By Gavin Lindahl
Assistant Sports Editor
The St. Bonaventure baseball team swept Ohio University this past weekend in its series. The Bonnies, who have been struggling to score so far this season, outscored Ohio by 31 runs over three games.
Coming off their wins against Ohio, the Bonnies struggled in their home-opener Tuesday, losing a pair of games against Niagara University in a doubleheader.
Despite the Bonnies putting up great numbers against Ohio, Coach Larry Sudbrook admits hitting is still a concern for the team.
“Our offense has been as Jekyll and Hyde as anything you have ever seen,” Sudbrook said. “In our first nine games, we couldn’t hit water if we fell out of a boat.
“In the three game series facing Ohio – facing similar pitchers – we hit everything that came up there. We hit the hell out of the baseball. Yesterday at Niagara, we went right back to how things were in Florida.”
The team’s inconsistency has left Sudbrook unsure of how to combat it. However, his belief is the young team will improve as experience comes its way – experience that will only come through playing.
“I can’t be any more honest with you, I don’t have a clue why our offense went crazy at OU but didn’t hit well other times– other than lack of experience,” Sudbrook said. “I have no answer why the offense at OU was spectacular – hitting homeruns, hitting doubles, scoring runs like it’s a football game – and then other days, we can’t hit anything. “
Sudbrook believes this issue is partly caused by the teams relative lack of experience.
“Part of why we’re so inconsistent is because we’re playing a lot of freshmen and sophomores,” Sudbrook said. “Even our juniors – Dylan Dunn, Tyler Bell, Randy Delanoy – this is all their first year here because they’re transfers. We can’t teach experience; the only thing you can do for inexperience is to play baseball.”
However inconsistent the Bonnies have been with their offense, pitching has been their strong point, according to Sudbrook.
“The only thing we’ve been consistent about in the first fourteen games is good pitching,” Sudbrook said. “Our pitching against Niagara was spectacular, but we lost because we could only score two runs in a doubleheader.”
The Bonnies’ injury front has not improved much. Redshirt sophomore pitcher Aaron Ballmer was diagnosed with a superior labral tear from anterior to posterior.
He took a bullpen session Wednesday and is progressing. Ideally, Ballmer would be back in a few weeks, but if the pain persists, he may require surgery. Redshirt junior outfielder Brett Heath, who has had two knee surgeries in the past year, has had problems with his knees and will be out.
Senior Justin Brozick has been cleared to pinch hit and will be cleared to return to first base next week, according to Sudbrook.
The Bonnies left yesterday for Richmond, Va. to begin a three-game series that will go through this weekend.
Virginia Commonwealth is the first Atlantic 10 opponent the Bonnies are facing this season.
“We’re going on the road to play one of the top three teams in the conference. They’re a southern school, so they’ve been out practicing a lot longer than we have,” Sudbrook said. “We’re going to have to do what we’ve been doing – and that’s our pitching to keep us in the ball game. We’re going to be up against it.
