Baseball 2/24/2013 12:00:00 AM

Bucknell Baseball Drops Final Game of Series at Duke, 4-1

Feb. 24, 2013

DURHAM, N.C. - Bucknell starter Dan Goldstein struck out eight in 4.2 innings and Corey Furman posted his second career two-hit game, but the Bison baseball team dropped game three of its weekend series at Duke by a 4-1 score Sunday afternoon at Jack Coombs Field. The score was tied 1-1 heading into the bottom of the fifth, but the Blue Devils plated two in the fifth and one in the eighth.

Bucknell (0-6) posted a series-high six hits - all singles - on Sunday, led by Furman's 2-for-4 performance. Joe Ogren, Jon Mayer, Matt Busch and Greg Wasikowski each added a single. Busch drove in the only run of the series for the Bison in the top of the fifth. Ogren drew a one-out walk, advanced to third on Mayer's single and then scored on a 6-4 fielder's choice off the bat of Busch.

Junior starter Robert Huber (2-0) got the win for Duke (4-2) as he pitched 5.0 innings and allowed three hits and two walks while striking out six. Nick Hendrix and Remy Janco kept the Bison in check until Andrew Istler got the final five outs for his second save of the season.

Bucknell trailed just 3-1 in the top of the eighth and had the go-ahead run at the plate and one out when Istler entered the game. He coaxed a ground ball to third off the bat of Robb Scott and the Blue Devils turned an around-the-horn double play to end the Bison rally. Istler then retired the middle of the Bucknell lineup in order in the ninth.

The Bison also had two on and none out in the fourth, but a strikeout and another double-play ended that threat.

Duke got on the board in the bottom of the first on a two-out triple by Jordan Betts. A two-run, two-out single by Andy Perez gave the Blue Devils a 3-1 lead in the fifth and they added an insurance run in the eighth when Perez scored from third when Bucknell turned a bases-loaded double play.

Goldstein struck out eight, but walked five before departing after the go-ahead single by Perez in the fifth. Xavier Hammond came on in relief and retired seven of the first eight hitters he faced before allowing the first two hitters in the eighth to reach base. Max Kra finished off the eighth for Hammond and was not charged with a run. The freshman has now pitched 4.2 innings this year and yielded just two hits and two walks while striking out three.

"We got another quality start today from Dan Goldstein," said Bison head coach Scott Heather. "He got a lot of soft contact and gave us a chance to win. We were better offensively today but didn't execute in key spots and we will need to do that to beat quality teams like Duke."

Duke finished with seven hits against the Bison pitching staff. The Blue Devils managed just 10 hits over the final two games of the three-game series after posting 10 in Friday's opener.

Bucknell will continue its season-opening road stretch next weekend when it travels to Charlottesville, Va. The Bison will play a pair of games against host Virginia and two more against Harvard.