Bucknell University
Army
Bucknell Baseball Earns Postseason Berth with 1-0 Shutout of Army in Game One of Doubleheader
5/2/2010 8:00:00 AM | Baseball
May 2, 2010
WEST POINT, N.Y. - The Bucknell baseball team needed just one win during Sunday's doubleheader at Army to qualify for its third consecutive Patriot League Tournament. The Bison got the win thanks to a third consecutive outstanding outing by pitcher Dylan Seeley in game one. Seeley pitched his second shutout in his last three starts and a fourth-inning solo home run by Doug Shribman was all the offense Bucknell needed as it posted a 1-0 victory over the first-place Black Knights.
Army (27-14, 16-4 PL) broke a 2-2 tie in the seventh inning of game two as David Darnell scored on a wild pitch. The Bison threatened in the eighth inning with three straight singles, but Andrew Brouse was thrown out at home trying to score the tying run on a single by Drew Constable.
Thanks to its win in game one, Bucknell (21-31, 8-12 PL) will be the fourth seed in the upcoming Patriot League Tournament and will face top-seeded Army in the best-of-three first round May 15-16 back at West Point. Lehigh (22-25, 12-8 PL) and Holy Cross (23-22, 10-10 PL) will meet in the other semifinal series. The championship series is slated for May 22-23 at the home field of the highest remaining seed.
Seeley, who has now allowed just one run in his last three starts, a span of 21.0 innings, pitched the 21st two-hitter in program history as he yielded a pair of first-inning singles and then allowed just one more baserunner the rest of the seven-inning contest, and that was on an error with two outs in the top of the seventh.
Seeley, who picked up his team-high fifth win of the year, retired 18 in a row before the final-inning error. He now has a 0.43 ERA, two shutouts, allowed 14 hits and struck out 10 over his last three starts, all wins over Patriot League opponents. Two of those victories were 1-0 affairs as Bucknell has scored just 10 runs over his last three starts.
Shribman provided the lone run Seeley would need with a leadoff home run in the fourth inning. It was his 13th of the year, putting him one shy of the single-season record currently shared by teammate Brouse and Frank Fresconi.
Bucknell recorded just five other hits off Army starter Matt Fouch (6-2), who, like Seeley, pitched a complete game. He struck out four and walked two. The Bison did load the bases in the third and had two runners on in the sixth and seventh innings, but could not push additional runs across.
Ben Allen and B.J. LaRosa both posted two hits in game one.
Brouse was 3-for-4 in game two and Bucknell registered nine hits, including three singles in the first inning when it scored its first run. However, three Army pitchers limited the Bison to just an unearned run in the sixth the rest of the way.
Bucknell had at least two baserunners in four of the final eight innings, but three inning-ending double plays halted the rallies.
Jack Boehm started game two on the mound for the Bison and held Army to four hits in 4.2 innings. Daniel Hart replaced him with runners on first and second and two outs in the fifth. After walking the first hitter he faced to load the bases he proceeded to retire the next four hitters he faced, three via the strikeout.
Alex Cillo (0-3) took over for Hart in the seventh and got two of the first three hitters in the inning to ground out to third. However, a balk moved Darnell to third and he proceeded to score what proved to be the winning run on a wild pitch.
The Black Knights managed just five hits in game two, giving them a doubleheader tally of just seven against six Bucknell pitchers.
Bucknell will make the trip back to West Point in less than two weeks for the first round Patriot League Tournament series. The last time the fourth-seeded Bison played the top-seeded Black Knights in the tournament was 2008. Bucknell won the series, and went on to capture the Patriot League title and advance to the NCAA Tournament, where it upset nationally ranked Florida State.
