St. Bonaventure, N.Y.—The Niagara baseball team made a trip to Little Three rival St. Bonaventure on Wednesday for a midweek non-conference game. The Purple Eagles won 17-12 over the Bonnies on the road.
Game Recap

• Kelly Corl notched the first hit of the afternoon with a one out single. Cole Tucker then drew a walk to put runners on first and second. After a popout, Max Giordano came to the plate. On the first pitch he saw he ripped a single back up the middle to drive in Corl to give Niagara a 1-0 lead.
• St. Bonaventure responded in the bottom of the first inning with three runs to take a 3-1 lead.
• Niagara made it a one run game in the top of the third inning. Nate Milk drove in Tucker who opened the inning with a walk.
• The Bonnies once again responded and scored twice in the bottom half of the inning to make it a 5-2 game.
• Giordano came to the plate with two outs in the bases empty. Giordano blasted a no doubt homer to left field for his team leading 11^th homer of the season to make it 5-3.
• In the bottom of the fifth, St. Bonaventure once again got a run back to make it a three run lead.
• Milk opened the sixth inning with a bunt single, after a flyout, Brady Desjardins walked to put two runners on. With the lineup turning over Nick Groves singled and drove in Milk to cut it to a 6-4 Bona lead. After Groves stole second, Tucker walked to load the bases. Vincent Mauro singled to left field and drove in a pair of runs to tie the game at six. With Giordano at the plate, Tucker came home on a wild pitch to give the Purple Eagle lead. With a 3-2 count, Giordano blasted his second homer of the game to make it a 9-6 Niagara lead.
• The Bonnies tied the game in the bottom of the seventh at nine.
• In the top of the eighth, Giordano opened the inning by getting hit by a pitch. Josh Marchese earned a walk and put runners on first and second. After a fielder's choice, Matt Ward pinch hit and hit a hard grounder to third. The third basemen made a throwing error and Giordano scored to give Niagara a 10-9 lead.
• Niagara poured it on in the top of the ninth as they exploded for seven runs. Tucker started the inning with a double down the line to put a runner in scoring position. After a strikeout, Giordano was intentionally walked to put runners on first and second. Milk then walked to load the bases. Ward came up and with the bases loaded, he hit a high flyball that was dropped by the Bonnies and all three runs scored to make it 13-9 Niagara. The very next pitch Desjardins singled through the left side to drive in Ward for the 14^th Niagara run. After a Groves walk Corl singled and drove in the 15^th and the 16^th run scored on a throwing error to make it 16-9. Wyatt Palmer then stepped to the plate and singled home the 17^th Niagara run.
• The Bonnies scored three runs in the ninth but they could not complete the comeback.

Niagara Notes

• With his two walks, Groves now has 40 walks on the season. He broke the single season record of 38 which was held by Greg Cullen.
• Giordano hit two home runs and is now tied for the single season record with 12 homers this season.
• Tommy Bednarski started on the mound as eight pitchers took the mound for the Purple Eagles. Liam Reynolds picked up the win in 0.2 inning while striking out one.
• All nine starters for Niagara had a base hit including freshman Cameron Moore who notched his first collegiate hit. As a team, Niagara had 16 hits with 10 different players recording a hit.
• 17 runs is tied for the most runs scored in a game. It is the 10^th game this season that Niagara has scored double digit runs.

Up Next

• The Purple Eagles head on the road for a three game set against Fairfield that will start on Friday.