BY NATHAN SOLOMON, SPORTS EDITOR
After losing 14 straight games, St. Bonaventure baseball turned its misfortunes around on Tuesday, defeating the Niagara Purple Eagles, 12-2.
“Winning breeds a little bit more confidence in anything that you do,” Bonaventure coach BJ Salerno said. “These last three or four weeks, we are mostly in every game… It was fun to be a part of.”
After three scoreless innings, Niagara’s Benny Serrano hit an RBI single, and another runner later scored because of a Jackson DeJohn throwing error for the Bonnies.
In the bottom of the fourth, Bonaventure responded by plating three runs. Danny Manion drove in a run on a groundout, while Connor Mays and Jack Putney each laced RBI doubles.
In the sixth, the Bonaventure offense exploded to break the game open. RBI hits from Putney, DeJohn, Thomas Grilli, Matt Williams and Garrett Boldt gave the Bonnies a 10-2 lead.
But, with two outs, Manion laid the icing on the cake. He smashed a 2-run home run down the left field line, easily clearing the fence.
“He has certainly developed into a good college hitter,” Salerno said. “He’s turned into that everyday DH that in any given moment, if you give him a good pitch, he can run it out of the yard.”
The Bonnies held the Purple Eagles scoreless in the final three innings to walk away with a 10-run victory. St. Bonaventure recorded 14 hits in the victory, including hits from eight of the game’s nine starters.
“You have to have a plan every time you go up there,” Salerno said of the team’s plate mentality. “Having a plan always, I believe, is what you want do as a hitter.”
This weekend, the Bonnies host the Dayton Flyers in a three-game series at Fred Handler Park. Dayton is 10thin the conference with a 6-9 record against Atlantic 10 opponents, while Bonaventure is last with a 1-15 record.
St. Bonaventure is expected to throw freshman Luke Roggenburk on Friday and junior Trip Breen on Sunday. If healthy, Freshman Bryce Hediger will pitch on Saturday. He didn’t throw last weekend with shoulder issues.
Roggenburk has a 6.19 ERA and allowed three runs over six innings on April 29 against Richmond.
“Luke, for whatever reason, he is just a gamer,” Salerno said. “He just has all the confidence in the world in his abilities… Every time I’ve ran him out there, he just seems to get more and more confident.”
Breen is the most experienced of the three starters and thew eight innings of six-run ball on May 1 against Richmond.
“By and large, I think [Breen’s] given us a chance more than anyone else in these games,” Salerno said. “The more times you do, he gets more confident.”
Friday’s game is at 3 p.m. while both Saturday’s and Sunday’s games are at 12 p.m. All three games can be streamed live on ESPN+.
solomonj20@bonaventure.edu
