Bucknell Baseball faced Lehigh and Lafayette over the weekend, both in doubleheader series. On Saturday, the Bison started the weekend strong with a two-game sweep over Lafayette.
In the first game, Bucknell controlled the entire way, never trailing the Leopards. After a scoreless first two innings, Sean Keys ’25 smashed a homer to put the Orange and Blue up. Then in the fourth, Bucknell tacked on three more runs behind two RBI singles from Brady Karp ’25 and Billy Kender ’25.
Tyler O’Neill ’25 pitched a complete game, shutting out Lafayette through the first four innings, then retiring eight of the last nine batters to seal the 4-2 win for Bucknell.
Game two of the day saw the bats come alive for both teams in an exciting extra-innings battle.
In a game that featured a combined 23 runs, 23 hits and 18 walks, the Bison were still able to squeeze the second game out.
Bucknell was hot early, getting off to a scorching 11-3 lead after scoring seven runs in the fourth. But, Lafayette made a quick push back. The Leopards scored two in the fourth, another two in the fifth and four in the seventh to come all the way back and tie the game.
Relievers Graeme Carroll ’24 and Nick Mulvey ’25 were able to then come in and silence the scoring run to keep the game tied.
After a scoreless eighth and ninth extra innings, Bucknell was finally able to take back the lead in the top of the tenth inning behind some stellar work from the freshmen. Luke Nascimento ’27 led the inning off with a single up the middle, then Chris Morabito ’27 ripped another single up the middle in a pinch-hit opportunity to drive Nascimento home, giving the Bison a 12-11 lead.
Carroll and Mulvey closed out the game on the mound in extras, giving the Bison the sweep.
Then on Sunday, Bucknell faced off against Lehigh in another doubleheader, where the team dropped both in tight contests.
In the first game, the Bison got out to an early 3-0 lead in the first behind a Tyler Dunn ’25 RBI single followed by a Morabito walk with the bases loaded.
Jack O’Malley ’27 got the start on the mound, striking out five batters over the first two innings of the game.
The game took a turn in the bottom of the fourth, where Lehigh would get hot on offense, putting four runs on the board.
A seventh-inning rally from the Bison almost got them back in it, but a costly 1-4-3 double play gave Lehigh the victory 6-4.
In game two, it was another gritty contest where Bucknell outhit Lehigh 9-4 in a nine inning game.
After giving up two runs in the first inning, Bucknell responded with four of their own in the second. Billy Fluharty ’27 and Karp knocked a couple singles and Kender smashed an RBI double. Then, Keys stacked it on more with a 3-run home run of his own to make the score 4-2.
The Mountain Hawks tied it back up 4-4 in the third, then took a 6-4 lead in the fourth on a two-out error by Bucknell.
Michael Trommer ’26 went 3-3 and hit his first career home run in the eighth to bring the Orange and Blue within one, but they were shut down in the final inning, giving Lehigh the win 6-5.
The Bison are now 12-19 overall and 5-10 in the Patriot League. They next go to Army this weekend for a three-game series.
