Baseball Drops Final Non-League Game at Villanova

VILLANOVA, Pa. – The Bucknell baseball team dropped an 11-1, seven-inning decision at Villanova in its final non-conference game of the regular season on Tuesday at Villanova Ballpark. Sophomore Michael Chiaravallo belted his first career home run in the fifth inning, but five Wildcats pitchers limited the Bison to three hits.

It was a bullpen day for the Bison pitching staff, as senior Brady Swenson led a parade of eight hurlers to the mound. Swenson induced a couple of key double-play balls in his two innings of work, allowing only one run in the second on a two-out triple by Jojo Montgomery.

Kobe Julks inherited a bases-loaded, no-outs jam when he entered in the third inning, and he did well to escape with only two of the inherited runners scoring. Chiaravallo gunned down a man at the plate from left field to save another run. Julks then worked around a hit batsman and a walk in the fourth, giving him two scoreless innings on his ledger.

Meanwhile, the Bison had yet to register a hit until the fifth, when Chiaravallo led off the inning with an opposite-field shot for his first career homer, cutting the deficit to 3-1. He later added a double in the seventh inning and finished 2-for-2 with a walk and the outfield assist. Brady Karp also reached base in all three of his plate appearances with a single, a walk, and his team-leading 11th hit-by-pitch of the season.

Villanova got the run back in the bottom of the fifth when Collin Quintano followed three straight walks with a sacrifice fly. Frankie Bilecki retired Tyler Shaw on a ground ball to the right side to strand a pair and keep it a 4-1 game, but the floodgates opened when the Wildcats scored four times in the sixth inning and three more in the seventh to end it.

Now 14-25 on the season, the Bison have six more games remaining, all in Patriot League play. Bucknell hosts Army in a three-game series this Friday through Sunday and then finishes up with three at Lafayette on May 3-4.

Baseball Drops Final Non-League Game at Villanova

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Team Stats

Michael Chiaravallo

Brady Karp

Billy Kender

Matt Alexander

Players Mentioned

Frankie Bilecki

Michael Chiaravallo

Kobe Julks

Brady Karp

Brady Swenson