Moore Powers Lehigh to Comeback Win in Home Finale

Sunday, April 29

Bethlehem, Pa.

12:05 p.m.

Lehigh University

17-26, 6-14

Bucknell University

16-23-1, 13-9-1

Bucknell

Lehigh

Moore Powers Lehigh to Comeback Win in Home Finale

4/29/2018 8:46:00 PM | Baseball

Box Score 1 Box Score 2

BETHLEHEM, Pa. – The Mountain Hawks closed out their home slate with a 5-4 comeback win in game two of Sunday's doubleheader against Bucknell. The Bison edged out a 3-1 victory in game one of the day to clinch the season series before Lehigh earned the win in the series finale in the final game at Walker Field this season.

Lehigh (18-26, 7-14 PL) received yet another stellar pitching performance from a senior arm as lefty Peter Moore carried the Mountain Hawks to victory in game two. Moore entered in the first inning of game one after Matt Kozemchak left the game due to injury and tossed the final 8.2 innings without surrendering a single run, while the offense mounted a comeback in support of their senior.

Game one also featured outstanding pitching as Jeff Gottesman of Bucknell (16-24-1, 13-10-1) squared off against Lehigh ace Levi Stoudt in what turned out to be a pitcher's duel as both went the distance for their respected teams.

The Bison got on the board first as Evan Klugerman doubled in the second inning to score Dominic Toso from second. After Stoudt retired the side in order in the top of third, Lehigh picked up their pitcher with some offensive production in the bottom. Matt Hand led off with a single and advanced to second on a failed pick-off attempt by Gottesman. Chris Kersey moved Hand to third with a sacrifice bunt and Hand scored on an infield single by Mike Maguire. Maguire paced Lehigh in game one as he finished with a career-high four hits in a 4-for-4 performance.

Bucknell wasted little time get back on the board as the Bison scored in the fourth to retake the lead. Bucknell received back-to-back free passes with a hit batter and a walk. Klugerman came through once again as he poked a single up the middle to bring home Toso from second.

The Bison tacked on another run in the sixth inning when Klugerman avoided a tag on a play at the plate. Keifer Rawlings singled to right field where the ball was fielded by Ryan Bonshak who delivered a perfect throw home on a line to Jeff Shanfeldt who appeared to apply the tag to Klugerman, but was ultimately ruled save by the home plate umpire.

The Mountain Hawks made one last push at a comeback as they had two runners on in the seventh. Kersey reached on a fielder's choice after Hand led off with a single and Maguire followed Kersey with a single through the right side. Gottesman managed to work out of the jam and clinch the win as he got a fly out and a ground out to end the inning.

Gottesman improves to 5-3 on the season after his complete-game performance as he struck out six batters, walked two and allowed just one run on eight hits. Stoudt capped off his third complete game of the season with seven strikeouts, two walks and only three runs on six hits as he falls to 2-8.

By the end of the first inning of game two, the two teams had nearly doubled the run total from game one. Three of the first four Bucknell batters reached safely to loaded the bases and scored the first run with a bases-loaded walk. Entering the game with a 3-0 count, Moore walked the first batter he faced and then surrendered a double to the next batter. The senior then settled in and got a fielder's choice and a strikeout to get out of the inning.

The Mountain Hawks wasted no time responding as they tallied three runs in the bottom of the first and trailed 4-3. Following a fly out, Jack Grabek handed out three-straight walks before recording a strikeout to get the second out of the inning. Then, with two outs and down 0-2 in the count, Bonshak came through with arguably the biggest hit of the day with a single to right center which brought home Maguire from third and James Bleming from second. Tyler Schreiner then drew a walk to load the bases again and Thomas Schumacher worked a six-pitch at bat for another walk and another run.

After working out the first, Moore went on to retire the next eight batters in order. He allowed back-to-back singles in the fourth, but worked out of the jam with a strikeout.

Moore did not allow batter to reach base safely through the fifth, sixth and seventh innings while Lehigh scored two more runs and took the lead. It was a pair of seniors that came through with the go-ahead run as Bleming singled up the middle in the sixth inning to drive in Kersey from second.

With the lead, Moore cruised through the final two innings, retiring six of the final eight batters he faced to seal the win.

In his final appearance on his home mound, Moore compiled a season-high nine strikeouts, one shy of his career high, and scattered just four hits with two walks in the final 8.2 innings. The lefty is now tied for the team lead in wins as he improves to 4-7 on the season.

Lehigh's postseason hopes are still alive as Holy Cross is a three and a half game ahead with four Patriot League games remaining. The Mountain Hawks will have to win the remaining four league games and the Crusaders will have lose all five of their remaining league games as they hold the tiebreaker with more head-to-head wins.

The Mountain Hawks have one final midweek game scheduled for Wednesday at Saint Peter's before closing out the regular season with a doubleheader at Army on Saturday and a doubleheader at Holy Cross on Sunday.