Baseball Clinches Postseason Berth after Sweep of Crusaders

Saturday, April 29

Lewisburg, Pa.

12 p.m.

Bucknell University

19-21-1, 0

Holy Cross

13-31, 0

Holy Cross

Bucknell

Photo by: Lianne Garrahan

Baseball Clinches Postseason Berth after Sweep of Crusaders

4/29/2023 7:43:00 PM | Baseball

Box Score 1 Box Score 2 Photo Gallery

LEWISBURG, Pa. – Catchers Jake Wortman and Nic Adamo came through with clutch hits in the late innings in each game, Sean Keys had another game-winning knock, and the Bucknell baseball team added two more come-from-behind, last-at-bat wins in a doubleheader sweep of Holy Cross on a rainy Senior Day at Depew Field. The Bison won 4-2 and 7-5 and not only clinched a Patriot League Tournament spot, but they lowered their magic number to one over Navy to potentially earn the No. 2 seed if they also stay ahead of fourth-place Lafayette.

Bucknell was slow to get the bats going in both games, as Holy Cross held a normally potent offense to one run through five innings in the opener and one run through six in the nightcap. But the Bison rallied in the late innings to win both games, making it 15 come-from-behind victories this season and eight in which the winning run came in their final at-bat.

The Bison had struggled mightily against Holy Cross in recent years, as the Crusaders had won 12 of the previous 14 meetings entering this series. That included a doubleheader sweep of the Bison on Apr. 3 in Worcester. This was Bucknell's first sweep of Holy Cross since 2018.

Navy split a doubleheader at Lehigh on Saturday, and the Midshipmen and Bison are now 13-11 in Patriot League play and tied for second place with one more leeague game to play. Bucknell won the season series three games to two and thus owns the head-to-head tiebreaker. Lafayette, which knocked off first-place Army on Saturday, is 10-10 and still has five conference games to play, so the Leopards could still move up to second with a late hot streak.

Bucknell and Holy Cross are scheduled to wrap up their three-game set on Sunday at 1 p.m.

Bucknell 4, Holy Cross 2 – Game 1 (7-inning game)

The battery of Chris DiFiore and Jake Wortman – two of the nine seniors honored just prior to the game – played major roles in Bucknell's 4-2 win in game one of the twin bill.

Wortman drove in a season-high three runs, and DiFiore (5-5) allowed only two runs on five hits over 6.2 innings on the way to his team-leading fifth win of the season.

Wortman tied the game at 1-1 in the fourth inning with a two-strike ground ball to plate Tyler Dunn, who led off the inning with a double for Bucknell's first hit of the day against Holy Cross starter Nate Chudy.

DiFiore retired seven straight to keep it a 1-1 game, and then Bucknell took the lead with three runs on four hits in the bottom of the sixth. Dunn again started the rally with a base hit, followed by a bunt single from Billy Kender. Jacob Terwilliger blooped a single into center field to load the bases, and then Wortman sliced a single in front of the diving right-fielder to score two runs. Terwilliger came home on a balk to make it 4-1, but Luke LeMond came out of the Crusaders bullpen to escape a bases-loaded, one-out scenario and prevent further damage.

That proved to be important when Holy Cross mounted a rally in the seventh. Two singles and a run-scoring fielder's choice brought freshman closer Ryan Osinski out of the pen, and after a walk loaded the bases, Osinski struck out the dangerous Sean Scanlon to notch his seventh save. That total ties Gregg Farmery (2001) for third-most in a season in Bucknell history.

Both teams finished with five hits in the opener. Bucknell did not strike out for the first time this season and drew eight walks.

Bucknell 7, Holy Cross 5 – Game 2

Bucknell's hole was even deeper in the nightcap, as Holy Cross led 3-0 after two innings and 4-1 heading into the bottom of the seventh. The Bison stranded eight baserunners in their first six plate appearances but finally broke through with four runs on four hits in the seventh.

Jacob Corson got the rally going with a hustle double into left-center, his third hit of the day. Grant Voytovich was hit by a pitch for the second of three times in a painful game two, and then Sean Keys roped a double into the right-field corner to bring the Bison within 4-3. Keys moved to third on Dunn's ground ball and scored the tying run on a two-out, two-strike wild pitch.

Mason Kelly drew a walk later in that at-bat, and then the Bison caught a break when Chris Klein's sharp ground ball up the middle struck the umpire before second-baseman Connor Peek had a chance to make a play on the ball. Nic Adamo followed with a bullet up the middle to score Kelly, and the Bison had a 5-4 lead.

Holy Cross tied it in the top of the eighth. Patrick Casserly singled with one out and moved to second on a tapper to Ben Magovern on the mound. CJ Egrie beat out an infield single up the middle, and Cassery scampered home when the throw got away at first base.

Theo Farynick (4-1) got a big final out in the eighth to strand two runners and keep it a 5-5 game, and then Bucknell went right back ahead in the bottom half of the inning.

Corson walked with one out and then Voytovich was drilled in the backside, his 14th HBP of the season. Keys swung at the first pitch from Danny Macchiarola (0-6) and flipped a double inside the left-field chalk to score Corson. Holy Cross brought the infield in, and Dunn's sharp ground ball went off the glove of shortstop Jimmy King. Peek alertly fielded the carom and threw out Dunn at first, but Voytovich scored to make it 7-5.

Farynick, who has been terrific in the back end of the Bison bullpen this season, punctuated a 1-2-3 ninth inning with back-to-back strikeouts to end it.

In addition to Corson's three hits, Adamo, Klein, and Keys registered two knocks apiece. Keys' three runs batted in give him 52 on the season, sixth-most in team history.

Peek, Egrie, and King -- the 7-8-9 hitters in the Holy Cross lineup -- collected two hits each and combined to go 6-for-10.