The men’s baseball team had an exciting weekend, as it beat Lehigh in a four-game series on April 2-3.

“It was a big series win to start off the Patriot League season. We are looking forward to taking that momentum into next week’s series at Army,” Spencer Stokes ’16 said.

Stokes had a career-high of four runs in the first game, thanks to an RBI double in the first as well as a three-run triple in the fourth inning.

Andrew Andreychik ’16 held Lehigh scoreless for the first six innings in the first game of the series. Andreychik was just one shy of his sixth shutout when the Mountain Hawks heated up with five batters reaching base. The Bison built a lead by scoring in each of the first five innings. Sam Clark ’17 was 2-for-2 and Joe Ogren ’16 was 1-for-2 at the plate. Luke Johnson ’18 and Jon Mayer ’16 each had an RBI ground out in the second and third, respectively. Jeff Gottesman ’19 came in to close the game with his first career save as he stopped Lehigh’s rally. The final score of the game was 7-5.

In the second game, Brett Smith ’17 scored the only run for the Bison in the first inning, getting on base with a triple and scoring on a single by Danny Rafferty ’17. Mike Castellani ’17 allowed 11 hits and five runs as he started the second game. Max Kra ’16 did a terrific job in long relief, as he retired seven of the first nine hitters he faced. Mike Stephens ’18 and Austin Zimmerman ’16 came to pitch the final four outs without giving up a run. The damage had been done with the final score of the game, a lopsided 10-1 loss.

In the first game on April 3, Dan Keller ’16 completed his first career game and came away with a victory. He pitched a shut out to the fifth inning, retiring the first 10 hitters. Keller only allowed four hits with seven strikeouts in seven innings pitched, giving up just two runs. The Bison scored in each of the first three innings. Tommy Pennington ’16, Smith, Clark, and Stokes had two hits apiece. Pennington also drove in two runs alongside Rafferty, Ogren, and Clark. The final score was 11-2 in favor of the Bison.

In the series-deciding final game, Lehigh tied the game at three in the top of the seventh. The Bison quickly came back, as Clark scored the winning run with timely hitting by Mike Korchak ’18 and Johnson in the eighth. Jack Grabek ’19 and Gottesman combined to pitch an outstanding game. Gottesman relieved Grabek, only allowing one hit and one run and striking out three in 3.2 innings. Grabek allowed five hits and two runs in 5.1 innings. The Orange and Blue closed out game four with a 4-3 victory.

After a 6-4 loss to St. Bonaventure in a non-conference game on April 6, the Bison attempt to continue their Patriot League success against Army in a four-game series on April 9-10 at West Point.