Bucknell University Athletics
Bucknell University
Washington State
Bucknell Baseball Suffers 7-1 Setback Against Washington State
3/13/2006 7:00:00 AM | Baseball
March 13, 2006
FRESNO, Calif. - The Bucknell baseball team dropped its opening game in the Pepsi/Johnny Quik Classic by at 7-1 margin to Washington State at Fresno State's Pete Beiden Field on Monday afternoon. With the loss, the Bison fall to 3-6 on the season while the Cougars move to 16-4 overall.
The Cougars took a 1-0 lead in the first inning after Jay Miller reached with a leadoff walk and later scored on an infield single by Jeff Miller. Bucknell threatened to take the run back in the second as junior Ryan Gryskevicz (Dallas, Pa./Dallas) singled and sophomore Ed Rubbo (Stafford, Va./Colonial Forge) reached on catcher's interference. Then sophomore Shawn Hirsch (Morristown, N.J./Morristown) came to the plate with two on and two out and was robbed of a hit to shallow right by Washington State second baseman Travis Coulter.
In the fourth, the Cougars extended their lead to 2-0 by producing another run from a leadoff walk as Jim Murphy scored on a single to left field by Greg Lagreid.
The Bison put a run on the board in the fifth to cut the deficit in half. With two out, senior Chris Grandizio (Bloomsburg, Pa./Bloomsburg) doubled to left for his second hit of the afternoon then scored on an error by Coulter. However, in the bottom half of the inning, Washington State took the run back, plating Coulter with a groundout.
The Cougars went on to add two more runs in the seventh with sacrifice flies by Zach McAngus and Jeff Miller that scored Jay Miller and Coulter and plated another two with two outs in the eighth to increase the lead to 7-1.
Junior Nathan Mittag (Fairfield, Conn./Fairfield) started and took the loss (1-2) for Bucknell. He threw six innings and allowed five runs, four earned on seven hits with no strikeouts and four walks. Senior Ian Rainey (Littleton, Colo./Littleton) pitched a scoreless seventh, sophomore Bryan Snyder (Harrisburg, Pa./Central Dauphin) threw two-thirds of an inning and allowed two unearned runs on one hit with two walks and one strikeout, while senior Phil Futrick (Shillington, Pa./Governor Mifflin) faced one batter and recorded the final out of the eighth.
Starter Jared Prince pitched seven innings and allowed one unearned run on five hits with no walks and five strikeouts to record the victory (3-0) for Washington State. Matt Way relieved him and retired six-straight Bison batters in the eighth and ninth.
Grandizio led the Bucknell hitters, going 2-for-3 at the plate with a double and a run scored. Gryskevicz was 2-for-4 in the contest and senior Matt Capece (Bowie, Md./DeMatha Catholic) added the fifth hit for the Orange and Blue. Jeff Miller paced the Cougar bats, going 2-for-3 with two RBI while Coulter hit 2-for-4 with two runs scored.
The Bison return to action tomorrow, March 14, when the team will face Patriot League foe Lafayette in a non-League game as a part of the Pepsi/Johnny Quik Classic beginning at 2 p.m. EST.
