Bison Baseball took on doubleheaders against Lafayette and Lehigh, falling to the Leopards and splitting with the Mountain Hawks. The Orange and Blue dropped two extra-inning contests against Lafayette.
In both games against the Leopards, the Bison led midway through, but the Leopards came back to win. Tyler OʼNeill ʼ25 pitched eight innings with 10 strikeouts in game one. In game two, Everett Garber ʼ28 tossed five innings with a career-high six strikeouts. Tyler Dunn ʼ25 and Michael Trommer ʼ26 had a base hit in each game. Dunn extended his on-base streak to 22 games, drawing a walk in both games and being hit by a pitch. Errors were costly for both teams, and both of the Leopards’ runs scored in their 2-1 game one victory were unearned.
In game one, O’Neill retired the first 11 batters of the game before allowing a single. O’Neill allowed solely one unearned run off three hits. In the fifth inning, Dunn walked, and Trommer hit a triple to the right field wall to put the Bison on the board 1-0.
In the sixth inning, the Leopards tied the game after a dropped fly ball was followed by a double. Chris Morabito ʼ27 threw a runner out at home to prevent further scoring. Jonathan Adelmann ʼ27 got a quick out in the ninth and induced a double playball, but errors prevented the Bison from getting any outs from the play. A single brought a run home, putting the Leopards up 2-1. Adelmann stranded all three runners left on base, but the damage had already been done.
The Leopards got on the board early in game two. In the third inning, Dunn and Billy Kender ʼ25 drew walks. Ryan Facinelli ʼ26 hit a ground ball down the third-base line and beat the throw to put the Bison up 2-1. The Leopards tied the game in the fifth and scored another run in the eighth. Trommer hit a single in the bottom of the eighth, but a strikeout ended the inning and the Bison fell 3-2.
The Bison fell 1-0 to Lehigh in game one, but Trommer’s walk-off double helped the Bison win game two 6-5.
Ben Magovern ʼ25 worked out of a few jams before retiring 10 straight Mountain Hawks in game one. Adelmann came in and did his part to keep it a 1-0 ballgame. Despite having runners in scoring position in the seventh, a 6-3 double play ended game one.
In game two, the Bison overcame a 5-0 deficit, scoring four runs in the sixth inning. Dunn started the rally with a single, Kender walked and Trommer loaded the bases with a single. Facinelli launched a ball to center to plate the Bison’s first run. Morabito hit a sacrifice fly, and three batters later, John Calabrese ʼ28 hit a two-out, two-run single to make it a 5-4 ballgame. AJ Murray ʼ28 and Samuel Janik ʼ28 combined for 5.2 scoreless innings, Murray only allowing three hits and Janik not allowing any.
The Bison tied the game in the eighth. Facinelli led off the inning, getting hit by a pitch, moved to second on a passed ball and scored on a sharp double from Luke Nascimento ʼ27. In the bottom of the ninth, Kender worked a walk. Trommer hit a deep fly ball to the opposite field, and Kender easily scored from first, causing the Bison to erupt in celebration of their 6-5 win.
Up next, Bucknell faces off against Holy Cross at home, with games at 12:00 and 2:3o p.m. on Saturday, April 12 and 1:00 p.m. on Sunday, April 13.
