Bucknell University Athletics
Bucknell University
Holy Cross
Baseball Drops Two to Holy Cross
4/24/2016 7:18:00 PM | Baseball
LEWISBURG, Pa. – Holy Cross completed a four-game weekend sweep of the Bucknell baseball team with a pair of victories on Sunday at Depew Field. The Crusaders won game one 5-3 in eight innings – the third straight extra-inning game between the two teams – and claimed game two 12-10 despite a couple of comebacks by the Bison.
Bucknell (16-28, 7-9 PL) is tied for third place in the Patriot League standings with Lehigh. Holy Cross (22-22, 11-5 PL) is in second place, one game behind Navy.
The Bison and Crusaders played a pair of extra-inning games on Saturday and that continued in game one on Sunday. The score in the seven-inning contest was tied 2-2 heading to the eighth inning when the offenses for both teams got going.
Holy Cross plated three runs in the top of the eighth on a Cam O'Neill RBI single followed by a Anthony Critelli two-run homer. It was Critelli's ninth home run of the season, and the second of the game for the Crusaders, who saw Travis Cloney pull a two-run homer down the right field line in the second inning.
Bucknell, which had two sac flies during regulation, cut the deficit to 5-3 on an Evan Klugerman sac fly in the bottom of the eighth. Danny Rafferty had drawn a one-out walk. He then stole second and moved to third on interference before trotting home on Klugerman's fly out.
Mark Powell (walk), Tommy Pennington (walk) and pinch hitter Alex O'Neill (hit by pitch) then reached base with two outs. That brought Brett Smith to the plate with the tying run on second and the winning run on first. Game two starter Pat McGowan, who earned the save in game one, got Smith to fly out to right to end the contest.
Bison starter Dan Keller (3-4) was strong in his 7.1 innings. He allowed just three hits and two runs over his first seven innings. He then retired Bobby Indeglia to lead off the eighth, but the next three batters he faced recorded hits and came around to score, including Critelli on his homer.
Justin Finan started on the mound for Holy Cross and he pitched one out into the sixth. Reliever George Capen (3-3), who appeared in three games this weekend, earned the win for his 1.2 scoreless innings of relief.
Rafferty, who was 6-for-8 in the doubleheader with five extra-base hits, led Bucknell with two hits and two runs scored in game one. Smith also kept his now 21-game hitting streak alive with an infield single in the seventh inning. Klugerman was starting at catcher in place of an injured Jon Mayer and he had two RBIs on sac flies.
Holy Cross jumped out to a 6-0 lead in game two, but Bucknell fought back. In fact, the Bison cut their deficit to 6-5 in the bottom of the third before the Crusaders scored five more runs in the fourth. Bucknell battled back and trailed 11-10 entering the final inning of play.
Rafferty was the story of game two as he was 4-for-5 with two home runs, four runs scored and five RBIs. The junior had four extra-base hits, including a two-run home run in the third inning and a three-run homer in the seventh.
Rafferty's hitting brought the Bison back from their deficits, but the pitching of reliever Tommy Gambon gave the Bucknell offense the opportunity. The junior righty entered the game with two outs in the fourth inning after O'Neill's double staked the Crusader to an 11-5 cushion. Gambon proceeded to retire the next 15 batters in a row until Indeglia's two-out single in the ninth.
Gambon was the fifth Bison pitcher in the game and by far the most effective. He did not walk a batter and struck out five. Christian Tailor came on to get the last out in the top of the ninth. Bison pitchers issued eight walks in game two and seven of them came around to score.
Bucknell did threaten in the bottom of the ninth as Spencer Stokes had a two-out double, allowing Rafferty to step to the plate representing the tying run. However, Joe Cravero, who earned his first save of the year, got Rafferty to ground to short to end the contest.
Smith had a third-inning single to extend his hitting streak to 21 games, while Joe Ogren, Stokes, Klugerman, O'Neill and Mark Powell drove in runs.
Bucknell, which is in the midst of a nine-game homestand to close the regular season, will host La Salle in a non-league game Tuesday at 3 p.m. The Bison will wrap up the Patriot League schedule with a four-game home series vs. Navy next weekend (April 30-May 1).
