ST. BONAVENTURE (4-3) vs. OLD DOMINION (2-5)
Friday, Feb. 28 – 4:00 p.m. CT/5:00 p.m. ET
Murfreesboro, Tenn.
 
ST. BONAVENTURE at MIDDLE TENNESSEE (5-3)
Saturday, March 1 – 4:00 p.m. CT/5:00 p.m. ET
Murfreesboro, Tenn.
TV: ESPN+
 
ST. BONAVENTURE vs. UT MARTIN (3-4)
Sunday, March 2 – 4:00 p.m. CT/5:00 p.m. ET
 
FIRST PITCH
The St. Bonaventure baseball team enters their third series of the year Friday, travelling to Murfreesboro, Tenn. for three games this weekend. The Bonnies will be part of a round robin weekend with Old Dominion, host Middle Tennessee and UT Martin with each team playing each other once. It's the start of over a week for the Bonnies in the Volunteer State as they will spend Spring Break by traveling for a mid-week contest at No. 14 Vanderbilt before facing off against No. 3 Tennessee in a three-game set next weekend. The Bonnies are 4-3 on the season after their first two series of the year at Gardner-Webb and vs. Morehead State.
 
LAST TIME OUT
St. Bonaventure is coming off a 2-1 series loss to Morehead State in a series played on a neutral field in Lexington, S.C. due to poor weather conditions in Kentucky. After winning 6-3 in the first matchup of a doubleheader on Saturday, the Bonnies dropped the second on a walk-off hit by the Eagles in a 1-0 pitchers' duel. In the rubber game, Morehead State won 12-8, holding off a late rally by the Bonnies. Harrison Kaufman recorded three hits and two RBIs in their final game.
 
STRONG START
In the first week of the season, redshirt sophomore Jayce Tharnish was named Atlantic 10 Baseball Player of the Week. Tharnish slashed .550/.591/.950 in the Bonnies' opening series, going 11-for-20 from the plate with two home runs, six RBIs, and 4-for-4 on stolen base attempts.
 
NO FREEBIES
Luke Roggenburk has pitched 8.2 innings this season through three appearances, allowing zero walks while pitching to a 4.15 ERA. He's also responsible for two saves, which ranked him tied for ninth in the country at the start of this week.
 
HOT BATS
St. Bonaventure has been hot offensively to start the season, with seven Bonnies recording a batting average of .300 or higher. Jayce Tharnish leads the team with a .406 average in 32 at-bats.
 
Antonio Cordeiro (.333), Morgan Little (.313), Mike Gunning (.308), Conner Vercollone (.304) and Harrison Kaufman (.300) all check in at .300 or better through the first two series.
 
As a team, the Bonnies have compiled a .282 batting average while averaging over eight runs per contest. St. Bonaventure has owned a lead in every game this year except a 1-0 loss vs. Morehead State last Saturday.
 
ON THE ROAD AGAIN
The Bonnies will be road warriors to begin the season, playing their first 19 games away from home. Bona's will travel over 6,700 miles for their season-opening road trips after treks to Gardner-Webb in Boiling Springs, N.C. (691 miles), vs. Morehead State in Lexington, S.C. (760 miles), then a Spring Break trip to the Volunteer State with stops in Middle Tennessee (743 miles) before going just 39 miles down the road to play at Vanderbilt before another 180 miles to play at Tennessee and a 686-mile trip home. Bona's then plays at Binghamton (171 miles) and Penn State (130 miles) before opening Atlantic 10 play at Richmond (416 miles).
 
TRENDING NUMBERS
1 – Three games so far this season have been decided by one run, with the Bonnies going 2-1 in those games.
7 – SBU plays its next seven games in the state of Tennessee over the next week.
14 – The Bonnies have stolen 14 bases so far this season, ranking second-best in the A-10.
16.2 – Michael Salina is averaging 16.2 strikeouts per nine innings through two appearances this season with 15 punchouts in his first 8.1 innings of work.
66 – St. Bonaventure has 66 hits through six games this season, ranking third in the A-10.
 
ABOUT THE OPPONENTS
Middle Tennessee

• Middle Tennessee started the year 5-3. The Blue Raiders swept FDU in a three-game set and are coming off a 10-9 win vs. Austin Peay.
• In 2024, the team finished 20-36 and 8-16 in Conference USA play.
• Middle Tennessee finished eighth out of 10 teams in the CUSA preseason coaches' poll.
• The Bonnies and Blue Raiders will be playing for the third straight season. MTSU took six of the seven games over the past two years with Bona's lone win coming 12-2 in seven innings on March 9, 2024. Michael Salina was outstanding for the Bonnies, throwing six innings of two-run ball with six strikeouts and no walks. Antonio Cordeiro drove in two runs in the win while Paul Vossen had two hits and an RBI.
• The Blue Raiders coaching staff includes assistant coach Kevin Nichols, who coached Bonnies head coach Jason Rathbun while serving as head coach at Erskine College where Rathbun played from 2002-03.

Old Dominion

• Old Dominion started their season 2-5. ODU started the season by dropping a three-game series against Georgia Tech. Old Dominion lost their first game against Charlotte before beating them twice to take the series.
• Old Dominion finished 31-26 with a conference record of 15-15.
• Old Dominion finished seventh out of 14 teams in the Sun Belt Conference preseason coaches' poll.
• ODU has struggled at the plate in the early going with a team batting average of .229 to go along with a team ERA of 5.49.

 
 UT Martin

• UT Martin has started off their campaign 3-4, taking two of three at Florida A&M to begin the season before losing two of three at Georgia State and falling at Murray State on Tuesday.
• UT Martin finished last year at 21-35 including a 12-15 mark in Ohio Valley Conference play. The squad was picked seventh in the 10-team OVC preseason rankings.
• The Skyhawks had 25 players exit off last year's roster and welcome 20 newcomers this season. The team is hitting .303 overall in the early going with a 7.97 team ERA.

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