By Mike DeSanto
Sports Editor
For the second straight day, the St. Bonaventure University baseball team went to extra innings against the Maine Black Bears, losing 5-4.
The Bonnies and Black Bears combined to use 11 pitchers over 18 innings played in the game. Despite losing, the Bonnies out-hit the Black Bears 13-9.
Offense got started quickly for both teams, as after two innings the Black Bears led 2-1. The Black Bears would extend the lead to 3-1 in the fourth, but runs in the fifth and sixth innings for the Bonnies knotted the game at three. The game-tying run came on a wild pitch, which allowed junior shortstop Cole Peterson reach home.
The pitching staffs of both teams held each other at bay until the fifteenth inning, when the Black Bears broke the scoring drought. After junior centerfielder Brandon Vicens drew a walk, redshirt sophomore Caleb Krebs was able to plate him on a single, breaking the tie and putting the Black Bears in line for the win.
But the Bonnies responded in the bottom half, re-tying the game at four a piece. Junior first baseman Aaron Phillips singled and was able to steal second and third, putting him 90 feet away from home with one out. Once again, the Bonnies got some help from a passed ball, along Phillips to reach home and extend the game.
However, that is where the Bonnies offense stopped, but not the Black Bears’. In the top of the eighteenth, senior left fielder Lou Della Fera reached on a single, then stole second. This put him in scoring position for senior right fielder Tyler Schwanz, who doubled home Della Fera to score the final run of the game.
The Bonnies nearly tied the game again in the bottom half, but junior right fielder Dave Vaccaro was thrown out at home on a suicide squeeze, cutting off the final scoring opportunity.
Freshman Casey Vincent started on the mound for the Bonnies, going five innings and giving up three runs (two earned) on five hits and four walks with five strikeouts. Freshmen Danny Madden, Donovan Moffat and Murphy O’Brien, redshirt freshman James Wetter and senior T.J. Baker also pitched.
Redshirt junior Jonah Normandeau got the start for the Black Bears, throwing five and one-third innings while surrendering three runs on six hits and three walks with four strikeouts. Freshmen Cody Laweryson and Matthew Pushard, junior Connor Johnson and senior Jeff Gelinas pitched in relief.
The Bonnies return to the field Tuesday to continue its three-game series against Maine at 12 p.m.
desantmj13@bonaventure.edu
