By Skye Tulio
Assistant Sports Editor
After splitting a doubleheader at Niagara Tuesday, the baseball team prepares to take on Rhode Island this weekend in a three-game home series beginning today at 3 p.m.
“Rhode Island is perennially one of the best teams in the conference,” coach Larry Sudbrook said. “From 2000-2009, us and Rhode Island went to the postseason the most out of all the teams in the Atlantic 10, and while we’ve stumbled the past few years, they’ve continued to be as good as they have been.”
The Bonnies (13-12, 2-4) face the Rams (17-14, 6-3) in their first conference matchup since going 1-2 against Fordham March 31-April 4.
“It was not OK to win one out of three from Fordham,” Sudbrook said. “I do not think they’re a team that’s going to be there at the end of the year.”
Junior third basemen Billy Urban said the Bonnies need to take at least two out of three from the Rams this weekend.
“Rhode Island is one of the better teams we’re going to play this year,” Urban said. “The conference is starting to take shape and teams are starting to emerge as favorites, so it’s important for us to get on the winning side if we want to contend in the end.”
Last season, the Bonnies played Rhode Island once, losing 7-4. In 2010, the team went 1-2 against Rams at Fred Handler Park, losing the first two games of the series before winning the final contest, 7-3.
The team went 1-2 against Fordham (14-20, 6-3) last weekend, taking the first game of the series Friday 12-0, before falling to the Rams Saturday and Sunday (5-3, 6-3).
Urban said the Bonnies had high expectations as an older team going into the series against Fordham.
“We just haven’t been able to click on both sides – offense and defense – so hopefully once we start getting into the swing of conference play, it’s going to start coming into form,” Urban said.
“We’re old, so guys know what to expect and what to look forward to, so I think we’re going to be OK. It’s been a little disappointing, but we’ll fight through it.”
The Bonnies swept Buffalo in a home doubleheader April 3. In its first contest after an off weekend, the team lost to Niagara, 5-2, before bouncing back to grab the 8-2 win against the Purple Eagles Tuesday.
In the first game against Niagara, Bonnies redshirt senior starter Cael Johnson (1-4) threw five innings, allowing seven hits, four earned runs and one walk. Senior righty Jordan Crane pitched the sixth inning, giving up two hits, recording two strikeouts and allowing Niagara’s fifth run, which recorded as unearned.
Offensively, the Bonnies got on the board first in the top of the third inning after back-to-back RBI doubles by junior Jason Radwan and
Urban for the Bonnies only two runs of the game. The Purple Eagles struck back in the top of the fifth with a three-run home run to lead 3-2. The Purple Eagles continued to dominate offensively, tacking on a run in each of the next two innings to secure the win.
In the second game of the doubleheader, the Purple Eagles took a 1-0 lead in the first, but the Bonnies tied it up off a sacrifice fly from sophomore Justin Brozick. The Bonnies took the lead in the second inning after an RBI single from junior Austin Ingraham scored Radwan from second. The Brown and White held the lead until the Purple Eagles tied it in the bottom of the fifth.
With the game tied at 2-2 in the top of the seventh, Ingraham singled in two runs for a 4-2 Bonnies lead. Later in the inning, with the
bases loaded, senior Michael Grieco hit a bases-clearing triple and scored himself after a wild throw home by Niagara right fielder Adam Wagner. Ingraham finished the trip to Niagara with four hits and two RBI, and Grieco recorded two hits and three RBI.
Sophomore starter Asa Johnson (2-2) pitched six innings, giving up seven hits and allowing two runs (one earned). Senior Nick Brennen came in to close the game in the seventh and got the Bonnies out of a bases-loaded jam with a game-ending double play.
“A win’s a win, but the conference is really where it’s important,” Urban said. “We have to take what we’ve learned in those nonconference games and put that into the weekend series. We just have to learn how to win and we’re going to continue to fight.”
tuliosa10@bonaventure.edu
