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Baseball
Baseball season ends with 5-2 postseason loss to Temple
May 22, 2008
CAMDEN, N.J. - The St. Bonaventure baseball team saw its 2008 season and the careers of five seniors come to an end on Wednesday night as it dropped a 5-2 decision to fourth-seeded Temple in the loser's bracket game of the Atlantic 10 Tournament at Campbell's Field. The loss leaves the sixth-seeded Bonnies one win shy of tying the program record of 30 set in 2002. Despite the pair of losses, the Brown and White end the season with a 29-24 overall mark for their 12th winning season under head coach Larry Sudbrook and 11th consecutive 20-win campaign. The story of the game for the Bonnies was the 11 base runners it stranded. Trailing 1-0, the Brown and White squandered a pair of bases loaded opportunities in the third and fifth innings, respectively. While St. Bonaventure failed on its scoring opportunities, the Owls took full advantage of theirs as they used a four-run fifth inning to take a 5-0 lead. Temple finally got to St. Bonaventure starter Michael Proctor, using four hits en route to its four runs. Proctor received no run-support over his six and one-third innings of work. The lefty finishes his career with 21 wins and is the program's all-time leader in starts (49). Proctor finishes second behind classmate Cody Vincent in the career record books in appearances (60), innings pitched (263.2) and strikeouts (212). On the flipside, Temple starter Mike Mongiardini opened the game with seven scoreless innings before giving up his first run with two outs in the eighth. Sophomore Anthony Randich produced the Bonnies no-out scoring change with an inning-opening double to left center. Freshman Brad Steinbach picked up his first hit of the day two batters later, singling to right field to make it 5-1.
The combination of relievers Jim Britton, Brian Hardner and Steinbach tossed a scoreless eighth to keep it a four-run game heading into the ninth. St. Bonaventure refused to go quietly as a single by freshman Jesse Bosnik followed by a single by Kevin Suminski that included a throwing error put two runners in scoring position with one out. Senior T.J. Pennino grounded out to second base to bring home Bosnik for a 5-2 ball game. A walk to Randich then brought the potential game-tying run in the form of junior Brandon Salerno to the plate. Temple skipper Rob Valli then signaled to the bullpen for All-Conference closer Arshwin Asjes. The 6-foot-3, 215-lb. righty ended the Bona dreams of a comeback, getting Salerno out on five pitches. For the game, the Bonnies finished with just five hits, but were provided base runners thanks to four Temple errors and seven walks. Despite failing to record a hit in his final collegiate game, senior Randy Moley finished his senior campaign as the single-season record holder with 84 hits and 61 runs scored. The A-10 first team All-Conference selection and back-to-back Student-Athlete of the Year is the only player in program history to finish with over 200 hits, 125 runs scored, 100 RBI and 50 stolen bases. In all, the senior class finished with a combined 136 wins and three Atlantic 10 Tournament berths. |
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