Bucknell University Athletics
Bucknell University
Holy Cross
Bucknell Baseball Opens PL Play with Doubleheader Split vs. Holy Cross
3/31/2012 8:00:00 AM | Baseball
March 31, 2012
| BUY PHOTOSLEWISBURG, Pa. - Strong pitching dominated Saturday's Patriot League-opening doubleheader between Bucknell and Holy Cross as a total of eight runs were scored in the two games and all four starting pitchers logged at least 6.0 innings Saturday at Depew Field. The Bison captured game one by a 3-1 score, while the Crusaders claimed the nightcap by the same tally. The doubleheader did begin approximately 30 minutes late due to rain in the area.
Bucknell (13-12, 1-1 PL) won game one behind a complete game pitching performance from Dan Weigel (6-1), who allowed just six hits and one run in 7.0 innings, and three runs in the bottom of the first inning.
Holy Cross (12-11, 1-1 PL) received strong pitching in game two from starter Matt Croglio (2-2) and relievers Mike Ahmed and John Colella, but the big blow was a three-run home run in the third inning by Ahmed that accounted for all of the Crusaders' runs in the contest.
Weigel, who has won six of his seven starts and now has a 2.77 ERA, set the tone in game one as he worked quickly throughout and allowed more than one baserunner in just one inning. The Crusaders loaded the bases with one out in the fifth, but Weigel worked out of the jam with only a sacrifice fly. Outside of that frame, Holy Cross managed four singles in different innings against the tall lefty who recorded his first complete game of the year despite averaging nearly seven innings per outing.
Bucknell scored all the runs it would need in game one in the bottom of the first. Bob Donato, who had at least one hit in each end of the twinbill to extend his hitting streak to 21 games, led off the first with a single. Corey Furman bunted him over and reached on a throwing error by starting pitcher Tommy Marra (2-2). A one-out Travis Clark double plated Donato, while Furman took off toward home on contact on a grounder to third by Runyan that resulted in a low throw home by Ahmed. A ground out by Scott Reed then scored Clark from third.
It was a good thing the Bison did their damage early as Marra retired 17 of the final 20 hitters he faced and limited Bucknell to five hits in the contest. Marra retired 10 hitters in a row from the third to the sixth innings.
Freshman right-hander Bryson Hough (1-4) followed Weigel's performance with a solid start in game two. Hough logged 8.0 innings and gave up seven hits, three runs, two earned runs and walked two while striking out six. Holy Cross never seriously threatened against him outside of the third inning when Andrew Barry led off with a walk and Evan Ocello reached on a fielding error by Russell Seidell when the first baseman was hoping to turn a 3-6-3 double play. Ahmed then followed with his three-run home run over the left-field wall.
Barry was the only Holy Cross leadoff hitter in an inning to reach against Hough, who induced 11 ground outs to just four fly outs. The only other time the Crusaders had two runners on in an inning was the fourth when Brandon Cipolla drew a two-out walk and then Barry singled up the middle.
Hough also benefitted from a pair of Holy Cross runners being gunned down at second trying to steal. Catcher Reed has now gunned down 11 of 24 would-be basestealers this year.
Bucknell registered six hits in game two against Croglio, but had to manufacture its lone run. Clark had a two-out single in the fourth and then stole second. Runyan followed with an RBI single, the 15th run he has driven in this year.
The Bison did load the bases in the fifth against Croglio, with Furman reaching on a catcher's interference after Robb Scott and Donato had already singled. However, Croglio needed just one pitch after a brief discussion with the umpires by the Holy Cross coaching staff to induce a fly ball from David Duffett and end the inning.
Croglio pitched 6.2 innings and struck out three. Ahmed moved from third base and pitched 1.1 innings of hitless relief, while Colella pitched a perfect ninth inning for his fifth save of the year.
Bucknell finished with 11 hits in Saturday's twinbill and Donato had three. Duffett, Clark and Runyan were all 1-for-3 in game one and 1-for-4 in game two. Robb Scott's 2-for-3 performance in game two rounded out the list of Bison hits. Scott saw his eight-game hitting streak end with an 0-2 outing in game one, but he is still hitting a solid .343 on the year.
Holy Cross totaled 13 hits in the two game with Ahmed (3-for-6) and Jordan Enos (3-for-6) leading the way.
This is the third consecutive year Bucknell has split its Patriot League-opening doubleheader.
Bucknell and Holy Cross will wrap up their four-game weekend series Sunday with another doubleheader beginning at noon at Depew Field. Both games can be heard on 90.5 WVBU and SportsJuice.com.
