BY: LAYNE HAUGHT; STAFF WRITER
Photo Courtesy of gobonnies.com
The St. Bonaventure baseball team had its 2025 season home opener this past weekend in a three-game series against George Mason. The Patriots took a two-to-one series win over the Bonnies, with the Bonnies pulling together to avoid the sweep on Sunday.
George Mason opened the series with a 21-2 win over Bonaventure where the Patriots had 25 hits to the Bonnies’ mere seven. Graduate pitcher Sam Lavin got the start for the Patriots, where he threw six innings, allowing just four hits and one earned run. Lavin allowed his only run in the second inning and was shut down from then on for the Patriots. Lavin improved his record to 3-0 on the year.
Sophomore James Capellupo got the start for the Bonnies, where he threw 77 pitches in just 3 2/3 innings. Capellupo allowed 15 of the Patriots’ 25 hits and gave up 12 runs, 11 being earned. Sophomore Alex Barger, senior Cam Demos, redshirt freshman Ethan Catney-Forbes and junior Ryan Kucy combined to pitch the rest of the game, allowing a combined 10 more hits and nine more runs.
George Mason took game two in similar fashion with a 14-5 win over Bonaventure. Graduate student Connor O’Hara started for the Patriots, going five innings and giving up two earned runs on four hits. Graduate student Daniel Elliot and sophomores Ty Uchman and Shaun Okeeffe finished out the game for George Mason. Uchman was the only Patriots pitcher to allow a hit as he gave up three runs.
Junior David James got the start for the Bonnies, allowing nine hits, 10 runs, nine of which were earned, all on 99 pitches across 4 1/3 innings. Senior Kade Walker came out of the bullpen to finish the remaining 4 2/3 innings. Walker allowed six hits and four runs, with just two being earned.
Facing a potential sweep, the Bonnies rallied together to pull out a hard-fought third-game, winning 7-3 over the Patriots. Bonaventure used just two pitchers in the series finale, with the win going to redshirt senior Chance Moore, giving him his first win of the year. Moore gave up just five hits over six innings and allowed zero runs before handing the ball over to senior Luke Roggenburk in the seventh, who took the Bonnies the rest of the way, allowing four hits and three earned runs.
Junior shortstop Chris Hoalcraft, led the hit department for the Bonnies, tallying four hits over the series as well as three RBIs. Two RBIs came in the Bonnies’ win when Hoalcraft singled to center, scoring two in the seventh inning to extend the Bonaventure lead to four. Senior third-baseman Harrison Kaufman had one leave the ballpark in the Bonnies’ second game loss, and redshirt sophomore outfielder Conner Vercollone helped the Bonnies avoid the sweep with a homerun in the fifth inning of Sunday’s action.
The Bonnies travel to Saint Louis, Mo., on March 28-30 to face Saint Louis University in another Atlantic 10 three-game series. Bonaventure enters the series with an overall record of 8-14 and a conference record of 1-5.
