Bucknell University Athletics
Bucknell University
Columbia
Bucknell Baseball Comes from Behind to Beat Columbia, 4-2
5/23/2008 8:00:00 AM | Baseball
May 23, 2008
LEWISBURG, Pa. - Senior right-hander Mathew Wilson (Toronto, Ontario/Northern S.S.) set a new career high with his fifth win of the season as the Bucknell baseball team came from behind to beat Columbia, 4-2, on Friday afternoon on Depew Field. The result moved the Bison to 27-22-2 on the season, matching the second-highest win total by the Orange and Blue in program history and trailing only the 1998 and 2001 Bison squads, which hold the school record with 31 victories.
The Lions managed to plate a pair of runs to grab the lead in the top of the first. Jason Banos sent a one-out single to right and, with two down in the frame, Ron Williams drove him in with an RBI double. Williams then went to third on a passed ball and scored on an error.
Bucknell answered back in the bottom half of the inning, cutting its deficit to 2-1. Sophomore Ben Allen (Port Royal, Pa./Juniata) drew a leadoff walk and scored the first run for the Orange and Blue following back-to-back singles by junior Dane Grandizio (Bloomsburg, Pa./Bloomsburg) and senior Mark Angelo (Quakertown, Pa./Quakertown). Angelo's RBI single up the middle marked his team-leading 59th hit of the year, moving him into a tie for 10th on Bucknell's all-time single season list. The Bison threatened for more with runners on the corners and no outs, but a strikeout and a double play ball ended the threat.
After stranding runners in four of the first five innings, Bucknell broke through for three runs on three hits in the sixth. An error sandwiched in between infield hits by senior Austin Turban (Northfield, Ill./New Trier) and senior Ed Rubbo (Stafford, Va./Colonial Forge) loaded the bases. Then a ground ball hit by junior Bret Sokirka (Wyoming, Pa./Wyoming Area) nearly ended the inning, however an errant throw allowed Turban and senior Shawn Hirsch (Morristown, N.J./Morristown) to come around to score. Allen followed up by plating Sokirka with a single through the right side for the fourth Bison run.
Wilson scattered just four hits his final six innings on the hill after allowing two runs, one earned, on two hits in the top of the first and finished with one walk and nine strikeouts in seven innings to log the win (5-1). The senior was stellar in his four starts at home this season, going 4-0 in those outings with a 1.93 ERA and 31 strikeouts (28.0 IP). Bucknell's bullpen did not surrender a hit in the eighth or the ninth, with freshman Trey Frahler (Northfield, Ill./New Trier) finishing things off to earn his second save of the season.
Billy Purdy started and took the loss (4-4) for Columbia. He gave up four runs, one earned, on 10 hits with two walks and four strikeouts in 5.2 innings of work.
Seven Bison combined for the team's 10 base knocks, with Allen (2-for-3), Turban (2-for-4) and Rubbo (2-for-4) all posting multiple-hit performances. Allen, Angelo and Sokirka had one RBI apiece.
Ron Williams was the lone member of the Lions to log more than one hit on the afternoon as he finished 2-for-3 with an RBI and a run scored.
The squads will be back in action again tomorrow, May 24, for game two of the three-game weekend series, which is slated to begin at 1 p.m. on Depew Field.
