Bucknell University Athletics
Bucknell University
6-7
Florida Atlantic
13-3
Baseball Drops Spring Break Opener at Florida Atlantic, 15-8
3/11/2025 11:15:00 PM | Baseball
Billy Fluharty recorded his first career three-hit game and Ryan Facinelli and Matt Alexander both had two hits and two runs batted in for the Bison, who fell to 6-7 on the season. Facinelli had two extra-base hits with a double and a triple, and Michael Trommer also had two hits.
Bucknell broke open a 1-1 tie with four runs in the top of the fourth inning. Michael Chiaravallo walked with one out, stole second, and advanced to third when the throw skipped into center field. Alexander brought home Chiaravallo with a ground ball, but the Bison weren't done with two outs and nobody on. Fluharty singled and scored on Billy Kender's double into the right-center alley. After Tyler Dunn walked, Facinelli found the same gap for a two-run double and a 5-1 lead.
Freshman Everett Garber started and was at his best with runners on base. In his three innings of work, Garber allowed three hits and five walks, but he struck out five and allowed only one run. Brady Swenson got in on the escape artist act in the fourth inning. After loading the bases with no outs, he got a line-drive double play and a fly ball to keep it a 5-1 game.
After stranding nine runners through four innings, the Owls (13-3) finally broke loose with five runs on only one hit against Bryce Mitchell in the fifth. Their only hit of the inning was a pop fly to shallow center that was not caught and allowed a run to score. After a bases-loaded walk made it 5-3, Mitchell got a big out on a short fly ball to left and then made another good pitch to induce a seemingly routine fly ball, but it was misplayed into a three-run error and FAU suddenly had a 6-5 lead.
The Owls tacked on three more in the sixth, two in the seventh on a Patrick Ward home run, and four in the eighth. Bucknell got a rally going in the ninth and played a couple of runs. Freshman John Calabrese lined a pinch-hit RBI single in his first collegiate at-bat, and Alexander singled home pinch-runner Jaxon Beiswenger. The Bison still had men at the corners with one out, but a ground ball double play ended it.
Bucknell used seven pitchers in the game, and they combined for nine strikeouts and 17 walks, one shy of the school record.
Ward went 3-for-4 with four RBIs, and Marshall Lipsey reached base five times with two hits and three walks for FAU. Braden Ostrander was the winning pitcher in relief, as he allowed one run over 1.2 innings with five strikeouts. Starter Zach Kilby allowed four runs, three earned, on five hits in 3.2 innings.
The Bison and Owls will complete their two-game series on Wednesday at 4 p.m.
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Braden Ostrander (1-0)
L: Mitchell, Bryce (0-1)
Batting:
2B: Kender, Billy 1 ; Facinelli, Ryan 1 ; Morabito, Chris 1
3B: Facinelli, Ryan 1
RBI: Kender, Billy 1 ; Facinelli, Ryan 2 ; Calabrese, John 1 ; Alexander, Matt 2
Base Running:
RUNS: Kender, Billy 1 ; Dunn, Tyler 1 ; Facinelli, Ryan 1 ; Trommer, Michael 1 ; Beiswenger, Jaxon 1 ; Morabito, Chris 1 ; Chiaravallo, Michael 1 ; Fluharty, Billy 1
SB: Kender, Billy 1 ; Morabito, Chris 1 ; Chiaravallo, Michael 1 ; Fluharty, Billy 1
HBP: Nascimento, Luke 1
Batting:
2B: Marshall Lipsey 1
3B: Marshall Lipsey 1
HR: Patrick Ward 1
RBI: Marshall Lipsey 3 ; Ayden Garcia 1 ; Patrick Ward 4 ; Joey Slattery 1 ; Kyle Boylston 1
SH: John Martinez 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Marshall Lipsey 3 ; Jake Duer 1 ; Ayden Garcia 2 ; John Schroeder 2 ; Patrick Ward 3 ; Joey Slattery 1 ; Kyle Boylston 1 ; Brando Leroux 1 ; Nick Romano 1
SB: John Schroeder 1 ; Patrick Ward 1
HBP: John Schroeder 1 ; Patrick Ward 1
