Bucknell University Athletics
Bucknell University
Navy
Baseball Takes 1-0 Lead in PL Semifinal Series with 9-3 Win at Top-Seeded Navy
5/14/2016 4:22:00 PM | Baseball
ANNAPOLIS, Md. – In a matchup of two All-Patriot League pitchers, Bucknell's second-team selection Andrew Andreychik prevailed over Navy's Patriot League Pitcher of the Year Luke Gillingham. Andreychik pitched 7.2 innings, scattered 10 hits and allowed three runs, while the Bison touched Gillingham for seven runs on eight hits in 3.1 innings on their way to a 9-3 victory over the Mids Saturday afternoon in the first game of the Patriot League Semifinal Series at Max Bishop Stadium.
The teams were scheduled to play the first two games in the best-of-three series on Saturday, but game two was postponed to Sunday at noon due to rain in the Annapolis area. First pitch of game two will be 12 p.m., while game three will follow as the second half of a doubleheader, if necessary.
Fourth-seeded Bucknell (18-32) exploded offensively in what was expected to be a low-scoring contest. The Bison plated one run in the second inning, four in the third, three in the fourth and one more in the fifth. The top four hitters in the Bucknell lineup – Brett Smith, Danny Rafferty, Joe Ogren and Spencer Stokes - were 10-for-19 with seven runs scored and six RBIs. Rafferty was 4-for-5 with two RBIs, while Smith, Ogren and Stokes had two hits apiece. The Bison had 14 hits overall, their second-highest total of the season.
Top-seeded Navy (38-13-1) won three of four against Bucknell in the regular season, but has now dropped two in a row to the Bison. Sean Trent was 3-for-5 with a pair of RBIs and Leland Saile was 3-for-4 with a home run, but the Mids could not put much offense together against the Bison pitchers.
Andreychik (5-4), who moved up to second on Bucknell's career wins list with 18, earned his career-high-tying fifth win of the season as he stranded nine Navy runners on base, including five in scoring position. Mike Castellani retired four of the five batters he faced to close out the win.
The Bison got on the board first in the second inning when Stokes posted a leadoff double and later scored on a grounder to the right side by Jon Mayer.
Bucknell extended its lead in the top of the third, scoring four runs on four hits. Rafferty, Stokes, Mayer and Alex O'Neill had RBIs for the Bison, who had five straight batters reach base at one point in the frame.
In the fourth inning, back-to-back one-out singles by Smith and Rafferty knocked Gillingham from the game. Relief pitcher Jett Meenach came on to face Ogren with runners on the corners and Ogren promptly hit his team-high-tying fourth home run of the season over the right-center field wall to break the game open. Ogren now has a team-high 37 RBIs on the season.
After Navy scored a pair of unearned runs in the bottom of the fifth, a bases-loaded infield single by Rafferty put the Bison up 9-2.
The Mids added a run in the bottom of the eighth on Saile's homer to left. Andreychik got the next two batters to ground out before giving way to Castellani.
Jackson Zoch and Andrew Sauer were solid in relief for Navy. They allowed five hits and one run over the final five innings for the Mids.
Bucknell, which has won two previous Patriot League titles as the No. 4 seed, needs one win on Sunday to advance to next week's Patriot League Championship Series against either No. 2 Holy Cross or No.3 Lehigh.
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