Baseball Splits Pair of Tight Contests at Lafayette

Saturday, April 8

Easton, Pa.

12 p.m.

Bucknell University

15-14, 8-5

Lafayette

8-23, 4-5

Bucknell

Lafayette

Photo by: Lianne Garrahan

Baseball Splits Pair of Tight Contests at Lafayette

4/8/2023 9:24:00 PM | Baseball

Box Score 1 Box Score 2

EASTON, Pa. – Bucknell and Lafayette both won games in their final at-bat on Saturday and split a Patriot League doubleheader at Kamine Stadium. Sean Keys capped a five-RBI game with a go-ahead three-run double in the seventh and final inning of Bucknell's 8-5 win in the opener, and then Michael Mallas hit a two-out, two-run double give the Leopards an 8-7 win in 12 innings in game two.

The Bison's four-run seventh inning gave them their 11th come-from-behind win and fifth in their final at-bat this season. Keys delivered the winning blow in three of those. He hit a walk-off three-run homer to beat Lehigh, he slammed a go-ahead three-run shot in the top of the ninth in Tuesday's wild win at Penn State, and in game one at Lafayette Bucknell trailed 5-4 until Keys cleared the bases with a double to the wall in right-center. That gave him 11 RBIs in a two-game span and a team-high 37 on the season.

SEAN KEYS DOES IT AGAIN! He smokes a bases-clearing double to give us the lead in the 7th! #rayBucknell

Watch: https://t.co/gKWWEC6dVm @PatriotLeagueTV | @ESPN pic.twitter.com/erIo83vXSx
— Bucknell Baseball ⚾️ (@Bucknell_BB) April 8, 2023

In game two it was Lafayette's turn for a dramatic comeback. The Leopards erased a two-run hole in the eighth and a one-run deficit in the 12th.

The two close games were far different from last month's doubleheader at Depew Field, when the Bison won 11-0 and 20-2. Lafayette has played well since then, however, winning six of their last 10, including taking three of four from rival Lehigh.

Bucknell (15-15, 8-6 PL) began the day in a tie for second place with Navy but dropped to third after the Midshipmen took two from Holy Cross. Lafayette (9-23, 5-5 PL) solidified its fourth-place standing with the split and will try to win the three-game series when the same two teams meet for a single game on Sunday at noon.

Bucknell 8, Lafayette 5 – Game 1

Trailing 5-4 heading to the seventh and final inning, the Bison came up with a rally that was eerily similar to their ninth-inning comeback at Penn State on Tuesday. In fact, the first three at-bats of the inning were identical: a sharply hit out by Kyle Lyons, and walk to Anthony Sherwin, and a single up the middle by Jacob Corson that put runners at the corners.

Grant Voytovich was hit by a pitch to load the bases, and then Keys hit a shot to the wall to score all three runners. Tyler Dunn followed with an RBI single to make it 8-5, and then Ryan Osinski induced two ground balls and an infield pop in a 1-2-3 ninth inning to record his fourth save.

Lafayette scored first on a couple of one-out doubles against Chris DiFiore (3-4) in the first inning, but the Bison tied it in the second when Dunn led off with a single and later scored on a double play grounder. One inning later the Bison surged in front on a two-run double by Keys and a two-out RBI double off the bat of Billy Kender.

The Leopards regained the lead with four runs on five hits in the fourth inning. Blaze Fadio sliced a two-run triple Easton Brenner doubled him home, and Michael Zarrillo gave Lafayette the lead back with an RBI single.

Lafayette starter Alex Walsh stranded a runner at second to end the sixth, and then the Leopards went to the bullpen for James Reese in the seventh, but the Bison touched him for four runs on three hits.

Both teams finished with eight hits in the game. Corson, Keys, and Dunn all had two for the Bison, while Zarrillo, Pete Ciuffreda, and Patrick Vandenbergh tallied two each for the Leopards.

Lafayette 8, Bucknell 7 (12 inn.) – Game 2

Bucknell's longest game of the season was a tough one to swallow, as Mallas drove in the tying and winning runs with a two-out shot off the wall in center in the bottom of the 12th.

The Bison had just taken a 7-6 lead on Voytovich's RBI single with the bases loaded in the top half of the inning, but they had to settle for just the one run. Theo Farynick (3-1), who was in his fifth inning of relief and was pitching well, yielded an infield hit and a walk in the 12th but was one out away from the win until Mallas, an injury replacement who didn't enter the game until the ninth inning, delivered for the Leopards.

Bucknell also seemed to be in good shape after two-out RBI singles from Sherwin and Corson gave the visitors a 6-4 lead in the eighth, but Seif Ingram tied it with a two-run homer in the bottom of the inning, Lafayette's fourth long ball of the game. Farynick did well to keep it 6-6 after coming in with a man at third and no outs, recording a ground ball, a strikeout, and a pop-up to strand the runner.

Lafayette nearly won it in the ninth. With runners at first and second and one out, Ingram hit a sharp ground ball to the right side, but Kender made a diving stop going to his left and started a 4-6-3 inning-ending double play.

WHAT A PLAY! Billy Kender not only prevents a game-winning hit, but he starts a double play to send us to the 10th. #rayBucknell #PLTop3

Watch: https://t.co/6HJwdCtgdq @PatriotLeagueTV | @ESPN pic.twitter.com/kTAqpJcVgb
— Bucknell Baseball ⚾️ (@Bucknell_BB) April 8, 2023

Zarrillo homered twice in the game for Lafayette, including an opposite-field shot off Will Greer to open the scoring in the first inning. Bucknell went up 3-1 on RBI singles by Dunn and Kender in the third and Corson in the fourth.

Back-to-back homers by Ciuffreda and Zarrillo in the bottom of the fourth gave Lafayette a 4-3 lead before the Bison tied it on Sherwin's triple in the sixth.

Each of Bucknell's first six runs in the game came with two outs.

Greer allowed four runs, only one of which was earned, in 6.2 innings. Lafayette used four pitchers in the nightcap, with Adam Bogosian working the final three innings to get the win.

The Bison collected 15 hits in the game, including three from Sherwin and two each from Corson, Voytovich, Nic Adamo, and Chris Klein. Adamo also had a walk and scored three runs, and after he led off the 12th with a base hit, his pinch-runner Mason Kelly made it four runs scored out of the eight spot in the Bucknell lineup.