By SPENCER BATES
ST. BONAVENTURE — Over the course of its three-game Atlantic 10 series against VCU, the St. Bonaventure baseball team found itself living on the edge.
In the first game of the series, after giving up six runs in the top of the ninth, the Bonnies won by means of an 11th-inning Gavin Constantine walk-off single. In game two, they saw another lead slip in the ninth frame as the Rams brought five across to take the lead. But Bona managed to rip the lead, and victory for that matter, out of the visitors’ hands with yet another walk-off, this time recorded by Conner Vercollone.
The victory in the second game clinched the first A10 series win of the season for the Bonnies. But they were not settling there.
On the third day of the series, with a thin pitching rotation and adverse weather conditions that rolled in for the third straight day, the Bona bats came to the plate still hot, and powered the hosts to an 11-10 win, solidifying their first A10 series sweep of the season and their first since May 18, 2024 when they swept Fordham in their season finale.
“VCU is a storied program, they were in the regional last year, won our conference, they’re a really good program,” St. Bonaventure coach Jason Rathbun said. “And with us most likely being out of the playoffs, our guys could have laid down and not fought, but they came out this weekend and battled through some serious adversity. Weather, comebacks on (VCU’s) half, tying games and taking the lead, we just didn’t quit all weekend and it showed up again today. We found a way in the eighth to score some runs, and we pulled it together to grab the sweep. I’m really, really proud of these guys.”
And there was no better time to get things started than in Bona’s very first at-bat of the day, in which Jayce Tharnish sent the third pitch he saw more than 400 feet over the center field wall, taking the early lead back into the home dugout after a quick trip around the bases.
And that lead managed to remain intact until the third inning when starting pitcher Jaxson Ross, a local talent out of Salamanca, saw his good start fall apart as VCU brought six runs across.
Luckily, the relievers that Bona did have available to them — Gabe Watts and Luke Roggenburk — were able to come in and stop the bleeding, allowing just two more runs between the fourth and eighth innings.
“Gabe Watts wasn’t really available for us last weekend, (Luke) Roggenburk wasn’t available for us last weekend, they were able to kind of put it together just enough so we could get something out of them this weekend, and it ended up being in a critical spot,” Rathbun said of his relievers. “They both showed up. Jaxson Ross has been starting those midweek games for us, and because we’re a little short, he got the nod today in the start, and (he had a) really good first two innings. The third inning kind of got away from him a little bit, but he’s young, he’s a freshman, and we had two seniors that stepped up for us and got the job done.”
And it was in that time when Watts and Roggenburk, the latter of whom picked up the win on the day, were dishing on the mound that the offense stepped up and began to chip away at the deficit.
Five different Bona players managed to record multiple hits throughout the prolonged rally, all of whom were led by Antonio Cordeiro’s three-hit performance. The catcher also managed to finish with two runs and an RBI.
St. Bonaventure’s Antonio Cordeiro (7) swings at a pitch against VCU. Cordeiro led the Bonnies with three hits in the win over the Rams. (Spencer Bates)
Tharnish — who recorded his 100th Bona career hit in the midst of the series — finished 2-for-4 with two runs and three RBI and those directly behind him in the lineup followed in his footsteps in terms of offensive effectiveness. David Marshall Jr. finished 2-for-5 with two runs and two RBI, Chris Hoalcraft went 2-for-5 with a run, three RBI and a home run, his fourth in his last five games, and Harrison Kaufman wound up with a 2-for-5, one-run statline as well.
According to Rathbun, the offense has been a foundational piece of this year’s team. Where injuries to a number of pitchers have left them short staffed in that department, he has been able to rely on his batters to put the team on their backs in moments just like the one they faced on Sunday.
“I’ve been pretty happy with the offense all year, to be honest,” Rathbun said. “I wish we had gotten better pitching. The injuries have just taken a toll on the pitching staff, but they did enough this weekend to get us wins, and the offense showed up for all three games. It’s a good offensive group. There’s some guys having career years and record-breaking years. So, I think it’s important to have those players that you can kind of point to that are developing and getting better and having big years. It’s good for the program.”
And the offense just kept plugging away at the VCU lead in the finale, eventually breaking the game open by scoring five runs in the bottom of the eighth frame to steal the lead, one that they managed to hold onto despite the Rams’ best efforts to play the spoiler, scoring twice in the top of the ninth and threatening with batters in scoring position.
It was three straight days of late drama for Rathbun and his Bonnies. And as someone who has consistently raved about the “fight” within his players this season, the sweep being won in climactic fashion was fitting for him.
“(The resilience) is everything that I’ve said about this group all year,” Rathbun said. “This weekend, it was on full display. They’re great kids too. I mean, it’s fun to come to the ballpark and be around these guys. They’re fun to be around and they keep the energy up. This was a good moment for them.”
With no midweek fixture, St. Bonaventure will next return to action on May 9 at 3 p.m. for the first game of its final home series of the season against UMass. And with how his team were able to pull out the wins over a strong VCU side, Rathbun is confident they will be able to get something out of the series against the Minutemen as well.
“We got UMass next weekend and I think that’s a team that we can come out and have the same type of success against,” Rathbun said. “So, we can really end on a hot streak here and finish the season really strong.”
