Bucknell University Athletics
Bucknell University
Iupu Ft Wayne
Bison Baseball Falls to IUPU-Fort Wayne in Florida
3/13/2003 7:00:00 AM | Baseball
March 13, 2003
BRADENTON, Fla. - The Bucknell baseball team was unable to overcome an early deficit and costly errors in the field in their loss to Indiana University Purdue University-Fort Wayne Thursday afternoon at IMG Academy Park. Junior Matt Daley took the loss for Bucknell as the Bison fell to 3-2. IUPU-Fort Wayne improved to 4-2-1 with the victory.
Two Bucknell errors and a Fort Wayne base hit in the first put the Mastodons up 3-0. Bucknell answered with a run in the top of the second. Junior Pete Wolf led off with a double and scored two batters later when the Fort Wayne leftfielder misplayed Austin Barrett's single down the line.
The game stayed 3-1 until the bottom of the fourth when Fort Wayne's Mark Simanski launched a solo home run to left. With two outs, another Bison error preceded back-to-back Fort Wayne hits allowing a run to score to extend the Mastodon lead to 5-1.
The Bison answered with a run in the top of the fifth to cut the lead back to three. With one out and the bases loaded, junior Brian Hirschberg flew out to deep right field to knock in Ben Krentzman. Fort Wayne reliever Adam Ferris then induced a ground out to strand the other Bison runners. On the day, Bucknell left 14 runners on base.
Fort Wayne tacked on three more runs in the sixth thanks to two base hits, two bases on balls, and an infield error by Bucknell. For the game, only four of Fort Wayne's nine runs were earned.
Bucknell rallied in the top of the eighth for four runs to close the lead to 9-7. With one out, freshman Matt Capece chopped a single over third base, and Sam Moss followed with a walk. Krentzman then lined a single through the left side to drive in Capece. A walk to Steve Stutzman loaded the bases. Junior Brian Day came to the plate as a pinch hitter, and during his at bat a passed ball and a wild pitch allowed Moss and Krentzman to score. Day then grounded out to second to bring in Stutzman.
In the top of the ninth, three straight two-out singles loaded the bases with Bison. However, Mastodon reliever Doug McDonald got Stutzman to fly out to deep right to end the threat and earn the save.
For the Bison, Moss, batting in the leadoff spot, reached base five out of six times to the plate with two hits and three walks. Krentzman delivered two hits, two runs scored, and two runs batted in. Stutzman and Wolf each collected two hits and scored a run. In his first collegiate start, Capece bunted for a base hit twice on his way to a 3-for-5 afternoon.
Bucknell plays again at 10:30 am Friday morning against Miami University of Ohio.
