Andrew Arnao

Staff Writer

The men’s baseball team went 3-3 over the past week, splitting a four-game series at Saint Joseph’s over the weekend and also splitting a doubleheader at home against Binghamton on Tuesday. The Orange and the Blue are now 12-11 for the season.

“The Saint Joseph’s series was very competitive, with three games decided by one run,” head coach Gene Depew said. “I think the biggest positive for us was that we got quality pitching throughout the weekend.”

Friday’s game against Saint Joseph’s was incredibly close, with the Bison taking the lead twice, but the Hawks managed to tie the score in the bottom of the inning both times. The Bison went ahead for good on a two-out RBI single by Robb Scott ’13 in the eighth inning, and finished the game with a 4-3 victory. Pitcher Dan Weigel ’14 pitched 7.2 innings to improve his record to 5-1, and Alex Cillo ’12 recorded his fourth save.

“We played very well defensively, and since most of our pitchers are not big strikeout guys, we rely heavily on the defense to make plays, which they have done very well all year,” Weigel said. “Shortstop Robb Scott also had a huge weekend, hitting over .500 including a game winning RBI single in game one while playing great defense all weekend.”

Games two and three on Saturday were both low-scoring, with the Bison winning game two by a final score of 4-3 and the Hawks winning game three 2-1. In game two, pitcher Ryan Ebner ’12 received four runs of support in the second inning and made it last, giving up only two runs over six innings. In game three, Bryson Hough ’15 threw a complete game while allowing only two runs, but the Bison offense was unable to back him up, scoring only one run on an error. The offense struggled again in game four, resulting in a 7-1 defeat.

“The pitching was overall very solid against St. Joseph’s this past weekend,” Hough said. “Even though the hitting was a little off this past weekend, we’re not particularly worried about it. I’ve seen our hitters do some amazing stuff in our past games, so I know it’s definitely there.”

The Bison won the first game of the Binghamton doubleheader 2-1 behind tremendous pitching from Russell Seidell ’12, who threw a complete game and gave up only one run. Infielder Will Mooney ’14 drove in the eventual winning run in the fifth inning. Binghamton managed to split the doubleheader by ending the second game in a 10-4 Bison loss.

The Bison have their first Patriot League matchup this weekend with a four-game homestead against Holy Cross, starting at 12 p.m. tomorrow.

“It’s an exciting part of the season for us as we head into Patriot League play this weekend,” Scott said. “It’s time to see what we’re made of.”