The St. Bonaventure Baseball team kicks off their season on Valentine’s Day with a three-game road series vs Gardner-Webb University.
Senior second baseman David Marshall Jr. said that this year’s team will be ready to compete with anyone.
“We understood last year what we could do to get better,” Marshall said. “We got a lot of the same guys back and a lot of new guys that are very good too.”
One of those new players is outfielder Mike Gunning, a graduate student transfer from Binghamton who Marshall thinks will greatly improve the team.
“We played him last year and he was outstanding, helping their team in many different ways,” said Marshall.
Junior pitcher Michael Salina agrees with his standout hitter that Gunning will be a big addition to the lineup.
“We have a lot of transfers, such as Gunning, who will be big pieces in our lineup,” said Salina.
Senior third baseman Harrison Kaufman detailed two more JUCO transfers that he thinks will bolster the roster.
“As far as transfers go, Tucker Genovesi is really exciting,” he said. “He’s a really good bat and handles himself well, you can tell he’s a ballplayer.”
Another new ballplayer Harrison is ready to see play for the Bonnies is junior outfielder Alex Hebenstreit.
“Another guy I’m excited for is Alex Hebenstreit,” said Kaufman. “He’s a really big power bat, in one of our scrimmages he sent two balls out of the park!”
Each player detailed what they thought they could improve on the most in order to help the team succeed.
Marshall believes that the best way to improve is for him to continue to work on the fundamentals of baseball.
“I’m gonna do what I do best, get on base, fight the best I can, foul balls off, make plays and anything else to help the team,” said Marshall.
Salina details how he thinks consistency is the key to a successful season.
“Staying consistent in my day-to-day work and pitching program will help me get better,” said Salina. “Learning from last year and seeing how a full season went on with the team will help us a lot this year.”
Kaufman said he believes conditioning and team health are most important for the 2025 season.
“We definitely want to put an emphasis on our conditioning to help us get extra stamina with extra workouts, including plyometrics this year,” said Kaufman.
Marshall said one big highlight of the season will be when they travel down to the state of Tennessee on March 5.
“We have that Knoxville trip before conference play against Vanderbilt and reigning national champions Tennessee in the same weekend, so that’s obviously our highlight,” said Marshall.
Kaufman agreed.
“It’ll be really fun to play the best of the best,” said Kaufman. “Last year we traveled to Louisville and I really think that helped prepare us for A-10 play.”
After that trip to Tennessee, the team makes one last quick stop in a game against Binghamton before kicking off A-10 play against Richmond on March 14. The Bonnies’ first home game is against George Mason on March 21.
“Every A-10 series at home is important,” said Salina. “If we could get fans to come out to every game it’ll be super competitive and fun.”
Salina said he is very confident in the team this year.
“The guys are hungry and ready to go out there and win,” he said. “I can’t wait to go out and put on a show.”
