March 2, 2008

Box Score

RICHMOND, Va. - The Bucknell baseball team staved off a late-inning rally by Richmond, hanging on for a 12-11 victory on Sunday afternoon. With the win, the Bison improve to 3-2-2, while the Spiders fall to 3-5-1.

Senior Shawn Hirsch (Morristown, N.J./Morristown) put the Orange and Blue out in front, 3-0, in the first inning as his double to left center drove in junior Dane Grandizio (Bloomsburg, Pa./Bloomsburg), senior Mark Angelo (Quakertown, Pa./Quakertown) and senior Jason Buursma (Seattle, Wash./Lakeside School).

In the third, Grandizio led off with a double, moved to third on a sacrifice by Angelo and scored on a sacrifice fly by Buursma to bring the score to 4-0.

Bucknell then added two more in the fourth. Austin Turban (Northfield, Ill./New Trier) began the frame with a bunt single and later crossed the plate on a single by junior Bret Sokirka (Wyoming, Pa./Wyoming Area). Sokirka came around on an RBI single through the right side by sophomore Ben Allen (Port Royal, Pa./Juniata).

Richmond managed to get on the board in its next turn at-bat. With two gone in the inning, Evan Stehle sent a single up the middle that brought home Ryan Metzroth and Billy Barber who reached with back-to-back hits earlier in the frame.

The Bison took the runs back in the top of the seventh, bringing their advantage to 8-2. Buursma reached on an error and scored on a single by Hirsch. Hirsch crossed the plate on the next play, a double to right by Turban.

In the top of the eighth Angelo and Buursma began the inning with back-to-back singles. Hirsch then drove in his fifth run of the game with a single to right that plated Angelo. Buursma came in on a double play ball and Hirsch scored on a wild pitch for the team's 10th and 11th runs of the day.

However, the Spiders came storming back, scoring six times in the bottom of the frame on four hits, cutting their deficit to three at 11-8.

Bucknell tacked on what proved to be the winning run in the top of the ninth. Sophomore Andrew Brouse (Kreamer, Pa./Midd-West) walked, moved to third on a double by Angelo, and came home on an error.

In its final turn at the plate, Richmond threatened to complete its nine-run comeback. The Spiders already had two runs in the inning with no outs when senior David Solan (Newark, Del./Newark), who transferred to Bucknell from Richmond, entered to pitch to his former team. Solan struck out Billy Falasco, the first batter he faced, but walked Austin Reilly to force in a run. That would be all, however, as the left-hander fanned Hank Coogan and induced a groundout by Cameron Brown to pick up his first career save.

Freshman Eric Jarrett (Jersey Shore, Pa./Jersey Shore Area) started and collected his first collegiate win (1-1), holding Richmond to two runs on five hits with three walks and three strikeouts over 5.2 innings.

Rob Berzinskas took the loss (0-2) for the Spiders. The starter pitched four innings and surrendered six runs on five hits with four walks and two strikeouts.

Hirsch led the Bison offense with a career-best five RBI on 4-for-5 hitting, logging a double in the contest. Buursma scored a squad-high three times on the day, while Angelo went 3-for-4 at the plate with two runs scored.

Bucknell next travels to Bradenton, Fla., for its annual Spring Break trip, beginning with a game against IPFW next Sunday, Mar. 9, at 10:30 a.m.