Bucknell University Athletics
Bucknell University
Lafayette *
Bucknell Baseball Holds on for Doubleheader Split Versus Lafayette
4/18/2004 8:00:00 AM | Baseball
April 18, 2004
EASTON, Pa. - After enduring a 14-2 defeat in Sunday's opener versus Lafayette (16-18, 9-7 PL), the Bucknell baseball team held off a late-inning Leopard rally in the nightcap to salvage a split on the afternoon, winning game two 9-8. The split keeps Bucknell (17-16, 7-9 PL) even with Lehigh for the final Patriot League Tournament berth, as the Mountain Hawks split with Navy on Sunday.
Phil Futrick (3-3) had his second tough outing in as many league weekends in the day's opener, lasting just 2/3 of an inning, giving up six runs, four earned, on six hits. Jacob Moss threw three innings, also giving up six runs, all earned, on five hits. Marc Cussatt threw the last 2 1/3, surrendering just two runs, both earned, on five hits. Offensively, Pete Wolf was the only Bison with two hits in game one, though Kyle Walter had four and Chris Mahony had three in the nightcap.
Adam Bucci had a two-RBI single, while Frank Cortazar and Craig Alexander both had RBI-doubles in Lafayette's six-run first. Alexander had the fifth Leopard run on a Ben Stoll error at shortstop before Jeff Rodgers completed the scoring with an RBI-single. Lafayette added another in the second on a Bucci RBI-single before Bucknell got its first run when Walter doubled home Stoll, making the score 7-1.
But the Lafayette lead grew to 11-1 on Adam Rosenberg's third-inning grand slam before Rob Fioretti added another in the fourth when he singled, scoring Ian Law. Bucknell had its second and final run in its half of the fourth, when Phil Bunting singled home Wolf. Lafayette completed the scoring with a two-run home run from Law in the eighth.
Lafayette's Tom Soldan (4-2) went six innings, giving up seven hits and two runs, one earned, before Hank Fichtner held Bucknell hitless in the seventh.
In game two, Bucknell opened the scoring in the first with RBI doubles each from Wolf and Brian Day. The Bison added one more in the second on a Matt Capece sacrifice fly before Lafayette got on the board in the bottom half of the inning on a Matt Skellan sac fly. The Bison opened up a 5-1 lead with a Mahony RBI-single in the fourth and Walter's sixth home run of the season in the fifth. But after Bunting gave the Bison a 6-1 lead with his second home run of the year, Lafayette trimmed the margin to 6-3 with solo shots from Rosenberg and Skellan.
After Brian Hirschberg added another solo shot in the seventh, his fourth of the year, Skellan, Rosenberg, and Jason Boyd all recorded RBI in a three-run Lafayette seventh to trim Bucknell's lead to 7-6. Bucknell added one each in the eighth and ninth, on Walter's second home run of the game and seventh of the year, as well as an RBI-single from Sam Moss in the ninth. Lafayette mounted a rally in the bottom of the ninth with RBI from Skellan and Fioretti, but got Ted Kramer to line out to end the threat.
On the mound, Cory Nadler improved to 3-2 by throwing 6 1/3 innings, allowing eight hits and five runs, all earned, before turning the game over to Nathan Mittag in the seventh, who allowed six hits and three runs, all earned as well, en route to his fifth save of the year. Nadler's counterpart, Paul Fischetti, threw five innings, allowing nine hits and five runs, four earned, with four strikeouts. Matt Revelle threw three innings, giving up three runs on six hits before Drew Moyer came in for the ninth, giving up one run on two hits.
The Bison will have non-conference games on Tuesday, at St. Bonaventure, and on Wednesday, at Towson, before hosting Holy Cross for the final Patriot League series of the regular season next Saturday and Sunday.
Game 1 Bucknell 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 -- 2 7 1 Lafayette 0 2 0 0 1 1 x -- 14 16 2Futrick, Moss (1), Cussatt (4) and Bunting; Soldan, Fichtner (7) and
Alexander, Drechsel (7). WP - Soldan (4-2). LP - Futrick (3-3).
RBI - B: Walter, Bunting; L: Rodgers, Fioretti, Rosenberg 4,
Bucci 3, Cortazar, Alexander, Law. HR - L: Rosenberg (7), Law (2).Team Records: Bucknell 16-16, 6-9 PL. Lafayette 16-17, 9-6 PL.
Game 2 Bucknell 2 1 1 1 0 1 1 1 1 -- 9 17 0 Lafayette 0 1 0 0 0 2 3 0 2 -- 8 14 3
Nadler, Mittag (7) and Bunting; Fischetti, Revelle (6), Moyer (9) and Skellan.
WP - Nadler (3-2). LP - Fischetti (3-5). S - Mittag (5).
RBI - B: Capece, Walter 2, Wolf, Day, Hirschberg, Mahony, Moss, Bunting;
L: Boyd, Rosenberg 2, Skellan 4, Fioretti 1. 2B - B: Walter, Wolf, Day 2, Mahony;
L: Law. 3B: - L: Alexander. HR - B: Walter 2 (7), Hirschberg (4), Bunting (2);
L: Rosenberg (8), Skellan (2).Team Records: Bucknell 17-16, 7-9 PL. Lafayette 16-18, 9-7 PL.
