PHILADELPHIA — The St. Bonaventure baseball team (8-13) scored two runs in the top of the ninth inning Saturday and held on to earn a 6-5 comeback victory over Saint Joseph’s (14-16), a triumph which gave 28-year coach Larry Sudbrook his 600th career win. Sudbrook — a two-time Atlantic 10 Coach of the Year — has been at the helm of the Bonnies for 1,219 career games, and is, by far, Bona’s winningest coach in any sport.
The team presented Sudbrook with a ball signed by every player after the game, a formal ceremony to commemorate the milestone win will take place prior to a home game later this season.
Over the course of his career, Sudbrook has produced 30 A-10 All-Conference selections and 10 Major League Baseball draft picks.
The Kent State graduate’s 500th career win was saved by his son, Cory, in a 4-2 victory during the 2008 season.
On Saturday, the save didn’t come from the pitching mound, but rather the batter's box as SBU fell behind, 5-4, after the eighth inning and looked destined to delay Sudbrook’s milestone another day. However, a Bret Heath bases-loaded single tied the game in the top ninth and Jason Radwan's opposite-field single gavethe Bonnies the lead and what eventually turned out to be the game-winner.
The A-10’s second-leading hitter at .407, Radwan bounced back from a hitless outing on Friday to go 3-for-5 with a run scored in the second contest of the three-game series.
Billy Urban was the lone other Bona batter with multiple hits as the Cleveland product went 2-for-5 with a pair of RBI. Urban, who started the game at third base, relieved starting pitcher Asa Johnson in the eighth inning and ultimately picked up his first win of the year as he tossed 1 2/3 innings of scoreless relief.
Trailing 3-1 in the eighth inning, Bona scored three runs to take a 4-3 edge, with the big blow coming from a two-run Urban double. However, Saint Joseph’s responded with a pair of runs in the eighth before the Bonnies’ ninth-inning comeback.
Johnson went 71/3 innings, giving up nine hits, allowing five runs, striking out four and walking two. Urban allowed just one hit, but msurrendered three walks before working around them to move to 1-0 on the season.
The games between the two clubs do not count against either’s A-10 record. St. Bonaventure and Saint Joseph’s are both in the midst of their lone A-10 bye weekend of the year, but the two squads agreed to play a non-conference series in lieu of the off week.
Saint Joseph’s 8
St. Bonaventure 4
PHILADELPHIA — The Bonnies dropped its series-opening game against Saint Joseph’s on Friday afternoon, to commence the three-game series on Friday afternoon.
Joel Rosencrance went 3-for-5 with an RBI while Urban added a pair of hits for the Bonnies.
Andrew Revello (2-4) allowed the Hawks just four hits over his seven innings.
The rubber match of the series will take place today at noon.
