Bonnies start season 3-1 in Savannah series
By Dominic LoVallo
Assistant Sports Editor
St.Bonaventure’s baseball team officially started its season last weekend when it traveled to Savannah, Georgia, to face the Savannah State University Tigers.
The team is off to a winning start, going 3-1 in its opening series of the year against the Tigers. The Bonnies won 7-4 on Friday with senior pitcher Drew Teller picking up the win.
Saturday, the Bonnies split a double header with the Tigers, winning the first encounter 10-1 with senior Connor Grey pitching the win. The Bonnies lost the second game 7-1. Sophomore Brandon Schlimm was handed a loss for that contest. The Brown and White got back on track Sunday when pitcher Aaron Phillips pitched seven scoreless innings and the Bonnies won 9-2.
According to freshman Sam Fuller, the team’s timely hitting and the solid performances on the mound led to the successful weekend.
“We played well as a team and hit well with runners in scoring position,” Fuller said. “We also had great performances from our starting pitchers and just as impressive performances from our relief pitchers.”
A10 conference officials seem to agree with Fuller because Phillips was named A10 Pitcher of the week.
Phillips’ pitching during Sunday’s game included him throwing six strikeouts, only allowing three hits, walking only one batter and having zero runs scored against the Bonnies for the seven innings he pitched.
Phillips said his only focus for the game on Sunday was not allowing the Tigers to split the series.
“My mindset on Sunday was avoiding the series split,” Phillips said. “Our opinion was that we were the better team and going 2-2 in that series would have been a letdown. I just wanted to keep my team in the game and give us a chance to win.”
Phillips mentioned how a lot of the credit for his performance on Sunday should go to the seniors who have helped him develop into the pitcher he is today.
“Anytime you receive recognition like that it feels great,” Phillips said. “I really learn from Connor (Grey) and Brandon (Schlimm) so this is just as much theirs as it is mine. I’m just happy to see all the offseason work has paid off so quickly. But we all understand that it is early in the season and we have a lot more to accomplish.”
Even though it is early in the season, the entire organization from the top down feels this team could surprise some teams this year, Fuller said.
He added Coach Larry Sudbrook mentioned that he feels this team can compete with any team this year. He continues with the strengths he feels the team has already shown.
“I think that we can make a good run this season,” Fuller said. “A lot of A10 teams are counting us out this year,” and to quote Coach Sudbrook, “We are going to surprise a lot of teams early this year.” We think our strong point this year is going to be defense, which along with great pitching and timely hitting will carry us.”
The Bonnies are heading to Port Charlotte, Florida, this weekend to take on the Central Connecticut State University Blue Devils. Phillips thinks that if the team can stay focused and up their defensive performance, they can take the series.
“A lot of guys get an opportunity to play early in the season and we understand each game is a team effort,” Phillips said. “Our pitchers need to throw strikes and keep us in the game and offensively we need to capitalize on opportunities. Defensively, Savannah State wasn’t our best series, but that is still a strong point of our team and that aspect will bounce back.”
The Bonnies’ three-game series against the Blue Devils starts today at 10:30 a.m., continues tomorrow at noon and concludes Sunday at 11 a.m.
lovalldv15@bonaventure.edu
