The Bison baseball team played in a doubleheader at Army on March 23 and another doubleheader at Holy Cross on March 24. The Orange and Blue went 1-1 in both series, then tacked on a non-conference win against Villanova. Their record improved to 7-18 overall and 2-6 in Patriot League play.

The opening game against Army was a tough one for the Bison, as they lost 11-1 against the Black Knights. Two lead-off walks and a home run by the Black Knights put the Orange and Blue in an early hole. In the top of the third, the Bison scored a run after Dominic Toso ’21 hit a double that allowed Caleb Broughton ’21 to come home from first base. This would prove to be the Bison’s only run of the game, as Army scored six in the bottom half of the third and held a comfortable lead up until the end, winning 11-1.

In the second game, the Orange and Blue bounced back to register their first shutout of the season with a 2-0 victory. Game two proved to be a pitching-battle, as the Bison were led by Nate Grisius ’20, who tossed seven shutout innings and only allowed two hits while striking out four. Hunter Robichaux ’19 then retired four of the six batters he faced by strikeout and sealed the team’s first shutout since April 21, 2018 against Lehigh. The offense was provided by Alex Baumann’s ’20 RBI double in the first and Jack Schuler’s ’21 sacrifice groundout in the second to give the team a 2-0 win. It was a huge win for the Orange and Blue, who were able to snap an 11-game losing streak.

“We started to play better fundamental baseball in the second game at Army, throwing strikes, making the routine plays, and executing situational hitting,” Luke Hartman ’19 said. “Nate [Grisius] gave us a big spark on the mound. He set the tone early, and we were able to feed off of that.”

The team then traveled to Worcester, Mass. to take on the Holy Cross Crusaders. In the opening game, the Bison collected a back-to-back victory with a final score of 8-4. The Bison got out to an early, commanding lead with a two-RBI double by Miles Moore ’19. In the fourth, Will Gannon ’22 hit a solo home run to stretch the lead to 5-0. After Ben Smith ’21 and Broughton both scored on an error, the lead rose to five runs. This advantage was enough for the Orange and Blue to come away with the 8-4 victory, as the Crusaders were only able to plate four runs on the afternoon.

The final game of the weekend was close, but the team eventually fell to Holy Cross 6-5. Baumann started the opening half with a double and went on to steal third. Then an error allowed Chris Cannizzaro ’22 to get on base and Baumann to score. Evan Madigan ’20 then hit a double and after a passed ball, Cannizzaro was able to score.

The Bison held a 4-0 lead heading into the fifth. In the bottom of the fifth, the Crusaders made their move and scored three runs to cut the lead to one. In the next inning, Holy Cross scored three more runs to bring the score to 6-4. The Bison scored once more with an RBI single by Schuler, but the comeback fell short at 6-5.

The Bison collected their third win in four games on March 26 as they beat Villanova 10-5 on the road. Pitcher Nicholas Sadd ’21 picked up his first career win, as he gave up four runs on 11 hits through six innings of work. Madigan went 2-4 at the plate with two RBIs and three runs.

The team will next be in action when they open a three-game series at home against Army on March 30.