Baseball Drops First Game to No. 21 NC State, 8-2

Friday, February 15

Raleigh, NC

3:00 PM

Bucknell University

0-1

NC State

1-0

Bucknell

NC State

Photo by: Mady Salvani

Baseball Drops First Game to No. 21 NC State, 8-2

2/15/2019 7:03:00 PM | Baseball

Box Score

RALEIGH, N.C. -- The Bucknell University baseball team dropped a road contest at No. 21 NC State on Friday afternoon in the season opener for both teams.

After the Bison went 1-2-3 in the top of the first, the Wolfpack struck first on a two run home-run by Evan Edwards to take a 2-0 lead after the first inning.

The Bison responded in the top of the third after freshman Chris Cannizzaro recorded his first career hit on a double down the left field line after facing an 0-2 count early on in the at-bat. Caleb Broughton then moved Cannizzaro to third on a sac bunt before Evan Madigan blooped a shallow single down the left field line to bring Cannizzaro home and cut the Wolfpack advantage to 2-1.

The Wolfpack tacked on three more runs in the third inning after a leadoff double from Will Wilson before a single and an error allowed him to score on the next play. A triple from Edwards then added another run for NC State. After a fly out, back-to-back walks loaded the bases with one out for NC State.

Nate Grisius then entered the game in relief of starter Jeff Gottesman and worked out of the jam with two strikeouts on either side of a walk as the Wolfpack took a 5-1 lead after three.

NC State added two more runs in the sixth, the first on a leadoff double by Edwards who was then brought home by Brad Debo on a single to center field before the Wolfpack tacked on another run with two outs.

The Bison trailed 8-1 entering the top half of the ninth, but pulled a run back after Dominic Toso and Evan Klugerman were hit by a pitch in consecutive plate appearances. Toso was then brought home by JohnPaul Bell, who just missed a three-run homer but settled for a single off the top of the left field wall to score Toso from second.

However, NC State used a strikeout and a nice play from the catcher in foul territory for the final out to win 8-2 to maintain its unbeaten record against Bucknell.

Cannizzaro notched two hits in his debut for the Orange and Blue, while Madigan, Marc Chernin, Broughton, and Bell picked up the other hits for the Bison. The hit for Broughton was also the first of his collegiate career.

Jeff Gottesman (0-1) took the loss on the mound for Bucknell, while Nate Grisius also pitched several solid innings of relief, working out of multiple jams including a bases loaded, one out situation in the fifth inning. Grisius scattered three hits over three innings and had four strikeouts.

The Bison will return to action on Saturday at 2 p.m. for game two. The game can be seen on ACC Network Extra, ESPN+, and the WatchESPN app.