LEWISBURG, Pa. – Five runs in the third and seventh innings including a four spot in the ninth led the Holy Cross baseball team to a 14-5 win during game one of a crucial Patriot League series against first place Bucknell Friday afternoon at Depew Field.
The win, the Crusaders sixth in a row and ninth over their last 12 games moves them to 15-16, 9-4 PL while the Bison fall to 18-13, 11-2 PL. Holy Cross has doubled up its opponents 72-to-36 over the six game winning streak.
Senior
CJ Egrie recorded his fifth 3+ hit performance of the season going 3-for-4 with three stolen bases and two runs scored. Egrie is a perfect 33-of-33 on stolen bases this season and needs three more to break his own single-season program record. Egrie is currently tied for fourth place in Patriot League history in career steals (85, James Conrad, Lafayette (20024-07)).
Junior
John LaFleur tallied his first 3-hit game of the campaign with a 3-for-5 effort belting a home run with three RBI and two runs scored. Junior
Alex Sandell also homered and drove in three while classmate
Ryan Grundy cleared the bases for a three-RBI double also producing a stolen base.
Sophomore
Jake Lenahan tied for seventh place on the program's all-time career saves list as he notched his sixth career save and second of the season tossing four frames.
STARTING ON THE MOUND:
- Sophomore Pedro Leon: (ND), 4.0 innings pitched, five hits allowed, two runs, two walks, four strikeouts, 72 pitches
- Everett Garber: (L, 3-3), 5.0 innings pitched, seven hits allowed, five runs, five walks, seven strikeouts, 101 pitches
OUT OF THE BULLPEN:
- Junior Nick Harnisch: (W, 2-0), 1.0 innings pitched, four hits allowed, two runs, one walk, zero strikeouts, 23 pitches
- Sophomore Jake Lenahan (S, 2), 4.0 innings pitched, five hits allowed, one run, zero walks, three strikeouts, 65 pitches
STEPPING TO THE PLATE:
- Egrie: 3-for-4, two runs scored, sacrifice, three stolen bases
- LaFleur: 3-for-5, home run, three, RBI, two runs scored
- Junior Colin Brown: 2-for-4, RBI, run scored, walk
- Sophomore Nick Andersen: 2-for-5, double, RBI, two runs scored, walk
- Sophomore Simon Landry: 2-for-5, RBI, run scored, walk
- Garrett Mathias: 2-for-5, double, home run, three RBI, run scored
HOW IT HAPPENED:
- Leon allowed a leadoff single on his first pitch, but struck out the side in the first.
- Sandell smacked a three-run shot in the top of the third followed by a two-run homer from LaFleur as the Crusaders led 5-0.
- Bucknell hit a two-run homer in the third to come within three, 5-2.
- Back-to-back doubles in the bottom of the fifth brought Bucknell within two, 5-3.
- Another Bucknell double in the sixth put them down one, 5-4.
- Holy Cross' offense exploded in the seventh when as Landry singled and Grundy came around to score on an error in right field. On the next pitch, Andersen doubled to right to score Landry. Andersen came across to score to a single from LaFleur and another miscue in right field. Brown singled up the middle through the drawn in infield. A junior Braden Connors sacrifice fly pushed the margin to 10-4 ending the five run explosion.
- Grundy cleared the bases in the ninth with two outs and Landry singled for the 14-4 Crusader advantage.
POSTGAME THOUGHTS:
DUE UP:
- Holy Cross remains on the road for a 7/9 inning twinbill at Bucknell on Saturday, April 11.
- Senior right-handed pitcher Jaden Wywoda (4-2, 4.03 ERA) takes the mound for game two of the series. First pitch is slated for noon.
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