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Series To Conclude Saturday

Worcester, Mass. – After Bucknell rallied to take the lead with four runs in the top of the ninth, Holy Cross scored a pair of two-out runs for a walk-off, 8-7, victory over the Bison in game one of the Patriot League Baseball Championship series on Friday evening at Fitton Field.

The Crusaders will go for their first Patriot League Baseball title on Saturday, when the teams square off in game two of the series at 1 p.m. If the Bison win that contest, game three will follow 30 minutes after the conclusion of game two and the winner will be crowned Patriot League champion.

Holy Cross' Matt Perry (Courtesy Patriot League)

In the bottom of the ninth, Matt Perry walked to get on base and moved to second on a wild pitch. The Crusaders were down to their final strike before Eric Oxford drove in Perry with the tying run on a single up the middle. Steve Tkowski came up next, and hit what appeared to be a routine fly ball to right field. However, Bucknell’s Andrew Brouse lost the ball in the lights and pinch-runner Chris Blanchard came around to score on what ended up as a double for Tkowski.

Bucknell used the long ball to even the score in the top of the ninth inning, and added another run to take the lead. Bob Donato hit a two-run home run and Scott Reed followed with a solo shot to tie the score at 6-6, and Ben Yoder singled in a run with two outs to give the Bison a 7-6 edge heading to the bottom of the ninth.

The Crusaders led most of the way leading into the final inning. After scoring the first run of the game in the third inning, Bucknell took a brief lead when Brouse hit a two-run home run in the fourth. Holy Cross responded with two runs on a Brendan McCrea double in the bottom of the frame, and added another run in the bottom of the fifth.

Holy Cross built a 6-2 lead in the seventh inning on a two-run home run by Stephen Wadsworth, while Bucknell got a run back in the eighth to set up the wild ninth inning.

Perry finished 3-for-4 with two runs and two RBIs to pace the Crusader offense, while Tkowski was 2-for-5 with a run and an RBI. Nate Koneski had a strong start through eight innings before giving up the home runs in the ninth, and ended with six runs and 10 hits allowed over eight innings. Bobby Holmes gave up the go-ahead run in the ninth but picked up the victory as the offense rallied.

Yoder, Brouse and Donato each had two hits with a run and two RBIs for the Bison. David Duffett was 2-for-4 with the go-ahead run in the ninth. Dylan Seeley allowed six runs, five earned, in seven innings on the mound, while Steve Carlin suffered the loss in relief.

Friday, May 21 Championship Series (Best-of-Three)
Holy Cross 8, Bucknell 7 (Game 1)	6 p.m.	Box Score | Recap | Audio
Saturday, May 22 Championship Series (Best-of-Three)
No. 4 Bucknell at No. 3 Holy Cross (Game 2)	1 p.m.	Box Score | Recap | Audio
No. 4 Bucknell at No. 3 Holy Cross (Game 3-If Necessary)	4 p.m.	Box Score | Recap | Audio

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FIU’s Wittels Heads This Week’s “By The Numbers”…

Garrett Wittels (FIU photo)

45…Game hitting streak by Florida International’s Garrett Wittels.  The sophomore had at least one hit in each of FIU’s three wins over South Alabama over the weekend to tie Roger Schmuck of Arizona State (1971) for the third longest Division One hitting streak of all-time.

47…Game hitting streak by Phil Stephenson of Wichita State in 1981 for the second longest streak in NCAA history.  Oklahoma State’s Robin Ventura’s 58 game streak (which ended at the 1987 College World Series) is the longest in DI history.

3…Teams that have qualified for the 2010 NCAA Baseball Tournament.  San Diego and Cal State Fullerton joined Ivy League champ Dartmouth by claiming the their regular season crowns over the weekend.  San Diego won the WCC thanks to losses by Portland, while Fullerton claimed at least a share of the Big West after sweeping Long Beach State.  The Titans own the tie-breaker with UC Irvine and need just one win or one Cal State Northridge loss to win the title outright.

18-2…Fullerton’s record in its last 20 games since losing game one of its series vs. Irvine back on April 9th.

19…Straight NCAA Tournament appearances Fullerton will make when it plays in its NCAA regional this season.  It’s the third longest active streak in the nation behind Miami (37) and Florida State (32).

