Bucknell University Athletics
Bucknell Baseball to Battle Navy for Patriot League Title this Friday and Saturday
5/15/2008 8:00:00 AM | Baseball
May 15, 2008
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LEWISBURG, Pa. - For the second time in the last three seasons, the Bucknell baseball team will play in the Patriot League championship series for a chance to win the fourth league title in program history as the No. 4-seeded Bison (24-22-2, 10-10 PL) will take on No. 2-seeded Navy (32-23-1, 11-9 PL) in a best-of-three series this Friday and Saturday, May 16-17, in Annapolis, Md. Game one is slated for a 3 p.m. start on Friday, while game two will begin at noon on Saturday, with game three 30 minutes following the conclusion of that contest, if necessary.
FAMILIAR FOE: This series will mark the fifth time out of 15 Patriot League tournaments that Bucknell and Navy have squared off for the PL championship. The Bison have three PL titles to their credit (1996, 2001 & 2003), while the Mids own a league-best five titles (1994, 1995, 1998, 1999 & 2002). All three of Bucknell's championships have come in wins over Navy, while the Midshipmen defeated the Orange and Blue for the PL title in both 1998 and 1999. The Bison played in the PL championship series on two other occasions, falling to Army in 1997 and to Lehigh in 2006. Bucknell is the last lower-seeded team to win a league title, a 2-0 sweep over Navy in Annapolis in 2001.
SEVERAL BISON COME UP BIG IN PL SEMIFINAL UPSET OF ARMY: In the first year of the new Patriot League tournament format, Bucknell became the first No. 4 seed to advance to the league championship, upsetting No. 1 Army last weekend, 2-1, in the best-of-three semifinal series, the first ever PL tournament series loss at home for the Black Knights. In the game one victory for the Bison, Ben Allen went 4-for-5 at the plate with three runs scored and two RBI as he belted the game-winning home run in the 10th inning. Then on Sunday in the deciding game three with the teams deadlocked in a scoreless tie, freshman Drew Constable, who had entered the game in the sixth inning as a defensive replacement, drove in the only run of the afternoon in the 1-0 Bucknell victory with a single through the left side with two down in the eighth inning. Freshman Eric Jarrett and senior Jason Buursma combined for the 20th two-hit game in program history. Jarrett threw the first 5.2 shutout innings and matched a career high with eight strikeouts. Buursma pitched the remaining 3.1 innings and earned his second win on the mound in the three game series. Buursma finished the weekend at Army having allowed just one base runner in his two appearances, an infield single by Andy Ernesto in the ninth inning of game one, and totaled five strikeouts in seven shutout innings as the Black Knights hit just .045 against him.
BISON WELL REPRESENTED ON ALL-LEAGUE TEAMS: The Bison landed seven student-athletes on the 2008 All-Patriot League first and second teams, marking the program's highest total since 2003 when eight Bison collected all-league accolades. Two members of the Orange and Blue were named to the first team, while five more earned second team recognition as the Bison trailed only Army's league-leading total of eight honorees. Senior Jason Buursma (OF) and sophomore John Avanzino (DH) represented Bucknell on the first team. Senior Mathew Wilson (SP), senior Mark Angelo (1B), sophomore Ben Yoder (2B), sophomore Ben Allen (SS) and junior Dane Grandizio (OF) all picked up second team selections.
BUURSMA ADDS TO A GROWING LIST OF HONORS: Jason Buursma was tabbed the 2008 Patriot League Player of the Year and the Patriot League Scholar-Athlete of the Year. He joins Kevin Silverman and Frank Fresconi as the only members of the Orange and Blue to ever earn the distinction of Player of the Year and became the first Bison player to do so since Fresconi was honored at the conclusion of the 2000 season as both the Player of the Year and the Scholar-Athlete of the Year. He is the fifth Bucknell player to be named Scholar-Athlete of the Year. For Buursma, the awards came after earning a spot on the First Team All-Patriot League squad, which marked the fifth all-league accolade of his career. Buursma is the first player in Bucknell history to collect five all-league citations and trails only Army's Cole White for the most all-league selections in PL history as White earned his seventh career honor as a first team outfielder this season.
