Thomas Walter
Senior Writer
The Bison travelled to Hamilton, N.Y. on April 6-7 to play four games against Patriot League rival Colgate. A fantastic effort from pitcher Amanda Fazio ’16 gave the Orange and the Blue a 7-0 victory in game one, marking the first win against the Raiders since the 2010 Patriot League Championships. The Bison could not match their success in game two as they fell 3-2 in extra innings. The Bison also lost both games of the doubleheader on April 7 by final scores of 4-2 and 8-5.
Fazio dominated game one, and recorded her second straight start without allowing any earned runs. Colie Escobar ’15 got the Bison on the board with a two-run homer in the second, and Fazio never let the lead slip away. Also adding RBI’s for the Bison were Cassie Greenhawk ’13, Cydnee Sanders ’15 and Erin Cox ’15. The Bison also got off to a quick start in game two thanks to an RBI double by Sanders, but the Raiders responded with two solo home runs. Though Courtney Conover ’14 tied up the game with an RBI single in the fifth, Fazio gave up a lone run in 3.2 innings of relief to give the game to the Raiders.
The Bison led early in games three and four, but both leads slipped away as Colgate came back to win each game. Escobar led the offense on April 7 by going 2-2 with another home run and a double, while Cox, Sanders and Mary Horton ’13 all recorded multi-hit games. The two losses moved the Bison’s record to 2-6 in the Patriot League, and 9-24 overall.
“So far our record hasn’t shown what we all would like to see, but that doesn’t mean we aren’t improving. Every game this year, I can see how much better we are than last year,” Escobar said. “We have the talent, we just need to regain the confidence and we are slowly making that progress. This weekend against Colgate showed us we have the potential to win any Patriot League game. As long as we continue to stay focused and keep playing our hardest, we will be successful.”
The Bison will look to earn some much-needed wins and leap up in the Patriot League standings as they host the Lafayette Leopards this weekend in another four-game series. The first pitch will be thrown Saturday at noon.