47…Days it took to complete TCU‘s 19-17 win in 12 innings over Air Force to clinch the 2010 Mountain West

Matt Purke (TCU photo)

Conference Championship.  The game began on March 28th in Colorado Springs, and was suspended due to weather.  It resumed in the 7th inning Friday afternoon in Ft. Worth with TCU leading 16-15.

12…Strikeouts by TCU pitcher Matt Purke, who gave-up just a run on five hits in six innings of relief in that game to improve to 10-0.  The freshman is the Horned Frog’s regular Friday starter.

8…Home runs TCU hit in that game to help the Horned Frogs to a new school record total of 84 HR hit this season.  The record had stood since 1998.

3…Weekend wins by Kentucky (29-23, 12-15) over LSU to hand the defending national champions their fourth straight SEC series loss.  The Tigers (34-18, 12-15) have lost 11 of their last 12 SEC games and 12 of their last 14 games overall.

19…Years since Kentucky had last swept a weekend series from LSU.

21…Years since LSU played in the NCAA Tournament but did not host a Regional.  The Tigers played in College Station Texas that year.  LSU has hosted 18 NCAA Regionals since then, but could find themselves on the road when the tournament starts this year.

16-8…Score by which Indiana trailed Kentucky heading into the bottom of the 8th inning of Tuesday’s game vs. Kentucky.  The Hoosiers plated five runs with two outs in the 8th and then added three more in the 9th to force extra innings before Michael Early’s walk-off hit gave IU an improbable 18-17 victory.

0-for-6…What Early was at the plate in the game prior to drilling a pitch off the left field wall to plate Dylan Smith with the game-winning run.

4 & 7…Home runs hit and RBI’s by St. John’s left fielder Jeremy Baltz in Friday’s 8-5 win over #6 Louisville (the Red

Jeremy Baltz (SJU photo)

Storm lost the other two games in the series).  The freshman leads St. John’s with a .412 average, 18 home runs and 68 RBIs this season.

14-0…Northwestern’s lead over Michigan in the middle of the third inning Sunday in Ann Arbor.

15-14…The final score of Michigan’s comeback win over the Wildcats.  The game ended on Mike Dufek’s walk-off home run in the bottom of the 10th inning.

5 2/3…Scoreless innings pitched by Wolverine reliever Matt Miller to pick-up the win.  The junior struck out seven and gave-up just two hits to keep the Wildcats scoreless while Michigan scored the last nine of its 15 unanswered runs.

14…Straight games Virginia has won after sweeping North Carolina over the weekend.  North Carolina (32-20, 11-16) had won eight straight and 10 of its last 11 games heading into the series with the Cavs (43-9, 21-6).

2…Walk-off hits the Cavaliers needed to pull off the sweep.  John Barr’s 2-out RBI single capped Saturday’s game one 3-2 victory,  while John Hicks ended Sunday’s 5-3 win with a 3-run home run.

900…Wins at Ohio State by head coach Bob Todd after Sunday’s 11-6 win over Iowa for the Buckeyes’ lone win of the 3-game series.  Todd will retire at season’s end.

7…Scoreless innings pitched by South Carolina’s bullpen in a 3-game weekend sweep of Arkansas.  Five relievers combined to give-up just two hits after starter Tyler Webb left after giving-up three runs in three innings in Sunday’s 5-3 win to cap the sweep.

33…Consecutive Big South Conference games won by #5 Coastal Carolina (45-6, 23-0) after a 3-game sweep of #39 Liberty (37-15, 18-6).  The Chanticleers remain in good shape to receive a top 8 national seed after sweeping the second place team in their conference.

14,619…Fans who saw Florida’s 3-game sweep of Georgia over the weekend in Gainesville.  It’s the best 3-game attendance figure in program history.  Florida (37-12, 20-7) and South Carolina (41-11, 29-7) are tied for first place in the SEC East.  They go head to head this weekend.

4…Straight SEC series won by Auburn after taking two of three games from Tennessee.  The Tigers (35-17, 17-10) now lead the SEC West.

15…Years since Auburn last won the SEC’s Western Division.  They close the regular season this weekend at Ole Miss.

Anthony Rendon (Rice photo)

10…Run deficit faced by Rice as the Owls prepared to bat in the bottom of the third inning Sunday vs. Southern Mississippi.

