BOILING SPRINGS, N.C. – St. Bonaventure roared out to a 13-1 lead through four and a half innings, but it would be the huge frames of the Runnin' Bulldogs later on that would prevail as Gardner-Webb rallied back for a wild 18-15 victory over the Bonnies baseball team Saturday night.
The Bonnies set the tone early by sending 12 men to the plate and scoring eight times in the first.
Jayce Tharnish started the uprising with the first of two hits and two stolen bases in the frame, coming home on a single to left from Chris Hoalcraft.
Two walks later, Morgan Little batted with the bases loaded and plated Hoalcraft with a smash on the right side of the infield.
It seemed as though the Runnin' Bulldogs might limit the damage, but Conner Vercollone capped a long at-bat with a bit of two-out, two-strike magic as he roped a single to left to score two more.
With the flood gates firmly open, the Bonnies scored again on an RBI line drive to right from Paul Vossen before Tharnish was credited with a pair of RBIs following a blast off the G-W shortstop that bounced away into left.
A wild pitch allowed another Bona run to score in the third and the visitors made it a 10-0 lead following an RBI single punched through the right side from Little in the fourth.
Gardner-Webb (1-2) got a run back in the fourth, but the Bonnies immediately responded with the next three following a run-scoring triple to the right-center gap from Tharnish, a sac fly from Hoalcraft and a run-scoring groundout by Little.
But while the Bonnies scored 13 of the day's first 14 tallies, the next 17 would come from the Bulldogs.
G-W started to make things interesting with four in the fifth before exploding in a seemingly never-ending sixth.
The Bulldogs sent 16 men to the plate, scoring nine times to take the lead. Matt Ilgenfritz doubled home two for a 13-12 score and Dale Francis completed the comeback with a two-run homer to right center for a 14-13 score.
Francis drilled another two-run bomb in the seventh as the Bulldogs pulled ahead by five.
In the ninth, the Bonnies pulled closer on a two-run single from Robert Mannino before a groundout finally ended the over four-hour slugfest.
The turning point of the game came in the fourth.
Bonnies starter David James had a no-hitter going with two away in the frame before a come-backer bounced off his pitching elbow. After meeting with Bona's trainer Josh Sikorski, he stayed in the game, but would surrender a walk and an RBI hit before coming out of the 10-1 ballgame.
From there, G-W came rolling back against the SBU bullpen.
Tharnish went 4-for-5 with three runs, three RBIs and two stolen bases. Mike Gunning also collected three hits and scored four times for the Bonnies (2-1).
The two teams meet up Sunday for the series finale. First pitch is scheduled for noon.
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