Bucknell University Athletics
Bucknell University
Villanova
Comeback Falls Short as Bucknell Baseball Loses to Villanova, 6-5
3/9/2010 7:00:00 AM | Baseball
March 9, 2010
PLYMOUTH MEETING, Pa. - The Bucknell baseball team overcame an early five-run deficit, but Villanova broke a 5-5 deadlock on a two-out, run-scoring single run by David Koczirka in the bottom of the eighth to defeat the Bison 6-5 Tuesday afternoon at Villanova Stadium. Ben Yoder (Belleville, Pa./Indian Valley) had two hits and Doug Shribman (Marblehead, Mass./Belmont Hill) had a two-run triple in the third to extend their hitting streaks to 10 games for Bucknell.
Villanova (10-2) scored five runs in the first two innings off Bison starter Daniel Hart (Levittown, N.Y./Island Trees), who was making his third career start. The Wildcats wasted no time getting to Hart as Matt Szczur and Justin Bencsko led off the game with back-to-back doubles. Both eventually came around to score.
Szczur posted a one-out infield single in the second, while Bencsko doubled and both scored once again as Villanova record seven hits and drew one walk against Hart. Both Szczur and Bencsko finished 3-for-5 with two runs scored, but they were just 2-for-6 against Bison relievers Alex Cillo (Williamsport, Pa./Loyalsock Township) and Russell Seidell (Granville, Ohio/Granville).
Cillo was effective in his three innings, retiring Villanova in order in the fourth and yielding just one hit overall. Seidell (0-1) worked out of a first-and-third with two out jam in sixth and overcame Ben Allen's (Port Royal, Pa./Juniata) first error to pitch a scoreless seventh.
After facing the early 5-0 deficit, Bucknell (5-6) tallied two runs in the third, two in the fourth and one in the sixth to tie the score. However, Villanova scored what proved to be the winning run in the bottom of the eighth. Tyler Sciacca led off with a single, moved to second on a sacrifice bunt, advanced to third on a wild pitch and eventually scored on Koczirka's two-out infield single.
Villanova put the leadoff hitter on base in six of the eight innings.
Bucknell, which had the leadoff hitter reach just three times, started to chip away at its deficit with Shribman's two-run triple in the third.
A sacrifice fly by Yoder and an RBI single by Drew Constable (West Chester, Pa./Henderson) in the fourth brought the Bison to within 5-4. Constable's single knocked Villanova starter Kevin MacLachlan from the game two outs into the fourth. However, Bucknell was able to muster just three hits the rest of the way against relievers Kevin Crimmel (3-0) and Mike Francisco, who picked up his second save.
Freshman Travis Clark (Foster City, Calif./St. Ignatius) led off the sixth inning with his second hit of the game and later scored on a fielder's choice by Constable, who had a pair of RBIs to bring his season total to seven. The Bison ended up having the bases loaded with Shribman at the plate, but the .350 hitter struck out to end the inning.
After a pair of 1-2-3 innings, Constable led off the ninth with his second single. He later advanced to second base on a wild pitch, but Francisco coaxed three Bucknell hitters to ground out, strike out and fly out to end the game.
Yoder's two hits marked his sixth multi-hit game of the season, while Clark's two hits were the same number he had over the season's first 10 games. Overall, the Bison finished with eight hits, six from Yoder, Clark and Constable.
Catcher B.J. LaRosa (Jacksonville, Fla./Episcopal), who entered the game hitting .526 and with a nine-game hitting streak, did not play for the Bison.
Bucknell will now be idle until it begins its Spring Break trip to Florida on Sunday against UMBC. That contest will take place at Chain of Lakes Stadium in Winter Haven, Fla., at 5 p.m.
