Bucknell University
Mount St. Mary's
Baseball Posts Nice Comeback Win Over Mount St. Mary's, 8-7
3/25/2015 7:54:00 PM | Baseball
LEWISBURG, Pa. – After a shaky first few innings of play that led to a 6-0 deficit, the Bucknell baseball team settled down and was able to come back to post an 8-7 victory over Mount St. Mary's Wednesday afternoon at a chilly Depew Field. It was the fifth consecutive win for the Bison, who improved to 14-7 on the year and 5-2 at home. The Mountaineers fell to 2-13 despite their early lead.
Mike Castellani (3-0) was huge for Bucknell. The lefty reliever who pitched a strong 5.2 innings of relief on Sunday entered the game with the count 3-0 on the second hitter in the seventh inning and held Mount St. Mary's scoreless the rest of the way. The Bison trailed 7-6 at the time.
Castellani, who saw his season ERA drop to 2.57, worked his way out of a number of precarious situations. He got leadoff hitter Ryan Owens to ground into an inning-ending 6-4-3 bases-loaded double play to end the seventh inning. In the eighth inning Andrew Clow led off with a triple that got past diving left fielder Spencer Stokes and Castellani was able to strand him at third base. Then, in the ninth inning, Castellani yielded a leadoff single to Tyler Post and retired the next three in a row, the final two by strikeout with Post in scoring position, to end the game.
Bucknell completed its comeback with two runs in the bottom of the eighth inning. Mark Powell and Stokes led off the frame with back-to-back singles. Greg Wasikowski then walked to load the bases after attempts to bunt were unsuccessful. A grounder to short by Brett Smith plated the tying run, while Anthony Gingerelli's sac fly to left field scored pinch runner Chuckie Scales with what proved to be the winning run.
The Bison comeback got started in the fourth inning when Joe Ogren led off with a single and Jon Mayer followed with a hit by pitch. Both came around to score with Ogren crossing the plate on a grounder that shortstop Kory Britton misplayed and Mayer coming home on a sac fly by Aaron Fritz, who was making his first career start at designated hitter.
Bucknell really put a big dent in its 7-2 deficit with four runs in the sixth inning. The Bison had five straight hitters reach base at one point and batted around. Stokes drew a bases-loaded walk, Wasikowski followed with a two-run double and Smith got the first of his two RBIs on a ground out to short to account for the runs in the inning.
Mount St. Mary's starter Chris Campbell pitched the first five innings and kept the Bison in check as he allowed just three hits and two runs while striking out four. The four-run sixth inning came against reliever Austin Bonadio, who retired just one of the six hitters he faced.
Nick DeCarlo came in for Bonadio and retired five of the first six hitters he faced before Bucknell got to him in the eighth.
Mike Korchak made his third career start on the mound for the Bison and yielded six of Mount St. Mary's 13 hits. He allowed four runs, just two of which were earned. Austin Zimmerman entered the game in the fourth and also logged three innings. He was charged with three runs, just one of which was earned.
Mount St. Mary's built its lead with two unearned runs in the first inning, two more runs in the second and two more unearned runs in the fourth. The Bison committed three errors during the first four innings of play.
Bucknell totaled eight hits in the game, but no Bison had more than one hit. The bottom four spots in the lineup accounted for five of the team's hits as Fritz, Powell, Tommy Pennington, Stokes and Wasikowski each posted one hit. Pennington and Stokes, who shared the No. 8 spot in the lineup, combined to reach base three times in four plate appearances.
The top third of The Mount's lineup did the bulk of their damage. Owens (2-for-3, 3 R), Clow (2-for-5, 1 R, 1 RBI) and Britton (4-for-5, 2 R, 3 RBI) combined to reach base 10 times and they combined for eight hits.
Bucknell, which was 5-2 on its now-completed homestand, will open Patriot League play this weekend with a four-game series at Navy. Doubleheaders both days begin at noon.
