Box Score
GLEN BURNIE, Md. – Junior designated hitter Joe Bonyai (Torrington, CT/Hotchkiss School) entered Tuesday's non-conference game with Villa Julie tied for the Gettysburg single-season hits record. He broke the record as part of a three-run first inning and went on to have a 3-for-5 night, scoring four runs and driving in two more in the Bullets' 18-7, season-ending win at the Bachman Sports Complex.
Gettysburg (17-22) scored at least once in each of the first six innings and added a six-run outburst in the eighth. Every starter had at least two hits, and eight of the nine drove in at least one run as the Bullets pounded out a season-high 25 hits. Junior right fielder Ben Carey (Colchester, CT/St. Bernard) led the team, going 4-for-7 with four RBI and two runs scored. Sophomore third baseman John Pancetti (Matawan, NJ/Old Bridge) drove in four runs, and junior left fielder Chase Straub (Perkasie, PA/Pennridge) turned in a 3-for-5 performance with two RBI and three runs. Sophomore second baseman Dave Olson (Orchard Park, NY/Orchard Park) and senior first baseman Jimmy McNamara (Webster, NY/Webster) each added three hits on the night. Bonyai, who hit .397 for the season with 58 hits, breaks the former record of 55, set by Joe Cordova in 1997.
At the plate, the Mustangs (27-13) were led by senior center fielder Ruben Pinto, who was 4-for-5 with a run scored and one driven in. Freshman left fielder Bryan Chouinard, senior third baseman Matt Waltrop and freshman designated hitter Griffin Stewart all collected two hits as part of a 14-hit attack.
The Bullets got started early, collecting five straight singles to hang three runs on the board in the top of the first. Sophomore center fielder Sean McGee (Mamaroneck, NY/Mamaroneck) and Carey both reached base, and McGee scored on Bonyai's record-breaking hit. Pancetti followed with a two-run base hit.
Villa Julie responded with one run in the bottom of the inning on a leadoff double by junior second baseman Dave Brown and an RBI double by Waltrop two batters later. The Mustangs did not score again until the bottom of the fourth, by which time Gettysburg had a 7-1 lead. The home team managed two runs each in the fourth, fifth and sixth innings, but the Bullets scored a total of seven times in the top of those same innings to take a 12-7 lead at the end of six.
For the first time in the game, Gettysburg was retired in order in the top of the seventh, but the Bullets erupted for six more runs in the eighth. Three straight singles to open the inning loaded the bases. Straub drove in a run with a ground out to shortstop, which erased McNamara. After a strikeout by McGee, Carey cleared the bases with a two-run triple and scored on a single by Bonyai. Senior catcher Brendan McDonald (Bennington, VT/Mt. Anthony Union) reached on an error that scored Bonyai, and then scored on an RBI single by Pancetti.
Senior right-hander Tobin Whitman (Lyme Center, NH/Hanover) shut down Villa Julie over the last three innings to toss his Centennial Conference-leading seventh complete game of the season. He surrendered seven runs on 14 hits and struck out four while walking two.
