Bucknell University Athletics
Bucknell University
Army
Bucknell Baseball Clinches Spot in Patriot League Tournament with Doubleheader Split Against Army
5/1/2011 8:00:00 AM | Baseball
May 1, 2011
LEWISBURG, Pa. - The Bucknell baseball team split a doubleheader with Army Sunday at Depew Field as it claimed three of the four games in the weekend series to earn a spot in the Patriot League Tournament as the No. 4 seed. The Bison, who won game one 6-4 and dropped game two by a 7-4 margin, will play at top-seeded Navy in a best-of-three Patriot League Tournament series May 14-15.
Doug Shribman, who was 2-for-5 with two runs scored and four runs batted in, smashed a three-run home run in the second inning of game one that proved to be the difference in the victory for Bucknell, which finished the regular season with a 24-26 overall record and a 10-10 Patriot League mark.
Brent Peterson and Joey Henshaw were each 3-for-5 in game two for Army (19-24, 11-9 PL) as the Black Knights jumped out to a 6-1 advantage thanks to a four-run fourth inning.
The Bison scored five runs in the first two innings of game one, three coming on Shribman's deep two-out home run over the left field wall in the second. It was his 16th home run this year and the 43rd of his career, 37 of which have come over the last two campaigns. Shribman finished the day with 153 career RBIs, putting him four shy of Tyler Prout's school record.
Bucknell initially got on the board in the first when Bob Donato, who was 3-for-6 on the day, doubled to left center and then Shribman followed with a walk. Both then scored on a hard double to left-center by Gerry Runyan.
Trey Frahler started game one for the Bison and walked the leadoff guy in the fourth before being removed with Bucknell ahead 5-3. Dan Goldstein came in and pitched 2.1 innings of scoreless relief, retiring the first seven hitters he faced, to pick up his second win of the year. Steve Carlin then closed things out for his fifth save of the season, although Army did leave the tying run on second base in the top of the seventh.
Chris Rowley (3-4) pitched all six innings for the Black Knights, yielding seven hits and three walks while striking out six.
Bucknell's final run came in the fifth when Matt Lamore hit his fourth home run of the year in the direction of the new Depew Field scoreboard in right center.
Leadoff hitter Drew Constable and second-place hitter Donato were a combined 4-for-7 with three runs scored and they reached base in five of their eight combined plate appearances.
Bucknell managed just two hits in the first four innings of game two against Army starter Scott Lucado and the Black Knights jumped out to a 6-1 lead. Army posted 11 of its 14 hits in the first four innings of play.
The big inning for the Black Knights was the fourth when they sent eight hitters to the plate and scored four times. A two-run double by Patriot League Player of the Week Clint Moore and an RBI single by Joey Henshaw were the big blows in the frame. Bucknell held Moore to just two hits in 13 at bats in the four-game weekend series.
Daniel Hart and Dan Weigel pitched the final five innings for the Bison and allowed just three hits and one unearned run. Six of Hart's nine outs were recorded via the strikeout, while Weigel retired all five hitters he faced, inducing a double play to his first batter after relieving Hart.
An RBI single by Shribman in the third, a two-run home run by Scott Glass in the fifth and an RBI single by Constable scoring Justin Meier, who got on via a leadoff double, accounted for Bucknell's four runs in game two.
Glass' home run knocked starter Scott Lucado from the game, but reliever Gunnar Carroll pitched 3.0 solid innings of relief, yielding two hits and one run, to earn the win. Ben Koenigsfeld then moved in from left field and earned the save by pitching the final two innings and allowing just a single to left by David Duffett.
Game two was played in a steady rain, but the game was not delayed at any point.
All four games in the series saw the losing team score four runs as the Bison swept Saturday's doubleheader by scores of 8-4 and 7-4.
Bucknell won seven of its final nine Patriot League games to finish at .500 in league play, two games better than its 2010 mark. The Bison closed the regular season by winning eight of its final 11 games and is now just one win shy of its 2010 total.
Bucknell has been the No. 4 seed in the Patriot League Tournament two times in the last three years and won the title each time. Since the current Patriot League Tournament format was adopted in 2008, the No. 4 seed has never lose a first-round series.
Despite losing three games to the Bison, Army will be the No. 2 seed in the Patriot League Tournament and will host a best-of-three series against Lafayette.
