonnies immediately answered to tie in the bottom of the inning as seniors Artin Biageyian and Adam Rankie singled back-to-back to set up a sacrifice fly from sophomore Jayce Tharnish. Graduate captain Jackson DeJohn singled home the second run of the frame for a 2-2 tie.

Senior Mark Darakjy produced another run in the fifth as he worked a walk with the bases loaded. An inning later, the Bonnies seized control with a three-run sixth as Tharnish tripled home Rankie from first before graduate student Jack Putney smashed a two-run homer just inside the foul pole out to right for a 6-2 score.

Fordham chipped away with two in the seventh and one in the eighth, but senior Ryan O'Connell coaxed a fly out with the tying run at third to end the Rams' best threat to tie.

In the ninth, yet another senior, Tristan Ciampa locked down the win with a perfect frame for his fifth save, getting a called strike three to end the game.

Rankie, Biageyian, DeJohn and Jagger Nucci represented the senior class with two hits apiece as nine of Bona's 11 hits came from players who took their last lap around the Handler Park basepaths following the game. Tharnish accounted for the team's other two hits.

Czajkowski set the tone on the hill as he set a new career-high for strikeouts while earning his fourth win of the season. He scattered six hits, allowing just one earned run and one walk.

With the win, St. Bonaventure wraps its season at 18-31 overall and 8-16 in Atlantic 10 play.

GAME NOTES

• Rankie finishes his season with 73 hits, good for fourth in Bonnies single season history. His 15 doubles also are tied for ninth in the program record book while his 23 multi-hit games are tied for the third-most by a Bonnies player since 1995.
• Ciampa's five saves tie for fifth in SBU season history.
• Czajkowski surpassed his previous high strikeout total of seven set earlier this month at UMass. 
• Rankie, DeJohn and Putney all finish with over 100 career hits in Bonnies uniforms.
• St. Bonaventure earned its first Atlantic 10 series sweep since 2017.
• The Bonnies had their highest win totals both overall and A-10 play since 2017.
• Bona finished with an 8-7 record at home this season.
• Bona's .277 team batting average is a 27-point improvement over last season while the team ERA was down by nearly three full runs (9.97 vs. 7.14). This year's .277 team average is the best for the program since having the same season mark in 2012. 
• Following the game, the senior class of Biageyian, DeJohn, Darakjy, O'Connell, Nucci, Putney, Rankie, Ciampa and Kyle Caccamise were honored by continuing the longstanding program tradition of taking last laps around Handler Park.

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