Bucknell University
North Dakota State
Four-Run Eighth Inning Lifts North Dakota State to 5-3 Win Over Bucknell Baseball
3/15/2011 8:00:00 AM | Baseball
March 15, 2011
AUBURNDALE, Fla. - The Bucknell Bison pitching staff allowed just one run through the first seven innings, but the North Dakota State Bison plated four runs in the eighth inning to break a 1-1 tie en route to a 5-3 victory over Bucknell Tuesday at Lake Myrtle Field. The loss snapped a three-game winning streak for Bucknell, which fell to 6-8 on the season.
North Dakota State (1-13) capitalized on two errors, a hit by pitch and a wild pitch to score the go-ahead runs in the top of the eighth inning. Two of the runs were unearned and Bucknell used three pitchers in the frame. A total of six North Dakota State hitters reached base after Bucknell allowed only four baserunners from the second through seventh innings.
The big blow in the four-run eighth was a two-run single by Blake Turbak off Alex Cillo (Williamsport, Pa./Loyalsock Township). North Dakota State also scored on a wild pitch and on a ground out by Max Casper.
Facing a 5-1 deficit entering the bottom of the eighth, Bucknell was able to get two of the runs back. Travis Clark (Foster City, Calif./St. Ignatius) got things started with a one-out single to left. He stole second and then scored on a single by pinch hitter Gerry Runyan (Milton, Pa./Milton Area). Two hitters later freshman catcher Justin Meier (Clarendon Hill, Ill./St. Ignatius College Prep) singled up the middle to plate Runyan. However, North Dakota State brought in reliever Jason Mattila and he retired the final four hitters in order for his first save of the year.
Junior Jack Boehm (Winnetka, Ill./New Trier) started on the mound for Bucknell and he had a solid outing, allowing just one run and four hits in 5.1 innings. Two of the hits and two of his four walks came in the first inning when North Dakota State took a 1-0 lead. Boehm retired 10 of the next 11 hitters and 12 of 14 before giving way to reliever Matt Lamore (Mountaintop, Pa./Crestwood) with one out in the sixth after giving up a walk and a single to successive hitters.
Lamore (0-1) retired the first four hitters he faced, but the first three hitters in the eighth inning reached against him, beginning that game-clinching rally.
Boehm's one run allowed in 5.1 innings means Bucknell's starting pitchers have yielded just three earned runs in 25.2 innings (1.05 ERA) over the last four games.
Both Bucknell and North Dakota State recorded seven hits in the game. Meier, who was 2-for-4 with an RBI, was the lone Bucknell player with a multi-hit contest. Clark, who drove home Bucknell's first run with a fourth-inning sac fly, and Runyan extended their hitting streaks to five games, while Doug Shribman (Marblehead, Mass./Belmont Hill School) saw his hitting streak reach six games with a fourth-inning triple.
Bucknell will continue its seven-game trip to Florida with a 5:30 p.m. contest against Butler on Wednesday at Chain of Lakes Park. The Bulldogs are 7-4 this season and were idle Tuesday.
