Bison Use Long Ball to Post Seventh Straight Win, 7-3 over La Salle

Tuesday, March 31

Lewisburg, Pa.

3:30 p.m.

Bucknell University

15-11

La Salle

14-15

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	Runs R	Hits H	Errors E
La Salle	0	0	2	0	1	0	0	0	0	3	6	1
Bucknell	4	0	0	0	0	1	0	2	X	7	6	1

Photo by: Alisa Mitchell

Bison Use Long Ball to Post Seventh Straight Win, 7-3 over La Salle

3/31/2026 7:26:00 PM | Baseball

Box Score

LEWISBURG, Pa. – Garrett Mathias belted a first-inning grand slam and Ty Lagoni and Lleyton Coupe added important insurance runs with homers in the late innings, lifting the Bucknell baseball team to a 7-3 win over La Salle in a non-league game on Tuesday at Depew Field at Marren Park. The Bison won their seventh game in a row, matching their longest streak since 2023, and improved to 15-11 overall and 10-2 at home this season.

All seven Bucknell runs came via the homer, with Mathias' first career grand slam giving the home team a 4-0 lead only four batters into the bottom of the first inning. Billy Fluharty greeted La Salle starter Matt DeStefanis with a line drive right back through the box, and after a walk and an error, Mathias crushed a 1-1 pitch well over the wall in right.

🚨 GRAND SLAM!!

A no-doubter! After the first three Bison reached, Garrett Mathias crushes one over the wall in right and just like that it's 4-0. #rayBucknell pic.twitter.com/BopyqUh8Ax
— Bucknell Baseball ⚾️ (@Bucknell_BB) March 31, 2026

The Bison used a similar pitching setup as last week's 9-0 win over Penn State, when Frankie Bilecki, Dante Pavone, and Mikey Myro combined to blank the Nittany Lions. Bilecki made his second start of the season in this one, and allowed two runs and two hits over four innings. He got big double play balls to escape trouble in the first and second frames, and his only blemish was a Jayden Novak two-run homer in the third.

Pavone (2-0) allowed one run in his two innings of work, coming on a ground out with the bases loaded and no outs in the fifth. Third baseman Zach Selfon helped Bucknell escape further trouble when he threw out a runner at the plate for the second out and then charged a slow chopper and made a nice toss to first to end the inning. The left side of the Bison infield was terrific, as Selfon (7) and shortstop Lagoni (6) combined for 13 assists without an error.

Lagoni took Chase Forester deep in the sixth, a towering shot to right-center to make it a 5-3 game. Myro came out of the bullpen and struck out the side in the seventh. In the eighth he had two on with one out, but got out of it with a well-turned 1-6-3 double play, Bucknell's third twin killing of the day.

Coupe added two more insurance markers in the bottom of the eighth with a left-on-left, two-out homer on a 2-2 pitch.

Closer Hadley Maxwell, who leads the Patriot League with six saves, didn't get a chance for a seventh thanks to Coupe's homer making it a four-run lead, but he did shut the door in the ninth after a walk and a double to lead off the inning. Maxwell kept the Explorers off the board with a line out, a strikeout, and a ground ball to Selfon to end it.

Both teams were limited to six hits in a well-pitched game, and both teams made just one error. Fluharty had a two-hit game for the Bison, while Mathias drew three walks following his grand slam. Justin Szestowicki went 3-for-4 to account for half of La Salle's hits.

Bucknell will now head into the fourth weekend of Patriot League play with an 8-1 conference record, good for a two-game lead over Army. The Bison will visit Lafayette for three games, two on Saturday and one on Sunday. The Bison swept a three-game set at home against the Leopards to start league play, but Lafayette is coming off a big sweep of its own at Holy Cross followed by an 11-1 non-league rout of Villanova on Tuesday.