Vermont 4, Fairleigh Dickinson 1
Vermont 8, Bucknell 5

BRADENTON, Fla. – Vermont earned a sweep in its second day of its Florida swing. The Catamounts defeated Fairleigh Dickinson, 4-1 on Sunday and came back from a 5-1 deficit versus Bucknell to earn an 8-5 victory on Saturday to improve to 2-1 on the season.

On Sunday, senior Jamie Merchant (Colchester, Vt.) dominated Fairleigh Dickinson allowing just four hits in nine solid innings. Merchant, who ranked second in America East in strikeouts, also rang up 10 K’s and the Knight’s lone run was unearned.

“Merchant was dominating, threw strikes and was in command all day. It’s a great start to the season for him,” commented Vermont head coach Bill Currier.

The game was tied 1-1 up until Vermont plated three runs in the eighth to break open the game. Freshman Kyle Brault (Milton, Vt.) knocked a one-out double, followed by a two-out single and a stolen base by Jeff Barry (Essex Junction, Vt.) to put runners on base for the Catamounts. Sophomore Bobby Tewksbary (Hudson, N.H.) drew a walk to load the bases. Sophomore Jason Carey (Colchester, Vt.) was hit-by-a-pitch to score Brault. Barry Chamberland (Bellows Falls, Vt.) drew a walk in the next at bat to score Barry and Tewksbary scored from third on a wild pitch to complete the inning.

Chamberland went a perfect 2-for-2 at the plate and drove in two runs. Barry and junior Nick Roberts (North Adams, Mass.) also recorded two hits.

FINAL SCORE: Vermont 4, Fairleigh Dickinson 1
Team (Record) 123 456 789 R-H-E
Vermont (1-1) 000 100 000 4-10-1
Fairleigh Dickinson (0-4) 000 100 000 1-4-0
UVM-Jamie Merchant (9 IP; 4 H; 1 R; 0 ER; 1 BB; 10 SO)-Nick Roberts FDU-Jesse Anziano (7.2 IP; 10 H; 4 R; 4 ER; 6 BB; 12 SO); Rich Franceschi (0.1 IP; 0 H; 0 R; 0 ER; 1 BB; 0 SO); Brian Bunyan (1.0 IP; 0 H; 0 R; 0 ER; 1 BB; 0 SO)-Matt Nugent.

On Saturday, Bucknell (4-3) jumped out to a 5-1 lead but did not score a run after the second inning and dropped an 8-5 decision to Vermont.

Vermont pushed across a run in the top of the second after Carey led off with single then moved to second on a wild pitch. Carey then stole third and raced home on Roberts's RBI ground out.

Bucknell's five-run second got started with a leadoff walk to Brian Day. Wolf stepped to the plate and blasted a home run to straight away centerfield. Brian Hirschberg singled but was forced out at second on Kyle Walter's fielder's choice. Bunting came up next and crushed a towering home run to left field. Senior B.J. Batterson followed with a double and advanced to third on Ben Stoll's ground out. A walk to Sam Moss put runners on first and third. With Ben Krentzman at the plate, Moss and Batterson successfully pulled off a double steal to extend Bucknell's lead to 5-1.

Vermont added a run in both the fourth and fifth innings to close within two runs of the Bison. In the fourth it was Carey again doubling off the wall in right and scoring on Chamberland's base hit. In the fifth freshman Jay Iannoni (Foxboro, Mass.) ripped one of his four singles on the day and scored on Ryan Montanez's (Brooklyn, N.Y.) base hit two batters later. In the bottom of the sixth, the Bison loaded the bases thanks to walks to Day and Bunting and a Wolf base hit. However, a ground out to third with two outs squandered the threat.

The Catamounts took the lead for good in their half of the seventh. Brault led off the inning with his first career homer, a solo shot, to cut the lead to one, 5-4. Iannoni singled again with one out before Tewksbary reached on an error. Both runners moved into scoring position on Montanez's sacrifice bunt. Barry then singled through the left side to knock in both runners and put Vermont up 6-5.

Chamberland’s solo home run, his first of the season, in the eighth put Vermont up 7-5. In the ninth, Montanez singled to knock in Iannoni and make the score 8-5.

Wolf's two hits led the Bison, while he and Bunting both drove in two runs. For Vermont, Iannoni finished 4-for-4 and scored three runs while Carey scored twice and collected three hits.

Zack Allen took the loss in relief of starter Kevin Miller for Bucknell, while freshman lefty Chris Blazek (Litchfield, Conn.) came in to relieve starter Brian Robinson (Cape Elizabeth, Maine) in the sixth and earned his first career win on the mound for Vermont. Junior Jared Slater (Salem, N.Y.) came entered the game in eighth inning to get the Catamounts out of a jam and Jeff Dixon (Brattleboro, Vt.) tossed a scoreless ninth inning to pick up the save.

FINAL SCORE: Vermont 8, Bucknell 5
Team (Record) 123 456 789 R-H-E
Vermont (2-1) 010 110 311 8-14-1
Bucknell (4-3) 050 000 000 5-7-3
UVM-Brian Robinson (5.0 IP; 6 H; 5 R; 5 ER; 5 BB; 2 SO); Chris Blazek (2.1 IP; 0 H; 0 R; 0 ER; 3 BB; 0 SO); Jared Slater (0.2 IP; 0 H; 0 R; 0 ER; 0 BB; 1 SO); Jeff Dixon (1.0 IP; 1 H; 0 R; 0 ER; 0 BB; 1 SO)-Matt Naimoli B-Kevin Miller (4.2 IP; 6 H; 3 R; 2 ER; 2 BB; 2 SO); Zachery Allen (2.1 IP; 4 H; 3 R; 1 ER; 0 BB; 1 SO); Marc Cussatt (1.0 IP; 2 H; 1 R; 1 ER; 0 BB; 2 SO); Jacob Moss (1.0 IP; 2 H; 1 R; 1 ER; 1 BB; 0 SO)-Phil Bunting.