Bucknell University Athletics
Bucknell University
Army
Bucknell Baseball Opens Series vs. Army With Pair of Losses
4/20/2013 8:00:00 AM | Baseball
April 20, 2013
LEWISBURG, Pa. - The Bucknell baseball team opened its home Patriot League schedule Saturday at a windy Depew Field against Army and lost a pair of games to the Black Knights. The Bison dropped game one by a 7-0 score and then lost game two by a 5-2 margin in 10 innings.
Bucknell wasted a very strong start by junior Dan Weigel in game two. The left-hander pitched into the 10th inning and allowed just six hits and two earned runs while striking out a career high-tying eight. He retired 18 in a row at one point and the only thing that broke that streak was an error, but he allowed a leadoff triple in the 10th that started a three-run, game-winning rally for Army.
The first four runs the Black Knights scored in game one were with two out and they received a complete-game, four-hit shutout from 2012 Patriot League Pitcher of the Year Chris Rowley (5-3) to open the four-game series with a win.
With the two losses Saturday, Bucknell (13-26, 7-7 PL) fell into a third-place tie with Navy in the Patriot League standings. The top four teams in the league make the postseason and both the Bison and Mids have a two-game cushion on fifth-place Lehigh, which is 5-9 in conference play after getting swept by Holy Cross on Saturday. Army (18-17, 9-5 PL) remained in second place, one game behind Holy Cross.
Weigel (2-6) retired the leadoff batter in each of the first nine innings and allowed just two runs - one of which was unearned - over that span. However, he gave up a leadoff triple to Harold Earls in the 10th to get the winning rally started for the Black Knights. Center fielder Matt Busch was shaded toward left-center field and Earls' triple went to deep straightaway center, allowing him to get to third base. A wild pitch by Weigel allowed Earls to score the tiebreaking run and put Army up 3-2.
A suicide squeeze by Alex Jensen brought home the second run in the inning, while a single to right by Mark McCants capped the scoring. Army's Gunnar Carroll retired three of the four hitters he faced in the bottom of the 10th, allowing only an infield single to Busch, to earn his second save of the year.
Bucknell, which played an extra-inning game for the third time this week and the seventh time overall this year, fell behind 2-0 in the second inning of game two, but battled back to tie the score with single runs in the fifth and sixth innings. The Bison had plenty of chances to score with nine hits, four hit by pitches, two Army errors and two walks, but they left 14 runners on base.
Bucknell's first run came on a bases-loaded walk by Carter Bumgardner that followed back-to-back hit by pitches from Corey Furman and Travis Clark, who saw his 10-game hitting streak end with an 0-for-3 performance in game one.
The second Bison run came in the sixth when Joe Ogren led off the frame with a double and later scored on a two-out single by Justin Meier. Meier was 3-for-6 on the day and reached base four times.
Bucknell did have two runners on in both the eighth and ninth innings, but both times Army pitchers were able to work out of the jam.
The Bison struggled at the plate in game one as Rowley allowed just four hits, three of which were singles. In fact, he pitched to just one over the minimum through five innings.
Bryson Hough (2-5) got the start on the mound for the Bison in game one and kept Army's bats in check despite the final score. Most of the Black Knights hits were not very hard, but they happened to find the holes. Hough's final line included nine hits, seven runs, five earned runs, no walks and four strikeouts. He departed one out shy of a complete game.
Five different Black Knights had RBIs in game one, led by Mescher's 1-for-3 with two RBI performance. He had an RBI single in the third and a sac fly in the fifth. McCants and Jacob Page had a pair of hits apiece.
Bucknell and Army will conclude their four-game weekend series Sunday at noon at Depew Field. Fans can listen to the doubleheader on SportsJuice.com. Bison men's basketball seniors Bryson Johnson, Colin Klebon and Joe Willman will throw out the ceremonial first pitches as Bucknell aims to snap a seven-game losing streak to the Black Knights.
