Brown University
1-0
Bucknell
4-4
Baseball Blanks Bucknell, 2-0, in Season Opener
3/4/2016 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
CARY, N.C. – Junior Christian Taugner (Roselle, Ill.) tossed eight innings of shutout ball to lead the Brown baseball team to a season-opening win over Bucknell, 2-0, to kickoff the USA Baseball-Irish Classic Friday at Coleman Field.
Brown opens the season at 1-0, while Bucknell dropped to 4-4 overall and was held to just four hits without an extra-base hit.
Taugner was impressive on the mound in the win for the Bears, allowing just three hits in eight innings to go along with six strikeouts and four walks. Taugner missed all of last season with an injury, but led the Bears in ERA and strikeouts as a freshman in 2014. Sophomore Dante Bosnic (Lutz, Fla.) pitched the final frame to earn the save. Jeff Gottesman was handed the loss in the pitchers' duel, giving up just two hits and one run over six innings.
Sophomore Sam Grigo (Westbrook, Conn.) went 2-for-4 with one RBI to pace the Bears offensively.
After five scoreless innings, the Bears broke through with one run in the top of the sixth. Tim McKeithan (Arden, N.C.) drew a one-out walk and then advanced to third when Rob Henry (Cranston, R.I.) singled up the middle. Jake Levine (Newton, Mass.) drove home McKeithan with a sacrifice fly to right for the one-run lead.
Brown threatened again in the top of the eighth inning, loading the bases with two outs after Levine singled to third, but Max Kra was able to pick up a crucial strikeout to keep the deficit at one run.
The Bears tacked on another run in the top of the ninth, when Grigo drove in Kevin Guthrie (Sarasota, Fla.) with a single to short for the two-run advantage.
Bosnic produced a double play in the bottom of the ninth and ended the game on a strikeout to seal the win.
Brown will face Notre Dame tomorrow on day two of the USA Baseball-Irish Classic at 11:30 AM.
Photo Credit: Kevin Jones, USA Baseball
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Taugner, Christian (1-0)
L: Gottesman (0-1)
S: Bosnic, Dante (1)
Batting:
2B: Guthrie, Kevin 1
RBI: Levine, Jake 1 ; Grigo, Sam 1
SH: Huntley, Josh 1
SF: Levine, Jake 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Guthrie, Kevin 1 ; McKeithan, Tim 1
SB: Grigo, Sam 1
