Bucknell University Athletics
Bucknell University
Iowa
Bucknell Baseball Takes First Loss on Florida Trip to Iowa, 9-3
3/18/2004 7:00:00 AM | Baseball
March 18, 2004
BRADENTON, Fla. - A day after the Bucknell baseball squad earned head coach Gene Depew his 400th career win, a cause for celebration among the Bison faithful, the Bucknell nine suffered their first loss on the spring break trip, falling to Iowa, 9-3.
Tim Peacock (1-2) took the loss for the Bison (8-4), pitching five innings while giving up seven hits. Just one of his four runs were earned, as the Bucknell defense committed one error in the first inning and three more in the third. Peacock's counterpart, Iowa (4-7) starter Nathan Johnson (2-1), threw seven innings and allowed six hits and three earned runs. Johnson also struck out nine Bison on the day.
Left fielder Evan Weiss, making his first start of the season, was Bucknell's offensive star, batting two-for-three with two RBI. Brian Day also went two-for-three and had one RBI.
With the bases loaded and two out in Iowa's first, third baseman Andy Cox reached when Bucknell first baseman Day bobbled the ball throwing to Peacock covering at first, allowing catcher Kris Welker to score from third. Iowa added two more in the third, when Welker reached on a throwing error by second baseman Sam Moss and scored on a throwing error by shortstop Ben Stoll that allowed the following batter, right fielder Nate Yoho, to reach safely. First baseman Mike Best brought Yoho home with a single, giving Iowa a 3-0 lead.
Bucknell got on the board in its half of the third, as Weiss singled home catcher Phil Bunting, who had doubled to lead off the inning. But Iowa went up 4-1 in the fifth, when designated hitter Mike Mogard brought home left fielder Jesse Brownell. Brownell and Best had two highly successful games at the plate for the Hawkeyes, as Best went four-for-five with three RBI and Brownell three-for-four with one batted in.
The Bison got one run closer in the sixth and scored one more in the seventh, but a lack of timely hitting hurt Bucknell's chances to close the deficit. In the sixth, Day brought home Stoll, bringing Bucknell to within 4-2. With Day on second and Kyle Walter on third with two out, Austin Barrett pinch hit for right fielder Brian Hirschberg but struck out, stranding two in scoring position. After Nathan Mittag retired Iowa in order in the sixth, Marc Cussatt came in to throw the seventh. Yoho singled to start the inning, and Best hit his first home run of the season to give Iowa a 6-2 lead. It was the first home run Bucknell had allowed since one by Fordham catcher John Mollicone in the second game of a Mar. 7 doubleheader, six games previous.
Bucknell's run in the seventh scored when Weiss brought in Bunting from second once again, putting Bucknell within 6-3. With Stoll on second and Weiss on third and two out, Bucknell again missed a chance to narrow the Hawkeye lead when Walter grounded out to end the inning.
Matt Curry threw a hitless eighth for Bucknell, and handed the game to Luke Mara to start the ninth. Mara allowed three singles to start the inning and one run before striking out Cox for the first Hawkeye out. Best scored on a wild pitch, giving Iowa an 8-3 advantage before Mara was relieved by Jesse Retzlaff, making his first appearance of the season for Bucknell. The new Bison pitcher committed a throwing error on a pickoff play, allowing Brownell to complete the scoring for Iowa.
The Bison will have their latest game of the Florida trip on Friday when they play Wisconsin-Milwaukee at 3 p.m. Bucknell's last game of the break will be against Dartmouth on Saturday at 10:30 a.m.
Iowa 1 0 2 0 1 0 2 0 3 -- 9 13 0 Bucknell 0 0 1 0 0 1 1 0 0 -- 3 8 5Peacock, Mittag (6), Cussatt (7), Curry (8), Mara (9), Retzlaff (9) and Bunting;
Johnson, Reasland (8) and Welker. WP - Johnson (2-1). LP - Peacock (1-2). S - Reasland (1).
RBI - I: Yoho, Best 3, Brownell, Cox, Mogard; B: Day, Weiss 2.
2B - B: Day. Bunting. HR - I: Best (1).Team Records - Bucknell 8-4. Iowa 4-7.
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