Bucknell University Athletics
Bucknell University
Penn State
Baseball Drops 9-5 Decision at Penn State
4/19/2016 10:07:00 PM | Baseball
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – A Brett Smith RBI single and a three-run inside-the-park home run by Joe Ogren in the seventh inning helped the Bucknell baseball team cut a 7-1 deficit to 7-5, but Penn State plated a pair of runs in the bottom of the eighth as the Nittany Lions posted a 9-5 victory over the Bison Tuesday evening at Medlar Field at Lubrano Park.
Penn State (23-14), which won its sixth game in a row and improved to 14-2 in its last 16 contests, jumped out to an early 5-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning. The Nittany Lions sent 11 batters to the plate, knocked Bison starter P.J. Strahm (0-1) from the game and left the bases loaded.
Bucknell (16-24) got on the board in the fourth inning when freshman catcher Evan Klugerman scored from third on a Chuckie Scales ground out to short.
Penn State extended its lead to six runs on a two-run double by Ryan Sloniger in the fifth.
The Bison scored all four of their runs in the seventh with two outs. Smith's RBI single to right field plated Scales from third and extended Smith's hitting streak to 17 games. Ogren followed with Bucknell's second inside-the-park homer this week, cutting the Bison deficit to just two runs. Smith hit an inside-the-park home run over the weekend at Lafayette.
The home run was the second of the season for Ogren, who leads the team with 27 RBIs. He now has 102 RBIs in his career and is just one shy of equaling his career high for a season.
Bucknell's bullpen of Connor Van Hoose (2.2 IP), Max Kra (2.0 IP), Jack Schoenberger (2.1 IP) and Tommy Gambon (0.2 IP) allowed just two earned runs over the final 7.2 innings after Strahm departed. Penn State did tally nine of its 11 hits and scored four total runs against the Bison relievers.
Penn State starting pitcher Eli Nabholz (2-0) allowed just two hits and one run in five innings to earn his second win of the year. The Nittany Lions used two relievers with Nick Distasio and Jack Anderson logging two innings apiece. Distasio yielded all four of the Bison runs in the seventh inning, while Anderson earned his ninth save of the year by retiring six of the eight batters he faced in the eighth and ninth innings.
Klugerman was 2-for-4 to lead Bucknell in hits. Fellow freshman Miles Moore was 1-for-2 in his fifth start of the year. The Bison totaled seven hits in the contest.
Tyler Kendall led Penn State in hits with a 3-for-4 performance. James Coates, Greg Guers and Sloniger had two hits apiece for the Nittany Lions.
Bucknell will return to Patriot League play this weekend when it hosts Holy Cross in a four-game series at Depew Field. Sunday's doubleheader will be broadcast on WVBU 90.5 and BucknellBison.com.
