By Gavin Lindahl
Assistant Sports Editor
The baseball team suffered a sweep in its three-game series against Atlantic 10 opponent Virginia Commonwealth University this past weekend. Perhaps the most glaring loss of the series was Saturday’s lopsided 17-5 defeat.
According to Coach Larry Sudbrook, the score was a result of the Bonnies’ lack of scoring ability and VCU’s top-end skill this year.
“They are a very good team; they are nationally ranked this week,” Sudbrook said. They’re one of only four teams in the country that’s already won 20 games. They have seven hitters out of nine that have more walks than strikeouts, which is a crazy number to have, and they have eight out of nine hitters batting over .300 – so they’re good.”
Sunday’s loss to seal the series came in extra-innings and highlighted that while the Bonnies can pitch well, they are not scoring enough to win.
“The last game (Senior pitcher) Joel Rosencrance just had a great game. He went all 10 innings. You hold any team to two runs in nine innings, and three runs in 10 innings – you should win,” Sudbrook said. “But we just don’t score enough runs, and we’ve had the same problem all year.”
Despite the Bonnies’ scoring woes, junior transfer and catcher Dylan Dunn has been batting at .462 and is currently leading the team in runs batted in with 17.
“Dylan has been our best hitter since we’ve started, and he’s just been crushing the ball,” Sudbrook said. “Thad Johnson is the only freshmen who started last year, and he’s been good for us. The other guys have been up and down. Joel Rosencrance has had some very good games and some very bad ones. Senior Brian Weightman (outfielder) has been contributing more recently.”
Although there are a few players contributing, Sudbrook says the team’s offensive problems are far from fixed.
“It’s really more than getting one or two guys hitting. The other team can pitch around that, so we need a minimum of four or five guys scoring runs,” Sudbrook said. “I think that’s going to be our challenge this year.”
The Bonnies left yesterday at noon to take on another conference opponent, St. Joseph’s, in a three-game weekend series. The Hawks have won seven of their last 10 and are currently 2-1 in conference play, so Sudbrook knows what he’s up against.
“There’s probably not one conference weekend this year that we’ll be going into being the favorite,” said Sudbrook. “We lost two out of three to St. Joe’s last season at their place when we were starting six seniors, so they’ll be a challenge.”
According to Sudbrook, the team’s injury front is looking up as almost all of the team’s injured players are back in action. Senior first baseman Justin Brozick is back playing after returning for two games against VCU. Redshirt junior outfielder Brett Heath is also healthy after playing this past weekend. Redshirt sophomore pitcher Aaron Ballmer, who was out with a superior labral tear from anterior to posterior, took a bullpen Tuesday at 100 percent and will travel with the team to Philadelphia. Sophomore Steven Klimek, who is a top-four conference pitcher, is out with an oblique injury and is about a week away from resuming play.
