HAMILTON – A commanding 8-5 game one win was sullied by a 9-1 loss on Monday afternoon as Colgate took two-out-of-three in the season series against Bucknell. Eight different Raiders logged hits in the victory led by Alexis Romero, who set new career highs with a three-for-three day at the plate with three RBIs and one run scored.

First-year Kiley Shelton joined Romero as the other Raider with three base hits, also collecting two RBIs and scoring twice. 

The only highlights of game two came from Quinn Livesay's triple and Niamh Dougherty's RBI single. Jillian Herbst also logged her team-high 12th multi-hit game of the season in the loss. 

HOW IT HAPPENED

Game 1: Colgate 8, Bucknell 5
A sacrifice fly put the Bison on the board in the opening inning, but starter Maya Servedio collected herself well by only allowing two hits across the next three frames. 

The shutdown pitching set the stage for Colgate's hitters to take command, which they did with a monster five-hit, seven-run third inning. 

It started with Romero's first hit of the day on an infield single, which Shelton quickly converted into a two-run double three batters later. 

Bucknell had seemingly stopped the bleeding after earning the second out of the inning, but Kara Fusco kept the rally rolling with an RBI single to increase the lead to two. 

Livesay extended the advantage and forced a pitching change with another RBI single, and after two walks the Raiders had batted around to bring Romero back up to the plate. 

In her first start of the season, she launched a bases-clearing double into left field to blow the game open for Colgate. 

The Bison would score at least once in the fifth, sixth, and seventh innings, but it would not be enough to significantly threaten the Raiders lead, and Colgate clinched the season series at home. 

Game 2: Colgate 1, Bucknell 9 
The visitors forced two pitching changes in an eight-run first inning that buried the Raiders in an early hole. 

Despite the outcome, Alexa Acker proved to be a steady hand for Colgate in the circle going four and two-thirds innings and conceding only one earned run on six hits. 

It was the offense that struggled to get going, with Herbsts' singles serving as the only hits of the game for the home side until Livesay and Dougherty's back-to-back base knocks scored the Raiders' only run of game two. 

UP NEXT
Colgate heads back on the road for a doubleheader with Le Moyne starting at 1 p.m. in Syracuse, N.Y.