19…Unanswered runs Rice scored to beat the Golden Eagles 21-14.  Anthony Rendon paced the Owls, going 4-for-5 with two home runs and 4 RBIs to help Rice lock-up the top seed in the Conference USA Tournament.

7…RBIs by USM’s B.A. Vollmuth in the loss.  The sophomore shortstop belted a pair of home runs himself, including a grand slam.

1,000…Career wins by Arizona head coach Andy Lopez after his Wildcats topped #1 Arizona State 12-4 Sunday night in Tucson.  Lopez is the 16th active coach and the 46th all-time Division One coach to reach the milestone.

1…Loss by ASU’s Merrill Kelly (9-1) this season after giving-up six runs (five earned) in just 3 2/3 IP-his shortest start of the season.  The 12 runs are the most given-up by the Sun Devils this year.

25…Consecutive scoreless innings pitched by Rhode Island’s Tim Boyce (a new URI school record).  The senior struck out 10 and gave-up just two singles with his second straight complete game shutout in Friday’s 6-0 win over Richmond.

27 1/3…Consecutive scoreless innings pitched by Wichita State’s Jordan Cooper after Friday’s 3-0 win over Missouri State.  The sophomore fanned 14 and struck out at least one batter in every inning to improve to 8-2.

69…Walks issued to UT Arlington outfielder Michael Choice this season to set a new Southland Conference single season record.  Choice is batting .401 with 16 home runs and 58 RBIs for the Mavericks (26-26).  He was walked

Tony Nix (UC Riverside photo)

intentionally in the first inning of Sunday’s 11-8 win over Lamar to set the record.

19…Times Choice has been intentionally walked this season to help him lead the nation with his 69 free passes 2010.

10…Big Ten teams that are all still alive in the race to qualify for next week’s 6-team Big Ten Tournament. Four  teams, Michigan State, Ohio State, Indiana, and Iowa, are tied for fifth place.

.266…UC Riverside’s Tony Nix’s season batting average entering last week’s action.

.341…Nix’s current average after a week in which he was 17-for-26 with three home runs, five doubles, a triple, 11 runs scored, and 15 RBIs.  Nix had a stretch during which he had nine straight hits, including a 6-for-6 game against Loyola Marymount.

4…Home runs hit by Bucknell’s Paul Shribman to help the #4 seed Bison beat #1 seed Army in the Patriot League’s best two of three semifinal series.  Shribman belted a grand slam in the series clinching win and finished the weekend by batting 8-for-13 with 9 RBIs and 7 runs scored.  Bucknell faces #3 seed Holy Cross in this weekend’s Patriot League Championship Series.

bucknell To Meet Holy Cross For NCAA Bid

Army, Lehigh, Holy Cross, & Bucknell To Vie For NCAA Bid

Joe Sottolano's Black Knights are the #1 seed heading into the Patriot League Tourney.

Outstanding Year in West Point
Army capped an outstanding regular season by winning three of four games from Bucknell over the weekend. The Black Knights earned their sixth regular-season crown since the Patriot League went to a one-division format in 1995, and third consecutive regular-season title. They clinched the outright title for the fifth time, adding to previous instances in 1997, 2004, 2005 and 2008. Army’s 16-4 Patriot League record and four-game advantage in the standings were each the best totals since Lafayette went 17-3 and won by four and a half games in 2007. The Black Knights are in the Patriot League Tournament for the fourth year in a row, and will enjoy home-field advantage at Doubleday Field where they are 14-3 this season. Army won every Patriot League series it played this year, taking three of four games four times and sweeping Lehigh.

Impressive Turnaround in Bethlehem
Picked to finish sixth in the preseason poll, Lehigh finished off its best season since 2006 by winning three of four games against Holy Cross over the weekend to take the No. 2 seed in the League Tournament. The Mountain Hawks are in the postseason for the first time since winning the League title in 2006. Lehigh had only won a total of 13 League games in the past three years before going 12-8 this season. It has an 11-3 home record, and went 7-1 at home against League foes.

Three in a Row For Crusaders, Bison
Holy Cross and Bucknell have each advanced to the Patriot League Tournament for the third straight season. The Crusaders are the No. 3 seed for the third year in a row, and will look for their first Patriot League title. The Bison are the No. 4 seed for the second time in the past three years, which could be good news after winning the title from the No. 4 spot in 2008.

(Courtesy Patriotleague.org)