Baseball Ends Season on Strong Note with Sweep of Lehigh

Sunday, April 28

Lewisburg, Pa.

12 P.M.

Bucknell University

13-33, 0

Lehigh

20-23, 0

Lehigh

Bucknell

Baseball Ends Season on Strong Note with Sweep of Lehigh

4/28/2019 7:59:00 PM | Baseball

Box Score 1 Box Score 2

LEWISBURG, Pa. – The Bucknell University baseball team ended its season with a three-game winning streak after sweeping Lehigh on a rainy afternoon at Depew Field. Bucknell won both games by 6-5 counts to end the 2019 season at 14-33, while Lehigh now stands at 20-24 with another Patriot League series still to come.

Game One: Bucknell 6, Lehigh 5
Tyler Wincig's two-RBI single in the fourth inning put the Bison up for good before an error from the Mountain Hawks gave Bucknell the winning run in a closely contested first game. Shortstop Evan Madigan made the play of the game defensively, diving to his left on a ball hit up the middle for a game-ending 6-3 putout to strand the potential tying run at second.

Dominic Toso, who played nearly flawlessly defensively all day in tough conditions at third base, gave the Bison a 2-0 lead with a two-RBI single to left field that scored Caleb Broughton and Jared Drizin, who led off the inning with a double.

Lehigh responded with four runs in the third after Jack Simpson entered the game for starter Nate Grisius. The Mountain Hawks scored on an RBI single by Jeff Shanfeldt, an RBI single by Ryan Malloy, a bases-loaded walk, and a sac fly by Matt Hand to take the two-run advantage.

Bucknell answered with four runs of its own in the fourth. Toso was at it again, singling through the right side to score Madigan, who led off the inning with a single. With Toso on second and Broughton on third, Wincig hit the go-ahead single up the middle to plate the two runners and help Bucknell reclaim the lead.

Bucknell's sixth run proved to be important later on, as Alex Baumann reached on a fielder's choice as Lehigh elected to grab the force out of Wincig at second base. JohnPaul Bell provided some heads-up baserunning from third after an error by the Mountain Hawks in attempting to get Baumann out at first to give Bucknell a 6-4 lead.

Simpson settled in as the game went on, allowing just one hit through the fifth and the sixth before the deciding seventh inning.

Shanfeldt homered for the Mountain Hawks with one out in the inning to pull them within one, before Simpson managed to get Lehigh's Ryan Malloy on a groundout. Tony Gallo then walked before stealing second to set up the potential game-tying run in scoring position. Tyler Schreiner's sharply hit ball seemed destined to tie the game, but Madigan made an excellent diving stop to save the tying run from scoring and get the game's final out.

Wincig finished 2-for-4 with two RBIs, while Toso posted a big day, going 2-for-3 with three RBIs. The Bison tallied eight hits in total. Simpson earned the win after going five innings while allowing six hits and five earned runs with five strikeouts.

Game Two: Bucknell 6, Lehigh 5
Bucknell took game two by an identical score to the first game, with Will Gannon providing the go-ahead RBI single in the fifth inning. Bucknell held on late for another one-run victory as Brenden Tuttle earned his second win of the season in his first collegiate start, and freshman Andrew Funovits secured the final five outs to earn the save.

The game started off rough for the reliever-turned-starter Tuttle, with Lehigh loading the bases with two outs in the first inning. After a bases-loaded walk gave Lehigh the lead, Tuttle struck out Mountain Hawk shortstop Matt Hand to prevent any further damage.

Lehigh doubled its lead on a double down the left field line by Gerard Sweeney that scored Eric Cichocki. Sweeney was then called out for the final out of the inning after Jack Schuler, Madigan, and Toso caught Sweeney trying to stretch the hit into a triple.

Lehigh added one more run in the third on a wild pitch to take a 3-0 lead in the top of the frame.

The Bison battled back with two runs in the bottom of the third after a leadoff walk, an error and a hit batsman loaded the bases with none down. The Bison plated two runs on back-to-back sac flies by Wincig and Baumann.

The Bison finally pulled ahead in the fifth when Gannon singled through the right side on a nice piece of hitting to score Wincig and Bell and give Bucknell the lead, 4-3.

Bucknell then plated two insurance runs in the sixth to take a 6-3 lead. Toso reached on an error by the Mountain Hawks, before Bell provided a single that scored Schuler, who had singled with one out in the inning. Toso then touched home on Wincig's RBI single through the left side for Bucknell's sixth run.

Tuttle was replaced in the seventh after throwing 121 pitches and keeping Lehigh scoreless for his last two innings. Austin Odell replaced Tuttle to start the seventh, getting a 4-6-3 double play and a strikeout. Odell was replaced by Funovits with one down in the eighth, and things seemed to be going the way of Lehigh after a double from Sweeney scored two inherited runners and pulled Lehigh within one.

Funovits then settled in and drew a fly out to center and a strikeout to keep Bucknell ahead by one. The freshman from Pittsburgh trotted out to start the ninth, striking out Gallo for the first out in the inning, before a double from Schreiner and a walk from Matt Hand put Lehigh in a position to take the lead. However, Funovits induced a well-executed 4-6-3 double play by Broughton, Madigan and Hartman to end the game and earn his second save of the year.

The Bison ended the season with three wins in a row, and hadn't won three consecutive games since a four-game winning streak with a sweep of Niagara and a win over Toledo from March 1-9.

Wincig posted two hits and two RBIs, while Gannon was 2-for-4 with two RBIs. Bell, Baumann, and Schuler each posted RBIs on the day.

Wincig finished the season with a .348 batting average and is in position to win the Patriot League batting title. He currently leads the league, with Navy's Zach Stevens next at .341. The Midshipmen do have more games remaining, however. Wincig also finished with a stellar .500 on-base percentage, which is third-best in school history and tied with Army's Jacob Hurtubise for the league lead, and his .643 slugging percentage is tops in the conference by a wide margin.