Bucknell University Athletics
Bucknell University
Lehigh (PL Championship)
Bucknell Baseball Drops Game One of the Patriot League Championship, 14-2, to Lehigh
5/13/2006 8:00:00 AM | Baseball
May 13, 2006
BETHLEHEM, Pa. - After advancing to the Patriot League Championship with a thrilling comeback against Lafayette, the Bucknell baseball team dropped the opening game of its best-of-three series with Lehigh by a 14-2 margin. With the loss, the Bison are now 24-23 overall while the Mountain Hawks improve to 26-25.
After one inning, Bucknell trailed 1-0 on an RBI double by Matt McBride that scored Joe Ercolano who reached with a leadoff walk. The contest was then suspended for an hour and 15 minutes due to lightening and rain in the area.
Once play resumed, the Bison were able to take a 2-1 lead in the top of the second. Junior Ryan Gryskevicz (Dallas, Pa./Dallas) led off with double down the left field line and came home on an RBI single by sophomore Jason Buursma (Seattle, Wash./Lakeside School). Hirsch then drove Buursma in with a single down the right field line to put the Orange and Blue out in front.
However in the bottom half of the inning, Lehigh took one of the runs back and proceeded to score four more the following frame and went on to score in every inning but the fourth, totaling 17 hits in the contest.
Senior Jacob Moss (Fresno, Calif./San Joaquin Memorial) started and suffered the setback (4-3) for Bucknell. He allowed six runs on seven hits with four walks and no strikeouts over 2.2 innings. Kyle Collina earned the victory (6-5) for the Mountain Hawks, scattering two runs and three hits over eight innings with two walks and nine strikeouts.
Gryskevicz was the lone Bison to finish the contest with multiple hits as he was 2-for-4 at the plate with a run scored. Buursma, Hirsch and sophomore Chris Pieper (Port Washington, N.Y./Schreiber) were the only other members of the Bucknell squad to register hits against Lehigh.
The teams will return to action tomorrow, Sunday, May 14, when the Bison and Mountain Hawks will square off in game two of the Patriot League Championship at 11:00 a.m. in Bethlehem, Pa., and will play game three immediately following, if necessary.
