KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – Top-ranked Tennessee blasted five home runs to defeat the St. Bonaventure baseball team, 13-2, Sunday afternoon in the series finale at Lindsey Nelson Stadium.
After Bona starter David James put up back-to-back scoreless innings with relative ease, the Bonnies grabbed the early lead for the second straight day.
Paul Vossen drew a walk in the second before going first-to-third on a stolen base along with a Vols throwing error.
With Vossen standing 90 feet away, Chris Hoalcraft brought him home with a run-scoring single up the middle for a 1-0 edge.
Unfortunately for the Bonnies, that lead did not last long as the Vols batted around in their next trip to the plate.
Home runs from Levi Clark and Stone Lawless helped the defending national champions put up seven in their half of the third to rush ahead as the Vols added to their national lead in homers this spring.
Gavin Constantine put another run on the board for the Bonnies in the fifth by punching an RBI single through the left side to draw within five.
In the sixth, the Bonnies loaded the bases with one out as Ryan Davis walked, Brian Carrothers singled and Alex Hebenstreit walked before two fly outs ended the threat.
Bona had another chance in the seventh when Davis, Jeremiah Atwell and Harrison Kaufman all walked to load the bases again before a ground out ended the inning.
The second home run of the day from Lawless, a two-run shot to left, in the seventh put the run-rule into effect.
Kade Walker pitched 2.2 scoreless innings before running into trouble in his fine frame, ultimately surrendering four runs with two strikeouts in 3.1 innings of relief.
SBU finished with seven hits on the afternoon.
Tennessee improved its perfect record to 16-0 with the victory.
QUOTES FROM HEAD COACH JASON RATHBUN
"I'm happy with how our non-conference weekend schedule has gone. We won't play a better team than Tennessee the rest of the year. Our guys were not scared and battled against the defending national champions. I'm excited to start conference play and see this team compete."
UP NEXT
The Bonnies will play their first game of the season in the state of New York as they play at Binghamton on Tuesday in the final tune-up before Atlantic 10 conference play begins next weekend. First pitch in Central New York is slated for 3 p.m. on Tuesday.
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