NEWS
Baseball Hosts St. Bonaventure This Weekend
One final home series remains on the Davidson baseball schedule, and it’s this weekend when Atlantic 10 Conference foe St. Bonaventure visits Wilson Field.
The series will begin with a 3 p.m. game on Thursday and conclude with an 11 a.m. game on Saturday.
Prior to Friday’s 2 p.m. contest, the Wildcats will honor the 2024 graduating class of Hunter Anderson, Micah Baermann, Nick Calero, Tyler Douglas, Jake Dunagan, Ryan Feczko, Joe Haney, Miles Jamieson, Danny Rosenfield, Nick Shedleski and Jake Wilhoit.
LATEST ON THE ‘CATS
• The Wildcats enter the weekend 19-27 overall and 5-13 in the Atlantic 10 after winning one of three at home against Rhode Island last weekend.
• Last Friday’s doubleheader against Rhode Island was the Wildcats’ sixth of the season and fifth at home.
• Also in league play, the Wildcats went 2-1 against Saint Joseph’s and Richmond and 0-3 against VCU, Saint Louis and Dayton.
• The Wildcats will visit George Mason next weekend to close the regular season.
• Davidson leads the A-10 with 64 home runs.
• On Monday, freshman outfielder Cider Canon was named A-10 Rookie of the Week. In a 2-2 week, he hit .353 with a 1.368 OPS, two doubles, three home runs and 11 RBIs. That included a two-homer, seven-RBI game against Rhode Island.
PUTNAM AND FRIEND(S)
• First baseman Eli Putnam continues his breakout season, and the numbers show it. He is tied for the league lead with 14 home runs and 50 RBIs and has scored a league-best 51 runs. He’s also second in slugging percentage (.674) and OPS (1.139), third in hits (62) and batting average (.354) and fourth with 14 doubles.
• Putnam’s 14th home run, which he hit against Rhode Island, is a top-10, single-season total in program history. It ranks eighth in the recordbook, tied with the seasons of Alan Lewis (1987), Gus Quattlebaum (1997), Chase FitzPatrick (2009) and Ruben Fontes (2019).
• Catcher Jacob Friend is finding ways to get on base. He’s second in the A-10 with 42 walks and third with a .483 on-base percentage. Friend also ranks among the league’s best in OPS (5th, 1.068), runs (8th, 43) and home runs (10, t-9th).
• Catcher Noah Jouras is hitting .326 and ranks second in the league with four triples.
• Shortstop Nick Calero ranks fifth with four sacrifice flies.
• Pitcher Wilson Perkins, the Wildcats’ Friday starter, is fourth in the A-10 with 67 strikeouts, a 5.15 strikeout-to-walk ratio and 1.66 walks per nine innings.
SCOUTING THE BONNIES
• The Bonnies are 15-27 overall and 5-13 in the A-10.
• St. Bonaventure has lost its last five games, including all three at UMass last weekend.
• Also in A-10 play, the Bonnies went 0-3 against George Washington, 1-2 against Dayton, Richmond and Saint Joseph’s and 2-1 against VCU.
• Outfielder Adam Rankie leads the Bonnies with a .335 average and 36 RBIs, and his 61 hits and 13 doubles rank fifth in the A-10.
• Third baseman Jack Putney leads the Bonnies with six home runs.
• Outfielder Paul Vossen has stolen a team-high 11 bases.
• Right-hander Michael Salina is one of only two A-10 pitchers to throw two complete games this year.
SERIES HISTORY
• This will mark the fifth A-10 series between the Wildcats and Bonnies and just the second in Davidson (2017).
• The Wildcats lead the series 12-1 and have won the last six meetings, sweeping the series in 2019 and 2022.