By Gavin Lindahl
Assistant Sports Editor
The St. Bonaventure baseball team left for Ohio University yesterday to kick off a four-game series against the Bobcats beginning today and ending Sunday.
According to Coach Larry Sudbrook, the Bonnies have been working on “small ball” during the past week in preparation for this weekend. Progress has been made, but the team is still not where Sudbrook would like to have them.
“We have got to bunt better. When you’re struggling to score runs, you have got to be able to sacrifice bunt,” Sudbrook said. “Sacrifice bunts we were probably successful 60-70 percent of the time in Florida, and we need to be successful more like 90-95 percent. It hasn’t been going as well as a coach would like to see,” Sudbrook said. “We’ve been okay at it, but we’re certainly not great at it yet. It’s something we’ll continue to work on, and it’s something you work on in games.”
Lack of hitting, which was something that plagued the Bonnies in Florida, is something Sudbrook expects will be a problem this weekend and possibly further into the season.
“Hitting is still a concern. We’ve got to hit the ball better, score some more runs and help our pitchers,” Sudbrook said. “Pitching has been outstanding for the most part, so we need to score more runs. And that’s probably not something that’s going to happen for the team’s first 10-15 games. I’m hoping by mid-April we’re hitting better.”
Besides his team’s poor hitting and great pitching, Sudbrook also expects Ohio to play better than their 4-9 record indicates.
“That means nothing for me because at this time of year if you would take a look at all schools in the Northeast, most of them would have a losing record.” Sudbrook said. “The northern schools have been playing all the southern schools who have been outside playing for two months. Late in the year if you have a losing record, you’re probably a losing team. But early in the year, it doesn’t really mean anything.”
As was the case in Florida, Sudbrook will again be looking to his young players like freshmen catcher Dan Trimble and sophomore shortstop Thad Johnson
“You’re not going to rebuild with seniors,” Sudbrook said. “You’re going to play the seniors if they can help win you some ball games, but we’re certainly going to rely on our younger guys.”
The team plans to return all but two of their five injured players this weekend. Freshmen pitcher Jack McClure is still injured, and redshirt sophomore pitcher Aaron Ballmer will be missing the trip to have an MRI completed today, according to Sudbrook.
Outfielders Bret Heath and Jonathan Diaz will also be healthy enough to play this weekend, and senior first baseman Justin Brozick will be cleared for light duty.
“Brozick took some swings yesterday live, and his knee was still bothering him. He may be able to pinch hit this weekend, and he may be healthy next weekend for VCU,” said Sudbrook. “Originally, there was a discussion of his recovery taking a month – maybe five weeks – but it’s looking more like three weeks, so he’s improving.”
