Bucknell Baseball Extends Winning Streak to Three with 11-6 Victory Over Yale

Tuesday, March 16

Auburndale, Fla.

11:00 AM

Bucknell University

Yale

Bucknell Baseball Eliminated from Patriot League Tournament by Lafayette, 10-2

Bucknell Baseball Extends Winning Streak to Three with 11-6 Victory Over Yale

3/16/2010 8:00:00 AM | Baseball

By: TBD

March 16, 2010

Box Score

AUBURNDALE, Fla. - Thanks to three hits apiece by Ben Allen (Port Royal, Pa./Juniata), Ben Yoder (Belleville, Pa./Indian Valley) and B.J. LaRosa (Jacksonville, Fla./Episcopal), the Bucknell baseball team extended its winning streak to three games with an 11-6 win against Yale Tuesday afternoon at Lake Myrtle Field. The Bison have outscored their first three opponents on their trip to Florida by a combined 48-17 margin.

Allen, Yoder and LaRosa comprised the top third of the Bucknell (8-6) lineup and they combined to go 9-for-13 with five runs scored and four RBIs in the contest. Overall, seven of the nine Bison starters contributed to the team's 15 hits. Andrew Brouse (Kreamer, Pa./Midd-West), who reached base four times on hit by pitches and walks, and David Duffett (Pittsburgh, Pa./North Allegheny), who had a bases-loaded sacrifice fly in the eighth inning, were still productive despite not recording a hit.

Jack Boehm (Winnetka, Ill./New Trier) overcame a shaky first inning where the Bulldogs' first four hitters singled and three of them came around to score, to pitch an effective four-plus innings. He yielded three hits and one run over the next three innings before being lifted in favor of Andrew Clarke (Montgomery, Texas/Montgomery) after Trygg Larsson-Danforth homered and Ryan Brenner followed with a single to start the fifth. Danforth's home run tied the score at 5-5. Clarke (1-0) proceeded to get two ground balls, one of which was a double play, to get out of the inning without more damage occurring.

Clarke was solid in his 3.1 innings, allowing just one hit and striking out four. His team-leading ERA is now a microscopic 0.75.

Bucknell did not let Yale's early lead stand for long as it answered with two runs in the bottom of the first. It marked the ninth time in 14 games the Bison have scored in the first inning. Both runs came on a Drew Constable (West Chester, Pa./Henderson) RBI single up the middle as Allen scored on the single, and then Brouse, who was on first, scored when center fielder Zach Tobolowsky booted the ball when he tried to pick it up in the outfield.

The Bison, who scored in six of their eight at bats, tacked on two more runs in the third on a deep home run to right center by Yoder. It marked the second straight game with a home run by Yoder, who left the game in the sixth with a leg injury just a triple shy of the cycle. Yoder, who like first baseman Doug Shribman (Marblehead, Mass./Belmont Hill) extended his hitting streak to 13 games, now leads the team with four home runs and 19 RBIs. Eleven of his 12 career homers have come in the last two seasons.

Yoder's home run gave Bucknell its first lead at 4-3, but Yale (6-3-1) came back and tied it with a run in the fourth off Boehm as singles by Andrew Kolmar and Gant Elmore were separated by a sacrifice bunt.

The Bison retook the lead in the fourth when Allen, Yoder and LaRosa had back-to-back-to-back two-out singles with LaRosa driving in Allen with the go-ahead run.

Danforth tied the score with his fifth-inning leadoff homer, but that was the last time the Bulldogs would be tied or have the lead as a sixth-inning leadoff home run by Bob Donato (Williamsport, Pa./Williamsport), his second in as many days, staked the Bison to a 6-5 advantage. They tacked on two more in the seventh on productive outs by Duffett and Allen.

Gerald Runyan (Milton, Pa./Milton) stole home on a first-and-third double steal in the eighth and Matt Lamore (Mountaintop, Pa./Crestwood) registered a sac fly, while Donato drove in his second run with a single just past the first baseman to extend the Bison lead to 11-5 heading into the final inning.

Steve Carlin (Edmond, Okla./Edmond Memorial), who earned his second save by pitching the final 1.2 innings, struck out the side in the ninth to end the game. Yale did score once, mainly due to the Bison defense not holding on pinch runner Matt Schmidt after a one-out single by Trey Rallis.

Yale utilized six pitchers in the game, although the Bison did most of their damage against starter Joe Castaldi (0-2), who lasted 5.2 innings and yielded 10 hits and six runs, five earned.

Yoder, who also homered in Monday's win over North Dakota State, has now hit a home run in back-to-back games for the second time this season. He also has at least one extra-base hit in 10 consecutive contests.

Yale's loss snapped its two-game winning streak, which included wins over Patriot League preseason favorite Army and Big Ten member Indiana the last two days.

In its first three games of its seven-game Florida trip, Bucknell is hitting .402 as a team with seven home runs. Opponents are hitting .313 with one home run.

Thanks to his 3-for-4 performance in the third spot in the batting order, LaRosa extended his hitting streak to all 12 games he has played this season. He has 10 multi-hit games and is now hitting .529 (27-for-51) on the year.

Bucknell will continue its Spring Break trip Wednesday at 3 p.m. against Dartmouth. All four of the Bison's remaining games on the trip will take place at Chain of Lakes Stadium in Winter Haven, Fla.