Bucknell University
Holy Cross
Bucknell Baseball Swept by Holy Cross, 7-2 & 16-2
4/11/2010 8:00:00 AM | Baseball
April 11, 2010
LEWISBURG, Pa. - Holy Cross starting pitchers Matt Shapiro and Chris Blanchard limited the Bucknell baseball team to just eight hits and three runs in a combined 10 innings of work in Sunday's doubleheader sweep of the Bison at Depew Field. Bucknell lost game one 7-2 as its offense produced just three hits against Shapiro and a pair of relievers. The Bison struggled in game two as eight pitchers combined to walk 11 Holy Cross hitters in a 16-2 loss.
Bucknell (13-22, 3-5 Patriot League) went 1-3 during the home weekend series against Holy Cross (14-13, 4-4 PL). After winning Saturday's opener 4-3, the Bison lost the final three games and are now tied for fourth place in the Patriot League standings with Navy. The top four teams in the league make the postseason tournament.
Bucknell's offense struggled all day as a pair of singles by Ben Yoder and a first-inning single by B.J. LaRosa were all the hits it could manage in game one. The Bison's two runs came without the aid of a hit as Ben Allen scampered home on a passed ball in the first inning and LaRosa drove home David Duffett with a fifth-inning sacrifice fly.
Bucknell plated just two runs in game one despite seven walks and one hit by pitch by the Holy Cross pitching staff.
Shapiro (2-1) last two outs into the fifth inning and yielded just two hits and two earned runs. The Bison collected just a seventh-inning, one-out single by Yoder off relievers Josh Hauser and John Pedrotty.
Matt Perry, who had two hits in both ends of the doubleheader and drove in seven total runs, including five in game two, put Holy Cross on top for good with a two-run double in the third inning off Bucknell starter Steve Carlin (1-2). Carlin pitched effectively, but three walks and three hit by pitches hurt him.
The Crusaders led 3-1 entering the fifth inning and Carlin easily retired the first two hitters, but then the next four reached, three on singles and one on a hit by pitch. A two-run single by Stephen Wadsworth knocked Carlin from the game in favor of Ryan Ebner. Ebner walked the first hitter he faced and then Brendan McCrea singled home two more runs, but Ebner settled down and retired seven of the final eight hitters he faced to close the game. However, the damage had been done as the Crusaders' four-run fifth inning made the score 7-1.
Perry, Wadsworth and McCrea each drove in a pair of runs in game one.
In game two, it took Bucknell until the ninth inning to finally retire a leadoff hitter and Holy Cross totaled 14 hits and capitalized on 11 walks and two hit by pitches to score 16 runs. The Crusaders plated at least one run in six of the first eight innings.
Eight Bison pitchers saw action in game two and all but two yielded at least one run. Starter Jack Boehm (3-2) picked up the loss as he was touched for six hits and four runs in 2.0 innings of work. All 11 walks came from the seven relievers that backed up Boehm.
Perry paced the Holy Cross offense with five RBIs, while Nick Ciardiello and John Sills each had three hits and scored three runs. In fact, the 2-3-4 hitters in the Crusader lineup, which included Ciardiello, Sills and Eric Oxford, scored nine runs. Eight of the nine starters drove in at least one run, while seven of the nine recorded at least one hit.
Blanchard (2-1) had a solid start for Holy Cross, lasting one out into the sixth. Bucknell managed just six hits and one run off Blanchard, but the Crusader bullpen was even stronger as John Colella, Bobby Holmes and Vaughn Hayward allowed just two hits and one walk in 3.2 innings of work.
Bucknell scored its first run in the bottom of the first inning on a double steal. Andrew Brouse, who had been hit by a pitch, was picked off of first base. He took off for second and beat the throw from first baseman Oxford. At the same time Ben Yoder, who had been on third after a one-out double followed by a groundout, raced home to make the score 2-1.
The Bison's other run came in the eighth inning thanks to an error by center fielder Chris Guerin. Brouse led off the inning with a double to left-center and advanced to third when Guerin could not pick up the ball cleanly. A groundout by Drew Constable plated Brouse, making the score 16-2.
Bucknell, which plays 10 of its next 13 games at home, will be on the road this Wednesday, April 14, when it travels to Towson to play the Tigers in a single game at 3 p.m.
