By Andrew Arnao
Writer
The baseball team had a rough weekend after getting swept at Army, but managed to end the week on a positive note after winning game two of a home doubleheader against St. Bonaventure. Bison pitcher Bryson Hough ’15 was also named Patriot League Rookie of the Week.
“The Army series was a highly competitive one,” head coach Gene Depew said. “There was outstanding pitching on both sides. Army was successful because they played very solid defense throughout and we did not.”
The first two games against Army on Saturday were both pitching duels, with the Bison being defeated by final scores of 1-0 and 2-1. All of Army’s runs were unearned, spoiling dominant pitching efforts from both Dan Weigel ’14 and Hough. Weigel threw a complete game while allowing only four hits, while Hough pitched 7.1 innings and surrendered seven hits. The Bison offense struggled to score runs, with the only Bison lead coming from a first-inning RBI single by second baseman Travis Clark ’13 in game two.
“The series against Army this past weekend was really disappointing,” left fielder Matt Busch ’13 said. “Although our pitching was very good, our offense did not show up in any of the games. It’s really hard to lose three one-run games in a weekend, especially with our pitching staff doing so well.”
Game three saw the Bison fall victim to a no-hitter at the hands of Army pitcher Logan Lee, who carried a perfect game into the last inning until issuing a lead-off walk to center fielder Bob Donato ’12. The Black Knights won by a final score of 8-0.
Game four was perhaps the most painful for the Bison, as they fell by a final score of 2-1 after 15 innings, tied for the second-longest game in program history. Despite loading the bases in the 12th, 13th and 15th innings, the Orange and the Blue were unable to pull ahead. The winning run hit off Russell Seidell ’12 was unearned, ruining fantastic pitching efforts by Ryan Ebner ’12 and Alex Cillo ’12, who went a combined 13 innings while giving up only one run.
“Our pitching staff did a remarkable job shutting down the Army offense and giving our team the chance to win every game,” first baseman Luke Lombardi ’14 said. “A few timely hits separated us from what could have easily been a 3-1 weekend.”
The Bison endured another excruciating loss as they fell to St. Bonaventure 6-5 on Tuesday, with the Bonnies scoring the winning run in the top of the seventh inning. After falling behind 4-0, the Bison managed to climb back and tie the score 5-5, but were unable tack on any more runs.
The Bison rebounded nicely in game two, with six pitchers combining to throw a two-hit shutout in an eventual 5-0 victory. The game was highlighted by an unassisted triple play by shortstop Greg Wasikowski ’15 in the fourth inning. Wasikowski also led the Bison offense in RBIs, with two.
The Bison will face Lafayette in a four-game series over the last weekend of the regular season. They need two wins to clinch a spot in the Patriot League Tournament for the fifth straight year.
“We need to finish the last week of our regular season by getting back to making plays defensively and by getting some offensive momentum going,” Depew said. “As usual the postseason teams will be decided this last weekend of the season, and we are in control of our own destiny by having to beat Lafayette to make the four-team tournament.”