Spencer Stokes ’16 and Mark Powell ’17 were only two of the many athletes that helped lead the Orange and Blue men’s baseball to a successful weekend, improving the team’s overall record to 4-3. Over the weekend of Feb. 26-28, the team battled Tennessee Tech in a three-game series in which the Bison showed their strengths and prevailed to a 2-1 record on the weekend.

In the first of the weekend, the Bison fell 9-3 to their opponents. Danny Rafferty ’17 and Jon Mayer ’16 each contributed a double for the team, while teammates Joe Ogren ’16 and Powell offered a pair of singles. The opposing pitcher kept the Bison to a mere five hits and three runs in an effort to resist the Bison. Tennessee Tech gained two runs in the bottom of the first inning with a two-run home run. Following innings allowed the challengers to gain several single runs. Andrew Andreychik ’16 started off as the Bison pitcher and managed to strike our four batters by the fifth inning. In relief of Andreychik, Jack Grabek ’19, Hunter Robichaux ’19, Austin Zimmerman ’16, and PJ Strahm ’19 found a way to limit Tech to a mere three hits over the next 3.2 innings. In the ninth inning, Stokes posted a two-run home run in an effort to keep the Bison alive.

In the team’s rematch the following day, the Bison prevailed by a slim margin in their 3-2 victory. Stokes was again the star for the Bison, going three-for-four at bat, along with Sam Clark ’17 and Brett Smith ’17 who had two hits each. The Orange and Blue managed to tally a few single runs in the first, fourth, and sixth innings, while keeping Tennessee Tech to only two runs. Mike Castellani ’17 was the starting pitcher for the Bison; his strong game kept him on the mound until the sixth inning when he was relieved by teammate Jeff Gottesman ’19.

The third and final match-up between the Bison and Tennessee Tech ended in a 6-5 victory for the Orange and Blue. Pitchers Dan Keller ’16 and Max Kra ’16 managed to prevent any runs from their challengers in the first six innings. The team-high of three hits came from Rafferty. Other notable performances came from Ogren and Clark, who went 2-for-4 and 2-for-5, respectively. Powell, Luke Johnson ’18, and Ogren helped perpetuate the Bison lead with RBIs in the fourth and fifth innings. Mayer had his first home run of the year that brought in an extra three runs in the seventh inning.

The Bison look to return this weekend when they hit the road to compete in North Carolina at the USA Baseball-Irish Classic to compete against Brown, Notre Dame, and North Carolina State.