ASHEVILLE, N.C. – Opening Day brought a doubleheader split for the St. Bonaventure baseball team at UNC Asheville on Friday.
The Bulldogs blanked the Bonnies in the opener, but Bona's broke out in a big way with offensive fireworks in the nightcap for their first win of the year.
GAME 1 – UNC Asheville 8, St. Bonaventure 0
The Bulldogs scored three times in the first and never looked back in the opener.
St. Bonaventure had opportunities, leaving the bases loaded in the second and also stranding runners at the corners in the fourth.
Bona starter David James was likely a throwing error away from pitching deep into the game with just one run allowed, but the miscue behind him in the first inning allowed three unearned runs to cross against him. The senior fanned six and walked just one, tossing 47 of his 68 pitches for strikes.
Antonio Cordeiro posted two of Bona's four hits.
GAME 2 – St. Bonaventure 11, UNC Asheville 7 (F/7)
SBU cracked 13 hits to even the series, coming out on top of a back-and-forth contest.
Redshirt junior Ashton Ross collected the game-winning hit, breaking a 7-7 tie in the 6th with a one-out double down the left field line to score Anthony Fernandez who walked to lead off the frame.
The visitors posted three runs in that inning, gaining breathing room on a sacrifice fly from Conner Vercollone and a third tally following a Bulldogs error.
The Bonnies bounced back quickly in the nightcap, finally getting their first offense of the season in the third at-bat of the game.
Fernandez drove a liner out to the left-center gap, plating Manuel Castro all the way from first for a 1-0 edge.
Later in the frame, Fernandez came around to score on an RBI single from Antonio Cordeiro.
The next four runs went on the board for the Bulldogs as the hosts took a 4-2 advantage to the fourth when the Bonnies responded.
Joey Bruno's run-scoring double got the Bonnies back within a tally before Castro knotted things up with a hit up the middle.
Fernandez then broke the deadlock with a moon shot out to right, a three-run homer to put the Bonnies back on top.
The hosts tied the game again with a three-spot in the fifth before the Bonnies surged ahead for good.
Castro's first Division I homer, a rocket down the left field line, capped the scoring as the Bonnies pulled away in the late innings.
Derek Duval pitched a perfect seventh in his Bona debut to cap the victory.
Tristan Ciampa, who served as the team's top relief option in 2024, returned to the program last fall and picked up the victory in his first appearance of his second stint with the club by working 3.1 innings of relief, allowing three runs on four hits with two strikeouts.
Fernandez paced the offense with three hits and four RBIs while Castro, Cordeiro, Ross and Chris Hoalcraft all had two hits apiece.
QUOTES FROM HEAD COACH JASON RATHBUN
"I am proud of the way we responded after a tough game one. I believe in this team and know we will continue to get better as we get more games under our belts."
UP NEXT
The Bonnies and Bulldogs get back together for another doubleheader Saturday beginning at noon.
