Bucknell University
Holy Cross
Bucknell Baseball Sweeps Holy Cross for Record-Tying Fifth Patriot League Title!
5/22/2010 8:00:00 AM | Baseball
May 22, 2010
WORCESTER, Mass. - Late-inning heroics by Bob Donato and Doug Shribman propelled the Bucknell baseball team to a sweep of Holy Cross on Saturday at Fitton Field to claim its fifth Patriot League title, and second in three years. The Bison won game one 4-3 on an eighth-inning, run-scoring double by Donato, while Shribman's three-run home run in the seventh inning of game two gave Bucknell a 9-7 advantage en route to a 12-7 victory.
Bucknell (25-33), which won the Patriot League title for the second time in three years as the fourth seed, needed to sweep third-seeded Holy Cross (26-26) in Saturday's doubleheader and it did so, hitting five home runs on the day. The Bison tied Army and Navy for the most titles in the history of the Patriot League.
Shribman, who finished the six-game Patriot League Tournament with seven home runs and 16 RBIs, was named tournament MVP. He hit three more home runs on Saturday, including a pair of three-run shots in game two. Andrew Brouse, Ben Yoder and Ryan Ebner, who picked up both wins on Saturday, were also named to the All-Tournament Team.
Ebner, who entered the postseason without a win on the season, captured three of Bucknell's four tournament wins in relief, including both on Saturday. On Saturday he pitched a total of 7.2 innings of shutout relief and allowed just three hits. He fired the final five innings of game two and yielded just one hit, a leadoff double in the seventh that was later retired on a double play.
The clinching game two was a back-and-forth affair as Bucknell took an early 3-0 lead on Shribman's first-inning home run. Holy Cross answered in the second when Steve Tkowski hit a three-run home run of his own to tie the game.
Eric Oxford then led off the fourth inning with a home run and a two-run double by Jack Laurendeau gave the Crusaders a 6-3 lead.
Bucknell came back to tie the game in the fifth with three more runs, the tying one coming on a solo home run by Brouse, who extended his Bucknell and Patriot League career home run record to 30.
The Bison were forced to come back again as a leadoff home run in the bottom of the fifth by Matt Perry staked the Crusaders to a 7-6 lead. That was the final run for Holy Cross as Ebner entered the game one hitter after Perry after pitching 2.2 innings in game one.
Bucknell took the lead for good in the seventh on Shribman's three-run homer to center. B.J. LaRosa led off with a walk and Yoder followed with a single. Brouse then sacrifice bunted them over. Holy Cross had a chance to pitch around Shribman with first base open, but brought in reliever Ryan George, who worked the count to 0-and-2. One pitch later Shribman's homer sailed over the wall, giving the Bison a 9-7 advantage.
Bucknell tacked on three more insurance runs in the top of the ninth and Holy Cross did not threaten in the bottom half of the inning.
The Crusaders were plagued by four errors that led to five unearned runs in game two. They were forced to use five pitchers, including Friday night's game one starter Nate Koneski.
Jack Boehm started the game on the mound for the Bison and lasted one out into the fourth inning. He yielded six hits and six runs before exiting in favor of Daniel Hart.
Shribman, who was the only Bison to go hitless in Friday's 8-7 loss, bounced back with a 2-for-5 performance with six RBIs in game two. Bucknell finished with nine hits, giving it a Patriot League Tournament record 77 in its six postseason games.
Game one featured a pair of impressive pitching performances from starters Trey Frahler and Matt Shapiro. Frahler limited Holy Cross to seven hits and two runs in 5.2 innings. He left the game with a 3-2 lead and a pair of runners on base. Hart induced a ground out to get out of the inning and preserve the lead.
Shapiro pitched 4.2 innings and scattered seven hits. George pitched the final 3.1 innings and was very effective outside of Donato's double. In fact, Donato's go-ahead double was one of just two hits he yielded.
Bucknell's first three runs came on solo home runs as David Duffett posted his first career multi-homer game and Shribman hit one as well.
Holy Cross tied the score in the bottom of the seventh on three singles. Ebner allowed an RBI single to Perry, who was the first hitter he faced, but then retired the final eight hitters.
Donato, who was 3-for-3 in the seventh inning or later in the first two games of the series, drove in what proved to be the winning run with a double off the center field wall, scoring Drew Constable from first. He had previously hit a two-run shot that started a ninth-inning comeback in Friday's game one loss.
The Bison finished the Patriot League Tournament with 17 home runs and now have a program and Patriot League-record 72 this year.
The baseball team is the ninth conference champion for Bucknell this year, following women's indoor and outdoor track & field, men's outdoor track & field, women's cross country, softball, men's soccer, women's rowing and women's water polo.
Bucknell, which earned the Patriot League's automatic berth to the NCAA Tournament, will now await the NCAA selection show, which will take place Monday, May 31, at 12:30 p.m. on ESPN. The Bison defeated Florida State in their last trip to the NCAA Tournament in 2008. This will be Bucknell's fifth trip to the NCAA Tournament, having also qualified in 1996, 2001, 2003 and 2008.
