Bucknell University Athletics
Bucknell University
Connecticut
Brouse's Three-Run Double in Ninth Gives Bucknell Baseball Dramatic 11-10 Victory Over UConn
3/14/2009 8:00:00 AM | Baseball
March 14, 2009
LAKELAND, Fla. - Andrew Brouse (Kreamer, Pa./Midd-West) lofted a three-run bases-clearing double down the left field line in the bottom of the ninth inning, lifting the Bucknell baseball team to a dramatic 11-10 comeback victory against Connecticut Saturday evening at Henley Field. Hunter George (Ross, Calif./The Branson School) slid in under the catcher's tag with the winning run as the Bison completed their Spring Break trip with a 5-2 mark. Bucknell scored four runs in the bottom of the ninth, overcoming a 10-7 deficit. All four runs scored with two outs.
Doug Shribman (Marblehead, Mass./Belmont Hill) led off the ninth inning for the Bison with a single, snapping a streak of 12 consecutive hitters retired by the Huskies bullpen. After a pair of strikeouts by pinch hitters, a walk by Ben Allen (Port Royal, Pa./Juniata) got the rally going. A grounder to short by Dane Grandizio (Bloomsburg, Pa./Bloomsburg) was booted, loading the bases for Ben Yoder (Belleville, Pa./Indian Valley), who hit two home runs earlier in the game. Representing the winning run, Yoder was hit by a pitch, making the score 10-8.
Yoder was lifted from the game in favor of George, and Brouse, the team's leading RBI man with 18 entering the game, came to the plate. On the second pitch he extended his hitting streak to eight games with the game-winning double. He now has 21 RBIs, one more than his total from all of last year, and leads the team in hitting with a .368 average.
The Bison jumped out to an early 7-2 lead in the contest, but relinquished that when Connecticut tallied three runs in the sixth and five more in the seventh against three Bucknell relievers.
With his two home runs, Yoder tied the Bison single-game record that last occurred last March when John Avanzino accomplished the feat. Yoder's first home run was a three-run shot to left in the third, while his second was a high-arching two-run shot that hit off the right field foul pole and staked the Bison to a 7-2 advantage in the fifth. Yoder was 2-for-4 with two runs scored and a career-high six RBIs, just two shy of the program record of eight.
Grandizio also had a solid day at the plate with a 3-for-5 showing, three runs scored and a pair of RBIs. He knocked in Allen with a double down the left field line in the four-run third and singled home Allen from second in the fifth.
Following Yoder's second home run, Uconn turned to its bullpen and four pitchers combined to retire 12 consecutive hitters until Shribman's single in the ninth off David Erickson (), who earned the loss.
Bucknell used six pitchers in the game. Eric Jarrett (Jersey Shore, Pa./Jersey Shore) started and reached his pitch count after five innings. The sophomore allowed just four hits and two runs, one of which was earned, and struck out three, but walked five. Overall, the Bison pitching staff issued 10 walks. Cal Tracy (Petoskey, Mich./Petoskey) earned his first career win by pitching the ninth and allowing just one walk. After a rocky seventh inning where the Huskies sent 11 men to the plate, drew four walks and tallied four hits against three different pitchers, Tracy and Jimmy Murphy (Syosset, N.Y./Syosset) faced just seven hitters in the eighth and ninth frames. Murphy retired the side in order in the eighth.
Bucknell, which hit .333 during its seven games in Florida, recorded 10 hits in the contest, including eight in the first five innings. UConn registered 11 hits with seven of them coming in the sixth and seventh innings when it scored eight of its 10 runs.
The Huskies' ninth-place hitter, Nick Ahmed, was 3-for-4, while Matt Burnett was 2-for-2 with one run scored and four RBIs. He hit a three-run home run to left in the sixth, making the score 7-5. Shortstop Mike Olt also hit a home run for UConn.
Bucknell will return to Lewisburg on Sunday. It will next be in action this Wednesday, March 18, at Mount St. Mary's. First pitch is slated for 3:30 p.m.
