By Mike DeSanto
Sports Editor
The St. Bonaventure University baseball team split its first ten games of the season, going 5-5 over a pair of trips to Florida. One factor that affected the up-and-down play of the team was the performance of its pitching staff, which will hold great importance to the team’s overall season success, according to head coach Larry Sudbrook.
In the first five games, the Bonnies gave up 43 runs, including two games of 10-plus runs allowed. However, in the last five, aside from one game against North Dakota State where they allowed 10 runs, the Bonnies’ opponents did not score more than three runs.
“The number-two guy, [junior Aaron] Phillips did not have a good outing that first week we went to Florida. He pitched much better in his second outing and then he pitched great in his third outing,” Sudbrook said. “The same could be said for the number-three guy, the freshman kid, Casey Vincent. [He was] not very good in his first outing, he was a little above average in his second outing and by his third outing he was pretty good. The bullpen figured things out as we went.”
Phillips, who is also the starting first baseman when not on the mound, said while the staff struggled in the first few games, the performances improved as time went on.
“Through the first 10 games I would say the pitching performance has been productive. It’s a less experienced staff this year but there have definitely been outings that make me optimistic for the rest of the season,” Phillips said. “For me it’s just nice to get back out there again. Numbers aren’t as important through these first couple starts because they are used more to just prepare for conference. The main thing is to stay healthy and use those first 20 innings or so to get into midseason form.”
Phillips is 2-0 and boasts a 3.72 earned-run average through three starts with 14 strikeouts over 19.1 innings pitched. Schlimm sits at 0-2 with a 7.50 ERA and nine strikeouts in 18 innings.
One reason the starting rotation needed to make adjustments to the struggles quickly was the lack of experience, which took a blow when junior Nate Grant took a line drive off his throwing hand and broke a finger, which required surgery. Phillips talked about how the loss of Grant changes the rotation.
“Nate’s injury really hurt our staff’s morale early on. He was throwing really well and to see someone work so hard go down is tough to see happen,” Phillips said. “That being said, we understand that it’s next man up. Our guys have done a great job being productive in situations Nate has been successful in in the past.”
Sudbrook said Grant could potentially miss the entire season, depending on how he does once he is allowed to throw again, likely some time in April.
The young pitchers helped stem the tide for the Bonnies as well, putting in quality innings when needed.
“Freshmen Danny Madden and Murphy O’Brien put together some pretty good outings for us,” Sudbrook said. “A freshmen lefty, who we use as a lefty specialist, [Donovan] Moffat, he pitched very well. I think at one point he faced four left handed batters, struck out three of them and got a ground ball out. Really the only veteran pitchers that were healthy were Schlimm, Phillips and [senior] T.J. Baker. The Madden kid started a game at Port St. Lucie, went four shutout innings, he was replaced by Murphy O’Brien who pitched well in relief.”
Keeping a constant rotation is key to making sure the pitching staff is prepared, according to Sudbrook.
“I think just like in every sport you do, athletes, they do things in a rhythm,” Sudbrook said. “You take [batting practice], you take ground balls, you do it every game for 50 games. They want to do that, and with pitchers, they’re going to want to throw X amount of pitches in a game, they’re going to want to throw a bullpen two days later and throw X amount of pitches in that bullpen. Everything that you do is something you want to do consistently with a rhythm.”
The Bonnies return to the field March 17 when they travel to North Carolina to take on Davidson in a three-game series beginning at 6 p.m.
desantmj13@bonaventure.edu
