Bucknell University Athletics
Bucknell University
St. Bonaventure
Bucknell Baseball Concludes Non-League Slate with Two Losses to St. Bonaventure, 6-3 & 12-2
4/22/2009 8:00:00 AM | Baseball
April 22, 2009
LEWISBURG, Pa. - Andrew Brouse (Kreamer, Pa./Midd-West), Doug Shribman (Marblehead, Mass./Belmont Hill School) and Ben Allen (Port Royal, Pa./Juniata) all extended their long hitting streaks, but the Bucknell baseball team was swept by St. Bonaventure in its final non-league games of the season Wednesday afternoon at a chilly Depew Field. The Bison lost game one 6-3 as the Bonnies plated three runs in the final two innings of the seven-inning affair to break a 3-3 tie. In game two, which was also seven innings, just two regulars were in the starting lineup for Bucknell, which lost 12-2.
Brouse was 2-for-2 with a triple and an RBI single in game one to extend his career-best hitting streak to 15 games. Shribman also extended his hitting streak to 11 games with an RBI double in the fourth inning of game one, while Allen, who made one plate appearance in game two before being lifted, had one single in each end of the doubleheader as his hitting streak reached nine.
Bucknell (18-22) used 11 pitchers in the two games Wednesday, compared to St. Bonaventure's (18-15) four.
Kyle Gorby was a combined 5-for-9 with seven runs batted in and two runs scored to lead the Bonnies' offense. He smashed a two-out, three-run home run down the left field line in the third inning of game one that staked St. Bonaventure to a 3-0 lead.
After struggling offensively over the first three innings, Bucknell chipped away at its 3-0 deficit with two runs in the fourth and one in the fifth. Bob Donato (Williamsport, Pa./Williamsport Area) and Brouse sandwiched triples around a Ben Yoder (Belleville, Pa./Indian Valley) sacrifice fly. Shribman then followed Brouse's triple with a double to left to make the score 3-2.
The Bison tied the score the next inning when Allen led off with a single, moved to second on a sacrifice bunt and then scored on a two-out single to left by Brouse. That hit by Brouse was the final one for Bucknell in the game as St. Bonaventure starter Dennis Sherba (4-1) retired the final seven hitters he faced to register his first complete game of the season. Five of the six hits the Bison managed off Sherba came in the fourth and fifth innings.
Bucknell starter Russell Seidell (Granville, Ohio/Granville) pitched the first three innings. He worked out of a bases-loaded jam in the second, but then yielded Gorby's three-run shot in the third. Jimmy Murphy (Syosset, N.Y./Syosset) replaced him and scattered three hits and two walks over his two innings of work. He did not allow a run, but was helped by a pair of caught stealings in the fourth.
Normally a weekend starting pitcher, Eric Jarrett (Jersey Shore, Pa./Jersey Shore Area) was on the mound in the sixth and struggled after easily retiring the first two hitters he faced on a strikeout and a groundout to first. Jarrett (1-4) gave up a two-out walk to Ryan Mosher to get things started. Jesse Bosnik followed with an infield single. Both runners moved up when a pickoff attempt at second base sailed into center field. Mosher then scored the go-ahead run on a wild pitch.
St. Bonaventure added a pair of insurance runs in the seventh as it took advantage of a pair of one-out walks by Alex Cillo (Williamsport, Pa./Loyalsock Township). Both walks came around to score, the first on an RBI single by Michael Grieco, and the second on a wild pitch by Cillo.
The top five hitters in the Bison lineup recorded all six hits in game one, while Bosnick, who was 5-for-8 in the doubleheader, led the Bonnies with three.
In game two, Bucknell used its final non-league game as a chance to give some of its younger players an opportunity to play. Seven of the nine starters are generally backups and three pitchers even got a chance to hit in the nine hole, with Murphy registering his first career hit and scoring his first career run.
On the mound, the Bison used seven different pitchers. St. Bonaventure scored at least one run off each hurler except Daniel Hart (Levittown, N.Y./Island Trees), who worked a scoreless fourth frame despite allowing runners to reach second and third with one out.
The Bonnies capitalized on some sloppy play from Bucknell to jump out to a 7-0 lead after just two at bats. They plated two runs in the first off starter Ryan Ebner (0-1) (Reading, Pa./The Hill School) thanks in large part to two walks and a wild pitch on a third strike.
In the second, nine hitters stepped to the plate with the first four reaching via three walks and an error against Andrew Clarke (Montgomery, Texas/Montgomery). Michael Dallanegra (Shoreham, N.Y./Shoreham-Wading River) did come in and retired three of the final five hitters in the inning, but not before Gorby had a three-run double down the left field line and Mosher singled him home for his second RBI of the game.
St. Bonaventure added two more runs in the fifth and sixth innings and one more in the seventh as the closest Bucknell drew was 7-2.
An RBI single by Dane Grandizio (Bloomsburg, Pa./Bloomsburg) in the second and an RBI double by Gerald Runyan (Milton, Pa./Milton), who knocked in his first career run, in the third was all the offense the Bison could manage, although they did leave the bases loaded in the seventh.
Jordan Crane (1-0) earned the win in game two for his 2.1 innings of one-hit pitching. He came on for starter Aron Meindl two outs into the fourth with runners on first and second and proceeded to strike out Seidell, who played first base in the nightcap.
Bucknell, which is tied for first place with Army in the league standings, will return to Patriot League play this weekend with a four-game series at Lehigh. Doubleheaders both Saturday and Sunday will begin at 12 p.m.
