Bucknell University
Notre Dame
Baseball Defeats Notre Dame 6-5 in 11 Innings
3/5/2016 9:44:00 PM | Baseball
CARY, N.C. – A sac fly by Brett Smith in the top of the 11th inning scored Chuckie Scales with the go-ahead run and Christian Tailor pitched a scoreless bottom of the 11th for his first career save as the Bucknell baseball team defeated Notre Dame 6-5 in extra innings Saturday at the USA Baseball-Irish Classic. It was the third win in the last four games for the Bison, who improved to 5-4 on the season. The Irish fell to 5-5.
Each of Bucknell's last three wins have been by one run. Four of the five victories for the Bison this season have been by two runs or fewer.
Bucknell led 4-0 entering the bottom of the sixth inning and was up 5-2 entering the bottom of the ninth, but Notre Dame plated three runs to send the game to extra innings.
Scales led off the 11th inning with a walk and moved to second on a Luke Johnson single. A sac bunt by Tommy Pennington moved both runners up a base, setting up Smith's sac fly.
Tailor came on in the bottom of the 11th and after walking the leadoff hitter he retired the next three batters to preserve the win for the Bison.
Mike Castellani earned the start on the mound for Bucknell and he yielded just four hits and one run in seven innings of work. He left in favor of Andrew Andreychik with the Bison leading 4-1, but Notre Dame scored one run in the eighth and three more in the ninth against Andreychik and fellow reliever Danny Rafferty (1-1).
Rafferty ended up picking up the win as he retired the side in order in the 10th. He retired the last five hitters he faced.
Bucknell built its lead with one run in the second inning and three more in the sixth. Johnson had an RBI single in the second, while Jon Mayer and Alex O'Neill posted back-to-back RBI singles in the sixth. Pennington also drew a bases-loaded walk in the frame.
The Bison scored what proved to be an important insurance run in the top of the ninth when Pennington led off with a walk and later scored on a Joe Ogren double. Smith was thrown out at home on the play.
Smith, Ogren, O'Neill and Johnson had two hits apiece for Bucknell, which totaled 11 hits against three Notre Dame pitchers. Smith has reached base in all nine games this season and is hitting a team-best .351.
Notre Dame No. 3 hitter Ricky Sanchez and cleanup hitter Kyle Fiala had two hits apiece and were a combined 4-for-11 with five RBIs.
Irish reliever Scott Tully (1-1) was charged with the loss as he gave up Bucknell's run in the 11th after pitching a perfect 10th inning. Starter Sean Guenther allowed nine hits and four runs in 5.2 innings.
Bucknell's last win over an ACC opponent was last February when it defeated Wake Forest 16-12.
The Bison will wrap up play at the USA Baseball-Irish Classic with a 1 p.m. game at North Carolina State on Sunday.
