Last weekend the baseball team traveled to Colonial Heights, VA where they played four games against the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. The Bison ended up winning three out of four games.
The series opener took place on Friday, February 23. The Bison defeated UMass 9-7 in a late-inning rally.
At the end of the first inning, the Minutemen were up 2-1. The Orange and Blue scored when Grant Voytovich ’24 singled home Jacob Corson ’24. However, in the second inning, UMass added two more runs to create a greater 4-1 lead.
The Bison took their first lead of the game in the sixth inning when Sean Keys ’25 knocked in a go-ahead run with a single.
At the top of the seventh, UMass tied the game 6-6. When it was the Bisons’ at bat, Billy Kender ’25 led off with a triple, pinch-hitter Michael Trommer ’26 walked and Nic Adamo ’24 earned a base hit to send Kender home. After that, Brady Karp ’25 walked to load the bases, Corson was hit by a pitch to bring in Trommer and then the ninth run was scored on a balk.
UMass tried to catch up in the eighth but Nick Mulvey ’25 was flawless. Working a 1-2-3 ninth for his second save, Mulvey struck out a dangerous UMass hitter and forced a ground ball to Keys at third for the final out.
In this game, Jonathan Adelmann ’27 became the second Bison first-year in as many games to earn his first collegiate win on the mound. Two former Bison players who are now graduate students at UMass, Renn Lints ’22 and Jacob Terwilliger ’23, pitched for the Minutemen.
On Saturday, February 24, the Bison were supposed to play a doubleheader against UMass, but with lots of rain, game two was postponed to Sunday. During game one, the Bison were victorious 7-4.
For the second game in a row, the Minutemen came out with a 2-0 lead in the first inning. However, this time, the Bison struck back right away with four runs in the top of the second after Corson’s two-run single.
UMass tied it with two runs in the second but Hadley Maxwell ’26, Brady Swenson ’25, and Graeme Carroll ’24 pitched scoreless baseball over the final five innings.
Adamo broke the 4-4 deadlock with an RBI single in the third. In the sixth, he led off with a double, went to third on Chris Morabito’s ’27 single and scored on a double-play ground ball.
To end the game scoring, Keys smashed his second homer of the season in the top of the seventh to make it 7-4.
Sunday, February 25 was the final day of competition between the two teams. Mikey Myro ’26 became the fourth Bison pitcher this season to record his first career win and Carroll threw four hitless innings in relief. Furthermore, Andrew Swenson ’27 earned a milestone with his first career home run and Keys moved into 13th place on Bucknell’s career home runs list with his third of the season and 17th of his career. The Orange and Blue won the third game of the weekend but lost the fourth.
The first game on Sunday, the third on the weekend, the Bison won 8-4 in a 7-inning game. Trommer and Kender drove in two runs apiece and Keys provided insurance with his three-run homer. Relief pitchers Myro and Carroll were lights out covering the final 6 ⅔ innings.
Throughout the game, the Orange and Blue outhit UMass 7-3. Additionally, Keys made it to base on all four of his plate appearances and finished 2-for-2 with a homer, double, walk and hit by pitch.
The second game on Sunday and fourth on the weekend unfortunately ended in an 8-6 Bison loss.
In play, Corson and Swenson both smashed home runs, while Jake Schultz ’27 struck out five players and walked two in his four innings of work.
In the fifth inning, Dante Pavone ’27 made his collegiate debut and only allowed one run. The Bison pulled within 3-2 in the bottom of the fifth when Adamo led off with a single and scored on Swenson’s homer.
UMass scored five runs in the sixth, forcing the Bison to bring in Dylan Radtke ’27 who sent the Minutemen down 1-2-3.
Down 8-2 heading into their final frame, the Bison were able to scrape together a four-run rally but still fell short in an 8-6 loss.
This Saturday, the Orange and Blue will host Saint Joseph’s at home on Depew Field. They will play a doubleheader on Saturday and then travel to Philadelphia, PA on Sunday to play another game against Saint Joseph.
