By Nathan Soloman, Sports Assignment Editor
For the first time in 680 days, the St. Bonaventure Baseball (0-5) team took the Fred Handler Park field, facing off with the La Salle Explorers (10-7) in a Saturday doubleheader. However, the Bonnies faced overall struggles in the two games, dropping contests 6-3 and 4-1 to the Explorers.
“We just seem a little slow,” coach Larry Sudbrook said. “We’ve got some juniors and seniors that have had success hitting before, and right now, we’ve only got two guys swinging the bat well.”
Those two guys happen to be outfielder Tyler Kelder and shortstop Brendan Myers, both of whom are 5-of15 through five games this season.
“My swing has felt pretty good,” Kelder said. “It’s kind of sucked not playing too many games yet, so it’s a little tough to get into a bit of a groove. As we start playing more games, I think it’ll feel even better.”
Kelder picked up a hit in each game against La Salle, including a solo homerun to dead centerfield in game one. Myers reached safely with three hits in the doubleheader.
“I’ve worked a lot [on my swing] and it’s finally coming together,” Myers said. “After getting a lot of at-bats earlier in my career, it really helped out, and now I’m just a lot more used [my swing] and a lot more comfortable and confident at the plate.”
Unfortunately, the rest of the Bonnies have yet to get in the same groove. Kelder and Myers are the only two players batting above .200 as the team has just 29 hits in five games this season.
However, it’s not just batting that’s been an issue for St. Bonaventure. The team has struggled to get strong outings out of their starting pitchers and that was the culprit of Saturday’s game one loss. The Bonnies actually out-hit the Explorers, but struggles from pitcher Elijah Baez allowed the visitors to jump ahead early.
“He just wasn’t right [on Saturday],” Sudbrook said of Baez. “He walked four guys in the first inning and the first two guys of the ballgame. When you do that and you’re going to face somebody’s three and four and five hole hitter with nobody out, you’ve definitely dug a hole.”
Baez allowed six runs in 3.2 innings before being chased for Kyle Caringi, who pitched 3.1 innings of no-hit baseball in relief. However, the hole created by Baez was too much to overcome, as the Bonnies dropped game on by three.
St. Bonaventure got a much more quality outing in game two by pitcher Donovan Moffat, as he gave up four runs in seven innings with all four scoring in the fifth.
“He pitched pretty well,” Sudbrook said. “We always expect that Donnie’s going to give you an opportunity to compete.”
The bats, unfortunately, didn’t show up to back Moffit as the Bonnies mustered across just one run off three hits. However, Sudbrook attests some of the early offensive struggles to the lack of experience the Bonnies have compared to other teams. Sudbrook’s squad has played just five games compared to La Salle, who has already played 17.
“You can’t simulate game speed and game experience,” Sudbrook said. “We’re still trying to catch up to other programs who have been playing since February. I believe because we have some veteran guys that we will, we just got to make sure that we don’t bury ourselves so early in the year that by the time you do it, it’s too late.”
The Bonnies hit the road this weekend to take on George Mason in a four game set. They’ll play a 9-inning game with the Patriots on Friday, two 7-inning games on Saturday, and another 9-inning game on Sunday.
“We’ve had some really high moments and some really low moments, and nothing has really panned out and all came together,” Myers said. “Instead of having highs and lows, we need to just keep it all consistent and minimize mistakes.”
solomanj20@bonaventure.edu
