Bison Baseball continued their Patriot League play with doubleheaders against Holy Cross and Army. The Orange and Blue first traveled to Fitton Field and swept the Holy Cross Crusaders. A five-run seventh inning led the Bison to a 6-5 comeback victory. They carried their momentum into game two and won 20-8.
Billy Kender ʼ25 led the team with four hits throughout the day, going 1-for-4 with an RBI in game one and 3-for-6 with two RBIs and a walk in game two. Billy Fluharty ʼ27 had four RBIs, three of which came in game two. Chris Morabito ʼ27 had two hits, a walk and a career-high five RBIs; both of his hits were triples, his second and third of the season. Tyler Dunn ʼ25 extended his hitting and on-base streaks to eight and 17, respectively. Dunn had two RBIs and four walks in game two, becoming the eighth Bison to walk four times in a game. John Calabrese ʼ28 had a hit in each game, with two RBIs and two walks in game two. Garrison Bullock ʼ26 reached base in all six of his at-bats in game two, going 2-for-2 with three RBIs, three runs scored, two walks and a hit-by-pitch.
In game one, the Bison trailed 5-1 going into the seventh and final inning. The Orange and Blue began the inning with five consecutive hits, with RBIs coming from Brady Karp ʼ25, Fluharty and Dunn to bring the score to 5-4. A slow ground ball from Kender brought Fluharty home, beating the throw to the plate to tie the ballgame. Ryan Facinelli ʼ26 launched a ball to the right-centerfield gap to score Kender and give the Bison the 6-5 lead.
Tyler O’Neill ʼ25 earned his 195th career strikeout and moved up to third on Bucknell’s all-time strikeouts list. O’Neill got two quick outs in the seventh inning before Jonathan Adelmann ʼ27 forced a ground out to end the game with a Bison victory.
The Orange and Blue carried this momentum into game two, and they were up 7-0 after three innings. The Crusaders responded with five runs, but the Bison scored 13 more runs to bring the final score to 20-8. The Bison set a program record with 20 walks and tied the team record with seven hit batters. The Bison brought in 20 runs off of just 11 hits. Seven different Bison had multiple RBIs, Fluharty and Bullock each with three and Morabito with five from his two triples.
Fluharty began the scoring with a two-run double in the second inning. Michael Trommer ʼ26 brought in three runs via three walks, Bullock and Calabrese also drew three walks and Dunn drew a record-tying four. Karp had an RBI sacrifice bunt, walked and got hit by a pitch.
Everett Garber ʼ28 started off strong on the mound for the Bison with four scoreless innings until the fifth. Samuel Janik ʼ28 entered in the fifth inning and worked three quick outs, throwing a 1-2-3 sixth inning before allowing a run in the seventh. Janik earned his first career win.
Next, the Bison traveled to West Point, N.Y., to take on a doubleheader against Army, losing both games 14-8 and 9-7. Calabrese had five hits and two RBIs throughout the day, recording his first career three-hit game and is now batting .459 for the season.
Trommer hit his second and third home runs of the season, a three-run shot in the first inning of game one and a solo homer in game two. Dunn extended his hitting streak to 10 games and his on-base streak to 19 games. Calabrese departed from the four-game weekend with a .592 on-base percentage and a 1.160 OPS, Dunn with a .511 on-base percentage, .358 batting average and 1.093 OPS. Fluharty increased his hitting streak to five games and on-base streak to 11 with a hit in each game. Karp extended his on-base streak to nine games and hit his first home run of the season, and he was hit by a pitch, totaling being hit by eight pitches in the 12 games he’s played this season. Morabito reached base in eight of his nine plate appearances of the day with a hit and three walks in each game.
In game one against Army, the Bison had a seven-run first inning, but the Black Knights came back with two runs in the first and six runs in the second. Luke Nascimento ʼ27 scored on a wild pitch to tie the game at 8-8, but Army responded with more runs, bringing the final score to 14-8.
In game two, the game was tied 5-5 in the fifth. Morabito, Facinelli, Bullock, Calabrese and Karp contributed to the three-run fifth inning for the Bison. The Black Knights responded with four runs. Adelmann came in as relief in the fifth inning and allowed an inherited run to score and then pitched three scoreless innings with four strikeouts. Trommer’s home run and Facinelli’s sacrifice fly brought the score of the game to its final of 9-7.
Next, the Bison take on Lehigh at home on April 5.
