BY: LAYNE HAUGHT, STAFF WRITER
Photo Courtesy of gobonnies.com
The St. Bonaventure University baseball team put on a scoring barrage in their opening series against Gardner-Webb in North Carolina, tallying 45 runs across four games and winning the series three to one. A vast improvement in the opening series in comparison to 2024 where the Bonnies scored just 28 over three games and started the 2024 season with one win and two losses.
The bats got going early for the Bonnies in what was a dominant series against the Bulldogs. On the road, early success is important and the Bonnies capitalized on every opportunity. Bonaventure head coach Jason Rathbun referenced the ballpark when talking of offensive success saying, “It’s a hitter-friendly ballpark at Gardner-Webb,” Rathbun said. “Shorter power alleys and the ball tends to find them.”
This hitter-friendly field allowed the Bonnies to rack up 15 extra-base hits over the course of the series, finding the gaps and putting them to work. An aggressive approach helped the Bonnies offensively.
Coach Rathbun described his players’ approach going into the series as, “Can’t hit if you don’t swing the bat. Hitters were swinging aggressively,”
The Bonnies hit six home runs, two of these coming from opening week Atlantic 10 Player of the Week redshirt sophomore, Jayce Tharnish. Tharnish led the way for the Bonnies, swinging a .550 average over the four-game series andallying six runs batted in. Tharnish was a hot spot for the Bonaventure offense in the leadoff spot.
“Having a leadoff hitter on fire sets the tone for the rest of the team,” Coach Rathbun said. “Tharnish sets fire to the rest of the team.”
Coming off a series win, Bonaventure was not sure if their next series would be played due to a severe rainstorm in the Kentucky area. The Bonnies found out early Wednesday morning that they would be traveling back down to the Carolinas to face Morehead State at a neutral site in Lexington, South Carolina.
The Morehead State Eagles were too much as the Bonnies suffered a series loss, winning one game and losing two last weekend. Despite the series loss, the offense put on another solid outing, averaging five runs a game across the three-game series.
The Bonnies start a spring break, seven-game road trip down south to Tennessee. They’ll start it off this Friday against Old Dominion and then Middle Tennessee State and finish the weekend series against UT Martin. They will then travel to Nashville and Knoxville from March 5 to March 9, to take on SEC powerhouses Vanderbilt and Tennessee.
