LEWISBURG, Pa. – Junior first baseman
Braden Connors tallied three hits, but it wasn't enough as the No. 4 seeded Holy Cross baseball team dropped game two of the Patriot League Championship Series 9-5 at No. 2 seeded and regular-season co-champion Bucknell Tuesday afternoon at Depew Field at Marren Park.
The loss sends the Crusaders to 24-28 overall and sets up a winner-take-all game three of the series for the Patriot League Tournament Championship and the leagues automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament. The Bison (27-23) and the Crusaders will meet on Wednesday, May 29 with a time to be determined.
Connors three hit effort was his third of the season and second over his last three games. He finished the game 3-for-4 with a home run which was his second straight, two RBI and two runs scored. Connors is hitting .615 with a .643 on-base and a 1.154 slugging for a 1.797 OPS with two homers and a team-high six RBI across three Patriot League Tournament games.
Two-time Patriot League Player of the Year, senior center fielder
CJ Egrie finished the game 2-for-5 with an RBI triple and a run scored. Freshman shortstop
Owen Stelzer had a pair of doubles in the contest.
STARTING ON THE MOUND:
- Brady Hoar (ND), 4.2 innings pitched, seven hits allowed, four earned runs, one walk, three strikeouts, 71 pitches
- Sophomore Jake Lenahan: (L, 3-6), 6.0 innings pitched, eight hits allowed, five earned runs, three walks, three strikeouts, 101 pitches
OUT OF THE BULLPEN:
- Everett Garber: (W, 4-3), 3.1 innings pitched, two hits allowed, one earned run, one walk, three strikeouts, 59 pitches
- Hadley Maxwell: 1.0 innings pitched, one hit allowed, zero runs, zero walks, zero strikeouts, 12 pitches
STEPPING TO THE PLATE:
- Connors: 3-for-4, double, home run, two RBI, two runs scored
- Stelzer: 2-for-4, two doubles, run scored
- Egrie: 2-for-5, triple, RBI, run scored
- Junior Gianni Royer: 1-for-3, double, run scored, walk
- Ty Lagoni: 2-for-3, home run, three RBI, two runs scored
HOW IT HAPPENED:
- In the top of the third, Stelzer doubled with one out and came around to score on Egrie's RBI triple. Egrie scored on junior second baseman Alex Sandell's RBI groundout for the 2-0 Crusader edge.
- Bucknell hit a sacrifice fly in the bottom of the third while junior third baseman Ryan Grundy made a leaping grab at third to strand the tying run at third base.
- Connors smacked his second home run of the championship series obliterating a full count offering over the right center field fence increasing the score to 4-1.
- An RBI groundout in the bottom of the fourth trimmed the Bucknell deficit to 4-2.
- Holy Cross loaded the bases in the top of the fifth, but could not add insurance.
- A single and error with two outs for Bucknell made it 4-3 through five.
- Bucknell hit a two run homer in the bottom of the seventh to take their first lead of the series, 5-4. They added an insurance run on an RBI single increasing the score to 6-4. A bases loaded walk on a full count upped edge to 7-4.
- A junior catcher Colin Brown groundout out to score a run putting his team down 7-5 in the eighth.
- Two more insurance runs in the eighth put the hosts ahead 9-5.
FOLLOW THE CRUSADERS
Be sure to follow the Holy Cross baseball team — and all things Crusader Athletics — on social media!
X - @HCrossBaseball | @goholycross
Instagram - @hcrossbaseball | @goholycross
Facebook - Holy Cross Baseball | Holy Cross Athletics
YouTube - GoHolyCross
