Bucknell University Athletics
Bucknell University
Navy
Bucknell Baseball Splits Doubleheader at Navy
4/18/2009 8:00:00 AM | Baseball
April 18, 2009
ANNAPOLIS, Md. - The Bucknell baseball team scored eight runs in both ends of a doubleheader at Navy on Saturday, but was only able to come away with a split. The Bison opened up the four-game series with an 8-2 win, but the Mids stormed back and won game two 16-8. Ben Allen (Port Royal, Pa./Juniata) was 5-for-9 with three runs batted in in the doubleheader for Bucknell, which remained in a tie for first place in the Patriot League standings with Army and Lafayette at 8-6.
Andrew Brouse (Kreamer, Pa./Midd-West), who had on RBI in each game Saturday to boost his season total to 49, hit a one-out sacrifice fly in the first inning of game one to put the Bison up 1-0.
Two innings later Doug Shribman (Marblehead, Mass./Belmont Hill School) ripped a two-run double down the leftfield line and Drew Constable followed with his first career home run, a two-run shot to right.
The 5-0 lead was all Bucknell (16-20, 8-6 PL) starter Chris Yamaguchi (Lincroft, N.J./Middletown South) would need. The senior allowed just one hit over the first three innings and limited the Mids to single runs in the fourth and fifth innings as he improved to 6-1 on the year. All nine of Navy's hits off Yamaguchi, who hurled his first complete game of the year and lowered his ERA to 3.48, were singles.
The Bison added one more run in the fourth and two in the fifth when B.J. LaRosa (Jacksonville, Fla./Episcopal) and Allen each recorded RBI singles.
Bucknell totaled 15 hits in the first game, and 27 overall in the doubleheader. Allen led the way with three hits in the opener, while Ben Yoder (Belleville, Pa./Indian Valley), Shribman, Constable, Zachary Brown (Stroudsburg, Pa./Notre Dame) and LaRosa registered two apiece. Brouse had one hit in game one and two more in game two to extend his hitting streak to 12 games.
Navy (15-21-1, 7-7 PL) starter Sam Long (3-2) worked one out into the fifth before being lifted in favor of Alec Thomas. Thomas yielded just one hit, a single by Constable, to the Bison over the final 2.2 innings.
Bucknell also started off game two with a run in the first when Yoder singled home Allen, who had drawn a leadoff walk.
Navy's bats then woke up as the Mids scored at least one run in each of the first five innings, including eight in the second, to open a 16-2 advantage just past the midway point of the game.
Bucknell starter Eric Jarrett (1-3) (Jersey Shore, Pa./Jersey Shore) was lifted from the game six hitters into the second inning. He walked four of the first six batters in the frame before Daniel Hart (Levittown, N.Y./Island Trees) replaced him. Hart and Sean Driscoll (Colts Neck, N.J./Christian Brothers Academy) gave up nine runs after Jarrett had been touched for seven.
The Bison's fourth and fifth relievers - Jimmy Murphy (Syosset, N.Y./Syosset) and Andrew Clarke (Montgomery, Texas/Montgomery) - permitted just one hit and no runs over the final 3.1 innings.
Navy's Mike Guadagnini was 2-for-5 with four runs scored and three RBIs, all of which came on a three-run triple in the second. Kendall Bolt added three hits and three RBIs, while Jeff Bland was 2-for-4 and four RBIs, including a two-run double in the third.
Bucknell added three runs in the seventh and three more in the eighth to cut the final deficit to eight runs. The bottom third of the Bison lineup was paramount in both rallies as Russell Seidell (Granville, Ohio/Granville), Kevin Drozin (Concord, Ohio/Notre Dame Latin) and Hunter George (Ross, Calif./The Branson School) reached base and scored in both frames. George has singles in both of his at bats after entering the game in the seventh.
Bucknell and Navy will wrap up their four-game series Sunday afternoon with two more games. The first contest will air nationally on CBS College Sports Network beginning at noon.
