By Tom Seipp, Sports Editor
The Bonnies don’t play in western New York until April 1, but the baseball team is making the trip to Emmittsburg, Maryland, to take on Mount St. Mary’s this weekend to kick off its 2020 season.
It has been three seasons since the Bonnies last qualified for the Atlantic 10 tournament. Since 2006 the Bonnies have not won a tournament game. The Bonnies have lost seven consecutive tournament games.
The A10 has 13 baseball teams participating this season. The top seven qualify for the A 10 Tournament. In 2020, the tournament will be played at Virginia Commonwealth University.
“That is always your goal,” head coach Larry Sudbrook said on making the postseason. “Your goal is always to finish in the top seven to give yourself a chance at the postseason.”
The first and only time St. Bonaventure came home with an A10 championship was 2004.
“I really hope we can get ourselves back to the Atlantic 10 Tournament,” senior right-handed pitcher Donovan Moffat said. “I think this year we definitely have an opportunity to compete in the A10 and get back to the A10 Tournament.”
Senior second basemen Kevin Higgins said the Bonnies will have to do the little things right on the field in order to have success this season.
“We’re going to have to do all the little things well. It’s going to have to be putting it all together every single day. It’s going to be not taking any pitches off as a team. Little things like that are going to make the difference in the long run,” Higgins said.
The rest of the A10 isn’t too high on the Bonnies, as they are projected to finish No. 13 in the conference.
The Bonnies are returning seven starters from a year ago. Behind the plate, the team return junior catcher Kevin Koziol. From third to first in the infield, the Bonnies return third basemen Matthew Williams, Higgins, shortstop Branden Myers and first basemen Jeff Palczewski.
Higgins appeared in 43 of the Bonnies’ 45 games in 2019. He hit .264 with a .299 on base percentage in his first season.
“If he pitch recognizes and puts the ball in play, he could be a big plus for us. He’ll be way better defensively after having a full year there at second, and he has the potential to be a really good hitter for us.” Sudbrook said of Higgins.
The Bonnies return just one outfielder, but it’s one of their top hitters, Tyler Kelder.
Last season, Kelder hit for a .294 average, and he led the team in both home runs (9) and runs batted in (33).
“He has shown a much better pitch selection this spring. If he continues that into the season, he could put up monster numbers and be an all-conference selection, and possibly a pro selection,” Sudbrook of Kelder.
The Bonnies are bringing in two new faces to join Kelder in the outfield. Sudbrook added Garrett Boldt and Brandyn Stillman to join the team.
Boldt, an Olean High School graduate, hit .376 with 19 extra-base hits in his sophomore season at Niagara County Community College last season.
Stillman was named Second Team All-American at Herkimer Community College last year. He hit .358 with eight home runs during his sophomore year.
Sudbrook said pitching depth is the biggest question for the Bonnies in 2020. Sudbrook said that the team has six veteran pitchers, but he doesn’t know who he can solidify into a starting spot yet.
The loss of Braydon Nelson, the Bonnies’ Friday starter in 2019, doesn’t help. Nelson transferred to the University of Tampa, who just won the Division-II National Championship in 2019. Nelson pitched 73.2 innings for the Bonnies a year ago; he led the rest of the team’s pitchers by more than 14 innings.
Elijah Baez, a redshirt-junior who played at Lackawanna Community College prior to St. Bonaventure, will open up the season as the Friday starter. Baez touches around the low 90s and could be a name that could pop-up around MLB Draft time, according to Subrook. His 2019 season got cut short due to knee surgery after just pitching 10.2 innings.
Another key arm for the Bonnies this season will be Donovan Moffat. Moffat was part of the A10 All-Rookie Team in 2017 and has been solid for the Bonnies ever since. In 2019, Moffat pitched to a 2.58 ERA in 59.1 innings. He appeared in 21 games, starting juist four of them. He finished with four saves.
Moffat has been a reliever most of his career, appearing as a relief pitcher in 61 of his 66 appearances. But in 2020 there is a chance Moffat may be moved into the rotation. The coaching staff is still deciding whether to keep him in the bullpen as a closer or starting him.
“There is no reason to have a good closer if you don’t have a lead in the eighth or ninth inning,” Sudbrook said on whether Moffat will stay as their closer.
“I’m just going to keep the same mindset and go at it the same way I always have been to be the best that I can and hold myself to the highest standard I possibly can to compete day in and day out and give my team the best opportunity to win,” Moffat said on his potential role.
Moffat will get the start this weekend in game three of the Bonnies’ three-game set. Sudbrook said it’s no guarantee he will be in the rotation the following weekend.
The Bonnies open up their 2020 season at Mount St. Mary’s today. A year ago, the Bonnies split two games with the Mountaineers.
Mount St. Mary’s may have an early advantage on St. Bonaventure since they have been outside a little more than the team from Olean has, according to Sudbrook.
“For every ground ball we’ve taken on turf this spring, Mount St. Mary’s has probably taken 100,” Sudbrook said. “For St. Bonaventure baseball, even the teams that we had that were very good, the first two weeks are kind of rough because the other teams have been outside way more than we have.”
“It’s just going to be doing the little things right, that’s going to be the difference maker in the first weekend. We haven’t been able to get outside a whole lot,” Higgins said. “It’s just a whole different atmosphere, speed of the game, figuring that out again, and just getting back into it. Hopefully we can take three games and build off that.”
seipptw19@bonaventure.edu
