Bucknell University
Army
Bucknell Baseball Advances to PL Championship Series with 11-7 Victory at Army
5/16/2010 8:00:00 AM | Baseball
May 16, 2010
WEST POINT, N.Y. - For the second time in three years the fourth-seeded Bucknell baseball team defeated top-seeded Army in a best-of-three Patriot League Tournament semifinal series as the Bison claimed the decisive game three, 11-7, Sunday afternoon at Doubleday Field. Bucknell will now play Holy Cross in a best-of-three series in Worcester, Mass., for the Patriot League title within the next week. Final dates will be announced Monday by the Patriot League.
Bucknell (23-32), which led or was tied at the end of 24 of 27 innings this weekend, led nearly wire-to-wire as it scored a pair of runs in the top of the first and never trailed. The Bison broke open a 3-2 contest with three runs in the fourth inning off reliever Steve Cummings (6-2). Doug Shribman had an RBI single in the frame, while Scott Reed drew a bases-loaded walk to force in a run, his second RBI in a span of two innings.
A Ben Allen home run leading off the fifth extended the Bucknell lead to 7-3. It was the first home run of the season for Allen, who was 2-for-6 and extended his team-best hitting streak to eight games.
Bison starter Jack Boehm kept the Black Knights in check through 4.2 innings. He left in favor of Ryan Ebner with two runners in scoring position and two out in the bottom of the fifth with the score 7-3. Ebner, who pitched 2.1 innings and yielded just two hits and a pair of runs to earn his first win of the year, coaxed a ground out from J.T. Watkins to end the Army threat.
Shribman, who had three home runs during Saturday's doubleheader split, gave Bucknell a commanding 11-3 lead with a one-out grand slam that cleared the center field wall in the seventh. The four home runs are a Patriot League Tournament record, while his 17 round trippers this year are a Bucknell and Patriot League single-season record. He drove in five runs on Sunday, was 3-for-4 and reached base a total of five times in six plate appearances.
Army (28-17) chipped away at the Bison advantage with two runs in the seventh and two more in the ninth, but the eight-run deficit was too much to overcome.
The top five hitters in the Bison lineup produced much of the offense on Sunday. Allen, B.J. LaRosa, Ben Yoder, Andrew Brouse and Shribman were a combined 13-for-24 and they scored all 11 runs. All five players posted multi-hit games with Yoder, Brouse and Shribman collecting three apiece. Overall, the Bison posted 17 hits against five Army hurlers.
Army posted 13 hits against five Bucknell pitchers. Steve Carlin recorded three consecutive outs in the ninth to seal the victory.
