Bucknell University Athletics
Bucknell University
Army West Point
Baseball Splits Second Straight Doubleheader at Army West Point
4/10/2016 7:08:00 PM | Baseball
WEST POINT, N.Y. – For the second consecutive day the Bucknell baseball team split a doubleheader against Army West Point Sunday at Doubleday Field. Mimicking Saturday's results, the Bison won game one and lost game two. Bucknell captured game one 4-2, but lost 3-2 in the nightcap to end with a 2-2 split of the weekend four-game series.
In game one, Joe Ogren had a pair of RBI doubles and Spencer Stokes drove in a pair of runs as well in support of starting pitcher Dan Keller, who registered his second consecutive complete game victory.
Four of Bucknell's hits in the game were doubles and five of the hits came from the top four hitters in the lineup, including a 2-for-4 performance by Ogren, who is tied for the team lead in RBIs (21) with Stokes.
The Bison took a 1-0 lead in the first on an RBI ground out by Stokes, but the Black Knights evened the score in the second on an RBI single by Trey Martin.
Bucknell (14-20, 5-3 PL) went back on top for good in the third when Ogren and Stokes had back-to-back RBI doubles.
Another Ogren RBI double in the fifth gave the Bison a 4-1 edge. Army West Point (12-20, 3-5 PL) scored an unearned run in the sixth, but Keller (2-3) retired the final four batters he faced, including all three in the seventh to pick up his second career win.
Keller ended up allowing just four hits and striking out four in his seven innings of work. He did not walk a batter and both runs scored against him were unearned. His season ERA has dropped from 4.15 to 3.05 after allowing just one earned run his last two starts (14.0 IP).
Army starter Tyler Giovinco (1-2) suffered the loss for the Black Knights. He gave up four runs on six hits and five walks in 4.2 innings of work. Reliever Cam Opp pitched the final 2.1 innings and allowed just one baserunner on an error.
In game two, the Black Knights overcame a 2-1 deficit thanks to a pair of solo home runs by Jacob Page. The senior outfielder tied the game with a homer in the sixth and his homer in the eighth proved to be the winning run.
The Bison took the initial lead in game two in the fourth inning thanks to a two-out RBI single by Tommy Pennington that plated Chuckie Scales, who was making the start in left field while Danny Rafferty was at DH.
Army tied the game in the bottom of the fourth on a Martin RBI single, but Bucknell answered back in the top of the fifth when Sam Clark's one-out single scored Ogren from second.
Jack Grabek started on the mound in game two for Bucknell and pitched into the seventh inning. He left with the score tied 2-2 and turned the ball over to Connor Van Hoose, who led the team in ERA (0.90) entering the weekend. Van Hoose (1-1) got out of a bases-loaded with one out situation in the seventh by striking out David Monge and getting Jon Rosoff to fly out.
Van Hoose then retired three of the four hitters he faced in the eighth, giving up only the home run to Page.
Opp (1.1 IP) and Justin French (3.0 IP) relieved Army starting pitcher Daniel Burggraaf for the final 4.1 innings and held the Bison scoreless while allowing just two hits. French improved to 3-0 on the season.
Jon Mayer had his second multi-hit game of the series with a team-high two hits in the nightcap. Brett Smith had a single in both ends of the doubleheader to extend his hitting streak to a team-best 11 games. He has at least one hit in 23 of his last 24 outings.
Bucknell will return to action Wednesday with a 6:30 p.m. game at Penn State. The Bison's final road Patriot League series of the season is next weekend at Lafayette.
