By SPENCER BATES
ST. BONAVENTURE — In the bottom of the eighth inning, St. Bonaventure center fielder Anthony Fernandez stared down a full count with two outs on the board and his team trailing in a series rubber match against George Washington.
Chris Hoalcraft and Manuel Castro had put pressure on the Revolutionaries’ relief pitcher, drawing a walk and reaching base on an error, respectively.
The pressure was mounting. The Bonnies had failed to record a series win against Atlantic 10 opposition this season and their chances to do so in their first series on the newly renovated Handler Park were dwindling. Even Mother Nature seemed to be against the hosts as a strong wind, wanting to keep everything in play, kicked up in the latter innings.
But Fernandez had the coolest head in the ball park as he blasted the pay-off pitch to deep right field for a three-run home run.
Bona’s lone relief pitcher on the day, Tristan Ciampa proceeded to slam the door shut in the ninth, securing a 5-3 victory and a first A10 series win of the season.
“We’ve been playing close games all year,” Bona head coach Jason Rathbun said. “We’ve lost 13 games by three runs or less. So, we’ve been in these moments a lot this year. It’s great when you’re home and you get that last at-bat. We haven’t had a lot of home games, so it’s good to have that opportunity to cash in late, when the game’s tight.
“Anthony’s been one of our best players all year. He had a rough weekend. But great hitters have ups and downs. It’s how you approach each at-bat, and I think Anthony did a good job really digging in there, coming up with that clutch hit. It was huge for our guys. Hopefully we can carry this momentum into our next series.”
But Fernandez was not the only member of the Bonnies to leave the yard. Alex Hebenstreit got the team’s scoring underway in the third inning after punishing a hanging pitch over the left field wall. Hebenstreit had been out of the lineup over the last few games, getting just one pinch-hit at-bat over the span of the team’s last three games. When presented with an opportunity in the starting lineup in a critical series finale, he did not let it go untaken.
“We believe in Alex’s talent,” Rathbun said. “He’s played a lot of games for us this year. We’re starting guys back that were injured early. His opportunity kind of changed a little bit this weekend, but we found a spot for him today, and he went in there and got the first run on the board for us, which is something that we know he’s capable of.”
The Bonnies were fighting from behind for a grand majority of the contest after George Washington capitalized early on some aggressive, small-ball action. The Revs put up two runs in the top of the first, but starting pitcher Enger Paulino did well to settle back in and put zeros up on the scoreboard over the next five innings. A third conceded run in the sixth saw him replaced, but all-in-all, Rathbun was pleased with what he got from his starter who finished with two strikeouts, three walks and allowed six hits on the day. He was just as happy with the 3.2 frames he got out of Ciampa, who struck out four, allowed just two hits and did not walk a batter in crunch time.
“The runs they got off Enger early were just some tough breaks,” Rathbun said. “A bunt that stayed fair on the line, a couple five-hole infield hits, just a tough situation in the first inning. But he was able to keep it to a minimum, only allowed two runs where it could have been a bigger inning. So that was big on his part. He was able to put up some zeros after that. … Tristan’s awesome. He’s an experienced guy out of the pen. He throws strikes. He’s a competitor. … We always feel confident with him late in the game.”
St. Bonaventure’s Enger Paulino (23) delivers a pitch against George Washington. Paulino stuck out two and walked three batters in 5.1 innings against the Revolutionaries. (Spencer Bates)
Defense has been Bona’s kryptonite this season. In fact, Rathbun noted that if it were not for his team’s defensive lapses in game two against the Revs, they could have claimed the series then. Bona committed six errors in their 4-3 loss in game two. In the series finale, they had none.
“When we can put two or three phases together, we’re a tough team to beat,” Rathbun said. “Our pitching has been really good all year. Our defense has not, but when the defense has played good, we’ve been in those ball games. So, we just got to continue to improve. We got a lot of new guys in the starting lineup, seven new position players out there this year, and we’re just trying to find our groove.”
Rathbun is hoping this series win marks a turning point. With series against two of the top three teams in the conference already behind them, he is hopeful his team can take advantage of the momentum as the season progresses.
“We played a couple of the top teams early,” Rathbun said. “George Mason is third in the conference, VCU is second. Those are two early series that we had this year where the series was close. Those games were within a run or two, and we competed. It’ll be good to maybe get on a run here of teams that are more in the middle of the pack or in the lower part of the A10, so we can hopefully win some series like we did this weekend.”
Up next for St. Bonaventure is a mid-week fixture at home against Canisius on April 7 at 3 p.m.
AT ST. BONAVENTURE
George Washington 200 001 000 R:3 H:8 E:2
St. Bonaventure 001 001 03X R:5 H:5 E:0
GW: Wywoda (3 SO, 2 BB), Miller (0 SO, 1 BB), Lebel (1 SO, 2 BB) and Lavey
Bona: Paulino (2 SO, 3 BB), Ciampa (4 SO, 0 BB) and Cordeiro
