AMHERST, Mass. – St. Bonaventure dropped both ends of a doubleheader at UMass Saturday afternoon, falling in game one by a 4-1 score before the Minutemen captured a 14-7 victory in the finale.
GAME 1 – UMass 4, St. Bonaventure 1
St. Bonaventure came up short in a pitcher's duel in the opener.
The Bonnies manufactured a run in the third as Jayce Tharnish singled to lead off, stealing second and moving to third on a groundout. He'd score on a sacrifice fly for a 1-0 lead.
Just as they did a day before, the Minutemen immediately responded in the home half as a single, a walk and an RBI hit to right from Austin Burgess all with two outs knotted up the score.
The 1-1 tie would remain until the seventh.
A leadoff single and a one-out walk set the table for Braden Sullivan who roped a triple to the right center gap to break the deadlock as both runners came into score. Sullivan scored on a passed ball one batter later to complete the uprising.
Bona could never find an answer for UMass starter Robbie O'Connor who went the distance, allowing just one run on four singles. He did not walk a batter and struck out three to improve to 2-5 on the season.
Noah Czajkowski was strong for the Bonnies, finishing with a tough-luck loss after 6.1 innings as he surrendered three earned runs on five hits while walking two and striking out seven. Tristan Ciampa did not allow a base runner, striking out two in 1.2 innings out of the bullpen.
Adam Rankie had his first hitless game in well over a month as his 23-game hitting streak came to an end. Rankie produced the longest hitting streak by a Bonnies player in well over three decades and the second-longest in school history behind only Mike Nayman's 26-game hitting streak in 1988. It is the longest hitting streak in the Atlantic 10 this season.
GAME 2 – UMass 14, St. Bonaventure 7
The Minutemen grabbed the momentum with five runs in the second and controlled from that point.
Bonaventure loaded the bases in the third and cut into the deficit as a hit by pitch and fielder's choice forced in two runs, but the Bonnies could not come up with a big hit to draw any closer.
UMass scored two more in the bottom of the inning to immediately move ahead by five again.
Robert Mannino doubled and scored on a two-out single by Marshall in the fifth, but the Minutemen registered another crooked number with five in the home half of the frame.
The offensive highlight of the day for the Bonnies came on a two-run bomb off the bat of Marshall, his fourth of the year, in the seventh.
Marshall drove in four runs and Mannino went 3-for-4 at the plate. Rankie also had a single and two RBIs.
Burgess and Jack Peters had three RBIs apiece for UMass (21-23, 11-7).
Luke Roggenburk (4.1 IP, 7 H, 5 ER, 0 BB, 6 K) had six strikeouts and Alex Barger tossed a scoreless inning for the Bonnies (15-27, 5-13).
SBU is off until Thursday when the Bonnies begin a three-game A-10 series at Davidson.
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