Bucknell University Athletics
Bucknell University
Lafayette
Bucknell Baseball Splits with Lafayette, Will Face Leopards in Deciding Game Sunday
5/9/2009 8:00:00 AM | Baseball
LEWISBURG, Pa. - Ben Allen (Port Royal, Pa./Juniata) was 3-for-5 and Daniel Hart (Levittown, N.Y./Island Trees) pitched three innings of shutout relief as the Bucknell baseball team took game one of a best-of-three Patriot League Tournament semifinal series Saturday afternoon at a breezy Depew Field. The Leopards then claimed game two 20-9 despite the Bison cutting a 9-0 deficit to 10-9 at one point. The 20 runs scored tied a Patriot League Tournament record originally set by Bucknell in 2003.
Bucknell (22-24), the top seed in the four-team field, and fourth-seeded Lafayette (23-27) will now square off in a deciding third game Sunday at noon at Depew Field. The winner will advance to next weekend's Patriot League championship series against either Army or Holy Cross, which split a doubleheader Saturday at West Point and will play a deciding third game Sunday as well.
Allen was 5-for-10 in the doubleheader as he extended his hitting streak to 15 games. Doug Shribman (Marblehead, Mass./Belmont Hill School), who homered in game one and had two hits in game two, extended his hitting streak to 17 games, the longest by a Bison this year.
Lafayette jumped out to 2-0 leads in both ends of the doubleheader, but each time the Bison battled back.
In game one, Matt Hall singled home two runs in the second off Bucknell starter Trey Frahler (6-4) (Northfield, Ill./New Trier), but the Bison tied the score in the bottom of the third on a sacrifice fly by Dane Grandizio (Bloomsburg, Pa./Bloomsburg) and a two-out double steal with Allen on first and Bret Sokirka (Wyoming, Pa./Wyoming Area) scoring from third. The throw by catcher A.J. Miller went to second and the return throw home was late as Sokirka slid under Miller's tag.
Bucknell capitalized on a leadoff walk in the fourth to take the lead for the first time. Shribman led off with a walk and scored on the second of two B.J. LaRosa (Jacksonville, Fla./Episcopal) doubles in the game.
After Lafayette scored the tying run in the fifth, Bucknell extended its cushion to two when Shribman singled to left, knocking in Grandizio and Ben Yoder (Belleville, Pa./Indian Valley), who had each been hit by a pitch. In fact, the Bison had three batters get hit by a pitch in the frame.
Bucknell managed just two more hits the rest of the way as Ryan Hanna relieved starter Zach Fritz (2-5) one out into the fifth.
Lafayette cut the score to 5-4 in the seventh when Daniel Bierce led off with a single off Frahler and Jeff Butler drove him home with a double down the left field line. Hart then relieved Frahler and limited the Leopards to three hits and one walk over the final three frames as he earned his first career save.
Frahler earned his sixth win of the year as he scattered 10 hits in six-plus innings. He struck out six and walked three and took over the team ERA lead (4.34).
Bucknell won game one despite recording just eight hits. Allen (3), Shribman (2) and LaRosa (2) accounted for seven of those. Lafayette pounded out 13 hits with the first four hitters in its lineup picking up two apiece.
The Leopards jumped out to an early 9-0 lead in game two with four runs in the first and five more in the third. First Team All-Patriot League selection Chris Yamaguchi (Lincroft, N.J./Middletown South) had an off day as he was tagged with eight earned runs in 2.2 innings. He was followed by six relievers who combined to walk nine, throw four wild pitches and hit two batters.
Jimmy Murphy (Syosset, N.Y./Syosset) was the most effective of the relievers, yielding four hits and two earned runs in three-plus innings.
Lafayette batted around three times in game two, including in the seventh inning when it sent 14 hitters to the plate. There was one stretch in that inning where eight out of nine hitters either walked or were hit by a pitch. Five of those walks or hit by pitches came with the bases loaded. The Leopards totaled nine runs on just three hits in the frame as they fell one run shy of equaling the Patriot League Tournament record for runs in an inning. A total of four Bison pitchers were used in the inning.
The seventh inning was a heartbreaker for Bucknell, which had whittled away at the nine-run deficit with two runs in the fourth, four in the fifth and three more in the top of the seventh, making it 10-9.
Yoder registered a team-high three hits (all singles) and drove in a run in game two, while Allen, Grandizio, Shribman and Drew Constable (West Chester, Pa./Henderson) each had two hits. However, the bottom third of the Bucknell order was 0-for-10.
While Bucknell used seven pitchers in the contest, Lafayette was forced to utilize five. Jeremy Atkins (4-3) picked up the win, obtaining the final two outs in the seventh and allowing just one runner to reach on an error in the eighth.
Lafayette pounded out 18 hits with eight of the nine starters recording multiple-hit outings. Additionally, eight of the nine starters scored at least two runs. Justin Shepherd was 1-for-2 with a team-best four runs batted in as each starter drove in at least one run.
Sunday's Bucknell-Lafayette game will be broadcast live on WVBU 90.5 FM in the Lewisburg area and on SportsJuice.com. First pitch is slated for 12 p.m. With a win, the Bison will advance to the Patriot League championship series for the second consecutive year.
