Baseball Downed by Navy in Doubleheader

Saturday, March 22

Annapolis, Md.

1 p.m.

Bucknell University

8-12, 0-2

Navy

11-10, 4-1

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	Runs R	Hits H	Errors E
Bucknell	0	0	1	0	3	0	0	4	7	0
Navy	2	0	2	1	1	0	X	6	8	3

Photo by: Alisa Mitchell

3/22/2025 8:15:00 PM | Baseball

Box Score 1 Box Score 2 Photo Gallery Photo Gallery 2

ANNAPOLIS, Md. – The Bucknell baseball team dropped both games of its doubleheader on Saturday at Terwilliger Brothers Field. Navy took early leads in both games, and comeback bids by the Bison fell just short of the mark as the Mids took the games 6-4 and 13-12, respectively.

Juniors Michael Trommer and Ryan Facinelli had career days for the Bison in Games 2 and 3 of the four-game weekend series. Trommer was 5-for-8 on the day with two RBIs and a walk. He racked up four hits in Game 3 for the second time in his career, and reached base in all five plate appearances.

Facinelli had a career-high five hits in Game 3, driving in a career-high three runs. Facinelli was a triple shy of the cycle after four innings, and he launched his second career home run. Senior Billy Kender was the last Bison to go for five hits in a game against Lafayette on April 28, 2024. Facinelli's previous high was two hits.

Senior Tyler Dunn had two hits in each game, extending his hitting streak to five games and his on-base streak to 14 games. Dunn had the first two Bison RBIs of Game 2, starting off a big fifth inning rally. Dunn has 10 hits in the last five games and is now batting .362 on the season.

Sophomore Luke Nascimento was 2-for-4 with three RBIs in Game 3 after reaching base four times in Game 1. He is now on a three-game hitting streak with four RBIs in the last two games.

Chris Morabito picked up three RBIs with a three-run homer in Game 3 for his first of the season. Freshman John Calabrese reached base safely in all four plate appearances of Game 3, grabbing his third RBI on the season. Calabrese is batting .381 in nine games for the Bison.

Game 1: Navy 6, Bucknell 4 (7 inn.)

Bucknell's (8-12, 0-3 PL) comeback bid came up just short as a three-run fifth inning was not enough to overcome the Midshipmen in Game 2 of the series. Navy (12-10, 5-2 PL) used the long ball, scoring four of its six runs on three home runs.

Victor Izquierdo's two-run home run in the third inning gave the Midshipmen a 4-1 lead before Tyler Bouchard made it 5-1 with solo shot in the fourth.

Bucknell's three-run frame closed the deficit to 5-4, but another solo home run from Brock Murtha gave the Midshipmen an insurance run.

The Bison got a runner on board in both the sixth and seventh innings, but stranded them at second both times.

Tyler Dunn, Billy Kender and junior Garrison Bullock all had two hits, and accounted for six of Bucknell's seven hits in the game. Dunn got the Bison on the board with an RBI triple in the third inning to score sophomore Billy Fluharty.

Calabrese kicked off the three-run rally by reaching on an error and moving to second on a ground out. Dunn was at it again with his second RBI on a single to left. Kender and Trommer then followed suit with RBIs in the next two at-bats.

Freshman Samuel Janik threw two innings in relief of junior Ben Magovern. Janik gave up a lead off homer in the fifth, but did not allow another run.

Landon Kruer closed out the seventh inning for the Midshipmen to earn his 29th career save, setting a new Patriot League record.

Game 2: Navy 13, Bucknell 12 (7 inn.)

Another comeback bid by the Bison came up just short. This time, Navy took a booming 13-2 lead after just two innings in Game 3. Bucknell got crooked numbers in four straight innings to make it a 13-12 game after five innings, but went scoreless in the last two as Navy closed out its third win of the series in the seven-inning contest.

The Bison chipped away at the lead in the first few innings with two runs in the second and three in the third. Facinelli launched a solo home run to left to make it 13-5 in the third. Bucknell felt the offensive momentum with a five-run fourth inning, highlighted by Morabito's three run homer to right field to get the Bison within four runs.

The fifth inning rally continued with Facinelli's third hit of the game, setting up an RBI single by Calabrese. Dunn led off the fifth inning with a double, and Trommer and Facinelli roped RBI singles to make it 13-12.

Trommer and Facinelli both singled again in the seventh, marking their fourth and fifth hits of the game, respectively. Calabrese was then hit with a pitch to load the bases with two outs. With the tying run 90 feet away, Navy forced a ground out to strand all three runners and take the win.

The Bison out-hit Navy 17-13 in the ballgame, but BU stranded 12 runners on base. The Bison left the bases loaded in three separate innings.

Juniors Nick Mulvey and Hadley Maxwell shut down the Midshipmen after their 13-run explosion over the first two innings. Mulvey took over a messy situation in the second, where he allowed three runs to come home. The lefthander bounced back with scoreless innings in the third and fourth as the Bison pitched their comeback.

Maxwell took over with two runners on, walking his first batter to load the bases with nobody out. Maxwell quickly worked two strikeouts and a ground out to strand all three runners, then fanned more two batters in the sixth inning. Maxwell's ERA is down to 1.42 in 12.2 innings, and the righty has amassed 16 strikeouts.

Bucknell and Navy are set for a 1 p.m. start tomorrow at Terwilliger Brothers Field for the series finale. Bucknell will look for its first Patriot League win after Navy took the first three games of the series.