ST. BONAVENTURE, N.Y. – St. Bonaventure won a thriller in the opener of Friday's scheduled doubleheader, 10-9, in 11 innings and led early in the second contest before inclement weather postponed the rest of the action.
GAME 1 – St. Bonaventure 10, VCU 9 (F/11)
Gavin Constantine's single to right plated the game-winning run in the 11th, capping a wild opener to the day's action.
St. Bonaventure set the tone by scoring six in the first and seemed to be sailing to victory before the Rams rallied for a six spot of their own in the ninth.
Jayce Tharnish started the Bonnies out on a strong note by homering to lead off the home first, the first of two bombs in the inning as Chris Hoalcraft followed with a second shot to left for a 2-0 advantage.
The hit parade continued in the first as Morgan Little doubled home two more runs with a bullet down the right field line and Gavin Constantine followed with another hit for a 6-0 advantage.
David Marshall Jr. blasted Bona's third homer of the game in the second and the Bonnies were cruising, 7-0.
VCU got on the board with a run in the third, but Constantine answered with a run-scoring double to stretch the cushion back to seven.
The Bonnies took a 9-3 margin into the ninth with starter Chance Moore looking to close out a complete game.
The Rams had other ideas, however, and came all the way back for the tie, knotting the score on a liner off the bat of Sean Swenson that sailed just over the glove of a leaping Constantine at short, rolling all the way to the wall and allowing the tying run to cross the plate from first.
Still knotted in the last of the 11th, Robert Mannino singled with one away. Pinch runner Paul Vossen moved to second on a groundout and came around with the deciding run when Constantine drove his third hit of the game out to right, walking the Bonnies off a winner.
Along with three RBIs from Constantine to lead the offense, Tharnish, Marshall, Hoalcraft and Mannino all delivered two hits apiece as the Bonnies finished with 14 hits as a team.
Gilbert Saunders III earned the win in relief with a scoreless inning on the hill.
GAME 2 – in progress (postponed, thunderstorms)
The nightcap of the twinbill was postponed with St. Bonaventure leading, 8-3, due to thunderstorms.
VCU struck first with a run to begin the game, but the Bonnies quickly answered with back-to-back doubles from Tharnish and Marshall to tie things up in the home half of inning number one.
Before the inning was over, the Bonnies sent 10 batters to the plate and scored eight times. Constantine, Antonio Cordeiro and Harrison Kaufman all added run-scoring hits during the uprising.
Tharnish doubled to the fence in left-center with one away in the third and stood in scoring position for Marshall who will pick up his at-bat when the game is set to be resumed Saturday at noon following thunderstorms which rolled into the Southern Tier.
