ST. BONAVENTURE, N.Y. – The St. Bonaventure baseball team captured an 8-7 midweek non-conference victory over visiting Binghamton Tuesday afternoon at a sunny but chilly Handler Park.
The Bonnies (10-16) built a lead early and held on late.
Bonaventure put themselves on the scoreboard in the first inning.
Chris Hoalcraft sent a two-out single to left and advanced to second on a balk. In the following at-bat, David Marshall Jr. sent a line-drive single to right field to bring Hoalcraft home.
The Bonnies carried their offensive momentum into the second inning.
After a Morgan Little walk to lead off the inning, Alex Hebenstreit sent a laser over the left field wall for his second home run of the season.
Binghamton answered with a run in both the third and fourth innings, cutting the Bonaventure lead to 3-2.
Bona added two more runs to their lead later in the fourth inning, courtesy of Hoalcraft.
With two outs in the inning, Hoalcraft smacked a single through the middle to bring home Gavin Constantine. He then stole two bases and advanced home from a throwing error on his second steal.
The Bearcats (13-12) added a run apiece in the fifth and seventh innings, cutting the lead to 5-4.
In the bottom of the seventh, the Bonnies struck again.
Little drove a ball to deep right field, which brought Marshall in to score on a sac fly. Robert Mannino added another run later in the inning, scoring on a passed ball.
Jayce Tharnish delivered insurance by serving his fourth hit of the day just off the shortstop's glove behind second for what turned out to be a very important tally.
Binghamton scored twice in the ninth and sent the tying run to third base before Gilbert Saunders III registered a strike out to end the game.
Tharnish lifted his season batting average to .419 by going 4-for-5 and is 13 for his last 19 dating back to last weekend. Conner Vercollone and Mannino each had two hits as well.
Jaxson Ross made his first home start just miles from his hometown of Salamanca and earned his first collegiate win with four innings of work while surrendering only one earned run. Tom Wilke had a scoreless inning of relief while Conor Wolf (2.2 IP, 4 H, 1 ER, 2 BB, 2 K), Ethan Catney-Forbes (0.1 IP, 0 H, 0 R) and Saunders, who earned his first save, all saw work out of the bullpen.
QUOTES FROM HEAD COACH JASON RATHBUN
"It was great to get back home and play on our field. We have had some heartbreaking losses to Binghamton so it was good to get a win in a tight situation at the end. I love playing that program, they have a first-class staff there."
"It was great to see Gilbert Saunders get the save, he has done very well for us this year and is gaining more confidence every time out."
UP NEXT
The Bonnies return to Atlantic 10 action by hosting Saint Joseph's for a three-game series beginning Friday at Handler Park.
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