Bucknell University
Brown
Baseball Opens USA Baseball-Irish Classic With 2-0 Loss to Brown
3/4/2016 4:24:00 PM | Baseball
CARY, N.C. – Four Bucknell pitchers limited Brown to two runs and five hits, but the Bison offense did not plate a run as Bucknell dropped its opener of the weekend-long USA Baseball-Irish Classic by a 2-0 score to the Bears Friday afternoon. The Bison fell to 4-4 on the season, while Brown captured its season opener and is now 1-0.
Christian Taugner (1-0) pitched eight shutout innings for the Bears. Bucknell registered three hits and drew four walks against him, but could not push a run across. Taugner recorded six strikeouts.
Brett Smith, Danny Rafferty, Joe Ogren and Sam Clark each singled for the Bison's four hits. Clark's single led off the ninth inning and brought the potential tying run to the plate, but Brown reliever Dante Bosnic got Spencer Stokes to ground into a double play and struck out Chuckie Scales to earn the save.
Freshman Jeff Gottesman (0-1) got the first start of his career on the mound and was strong for the Bison. The right-hander pitched six innings and yielded just two hits and one run while striking out nine. He walked just one hitter, and allowed only one baserunner over the first five innings. Max Kra pitched a scoreless seventh and eighth, but was charged with the Bears' second run when an infield single by Sam Grigo against reliever Jack Grabek scored Kevin Guthrie from third with two outs.
Brown's other run came on a sac fly by Jake Levine in the sixth inning.
This is the fourth time in eight games this season that Bucknell pitchers have limited the opposition to two runs or fewer.
The Bison will continue play the USA Baseball-Irish Classic on Saturday with a 3 p.m. contest against host Notre Dame.
