By Mike DeSanto
Sports Editor
The St. Bonaventure University baseball team picked up a win on Wednesday, beating the University at Buffalo Bulls 1-0 after the game had been rescheduled from Tuesday.
“The conference games on the weekend are where you come out with football team energy. Tuesday’s you come out kind of flat,” head coach Larry Sudbrook said. “We don’t score a lot of runs, so it was good. That was basically our bullpen. We threw seven guys today that we’ll have coming out of the bullpen this weekend.”
Both teams were held in check offensively, with the Bonnies (19-15) picking up five hits and the Bulls (12-25) finishing with four hits. Both also left four runners on base.
The Bulls and Bonnies each managed to get runners aboard, but were unable to score through the first three innings.
However, the Bonnies finally broke through in the fourth inning, scoring what ended up being the only run necessary. After two quick outs, junior right fielder Dave Vaccaro stepped to the plate, stayed patient and finally smacked a solo home run out to left field.
“David’s a junior now, so he’s a smart kid,” Sudbrook said. “The guy went 3-0 on him, we gave him a take sign so we could get something going [and] the guy threw him a fastball, strike one. The we gave him the green light, and Dave knew he was going to get another fastball in that count, he sat on it [and] he got a cookie. He’s got a little pop where if you make a mistake, he’ll drive it out of the park.”
Following the fourth inning, both teams got runners on base, but were unable to convert those opportunities into runs. The Bulls got a runner as far as second in the seventh inning, but the Bonnies worked out of the situation with no damage.
The game ended without another run scored on either side, giving the Bonnies the win.
Redshirt freshmen Brian Pulli and James Wetter, senior Danny Urban, freshman Donovan Moffat and Murphy O’Brien, and graduate student Scott Jerge all combined to shutout the Bulls over the course of the game.
Freshman Greg Dunham made the start for the Bulls, going six innings and allowing one run on five hits and three walks.
The Bonnies return to the field on Friday to take on the La Salle Explorers on the road at 3 p.m.
desantmj13@bonaventure.edu