NATIONAL ATTENTION FOR BUURSMA: In addition to the Patriot League awards Jason Buursma has collected this spring, he has received much national attention in the recent weeks as he was added to the 2008 Brooks Wallace Player of the Year Award Watch List, was selected as one of 10 national finalists for the Lowe's Senior CLASS Award and was named to the Dick Howser Trophy Watch List. He is the only student-athlete in the nation that is up for all three awards.
THREE BISON EARN SPOTS ON ACADEMIC ALL-DISTRICT SQUAD: Senior co-captains Jason Buursma, Mathew Wilson and Mark Angelo were recently named to the ESPN The Magazine 2008 Academic All-District II University Division Baseball First Team. The honors were the first career all-district citations for Wilson (P) and Angelo (INF) and the second for Buursma (DH), as the trio will move on to the national ballot for Academic All-America consideration. This marks the third consecutive year that Bucknell has placed players on the Academic All-District squad and is the highest total since four members of the Orange and Blue garnered recognition in 2004. In total, the Bucknell baseball program has collected 53 academic all-district honors over the years and has produced 29 Academic All-Americans.
ALL-LEAGUE SIBLINGS: With his first career all-league honor this spring, shortstop Ben Allen and his older brother Zach join former Navy players Steve and Tony Mauro as the only two brother combinations in history to earn All-Patriot League recognition. Zach Allen was named to the all-league second team as a starting pitcher in 2003, his senior season.
SINGLE GAME MARKS SET IN 2008:
- Sophomore Andrew Brouse posted three doubles on Mar. 12 versus Illinois State to tie a school single game record set by Pete Gorski against William & Mary in 1996.
- Bucknell set a team record for doubles in a game with eight against IPFW on Mar. 9, surpassing the previous record of seven, which was set twice--versus Rochester in 1975 and against Lehigh in 1990.
HITTING STREAKS: Jason Buursma recorded hits in 15 straight games from Mar. 15 to Apr. 13 for the longest hitting streak since Kevin Eiben hit safely in 15 consecutive games in 1999. Nine of Bucknell's regular starters have had hitting streaks of eight games or more this season, including: Chris Pieper (10 games), Dane Grandizio (9), Mark Angelo (9), Ben Yoder (9), John Avanzino (8), Ben Allen (8), Shawn Hirsch (8) and Ed Rubbo (8).
A TRIUMPHANT RETURN: After missing nearly a month of the season due to injury, all-league performer Mathew Wilson made a triumphant return to the mound on Apr. 13. Wilson contributed to Bucknell's 3-1 series win over Holy Cross with a masterful pitching performance in Sunday's seven-inning contest. He threw all seven innings of the 3-0 victory for the Orange and Blue, picking up his fourth career shutout to tie Kurt Waldner for the program record in that category. Wilson also set a career high with 11 strikeouts, the most by a Bucknell pitcher since Eric Junge fanned 11 in a game in 1999. The right-hander went on to finish with a 3-0 Patriot League record, holding a 2.14 ERA after tossing three complete games for a total of 34 innings and fanning 22 batters. His final start of the regular season, Bucknell's lone win in its series against Lehigh, clinched the team's postseason berth. In total on the year, Wilson is 4-1 with a 4.14 ERA in 45.2 innings on the mound and is averaging an eye-popping 10.05 strikeouts per game. If he maintains that standard at the close of the season, he will break the current school record of 9.69 strikeouts per game, set by Ed Hughes in 1982.
WHAT A DIFFERENCE A YEAR MAKES: At 24-22-2 and 10-10 in league play, the Bison have surpassed both their overall and league wins totals from 2007. Bucknell has also secured the 11th 20-win season in program history. It took the Bison just 22 games this season to eclipse its team runs total from 2007 (177) and only five games to pass its 2007 total for home runs (6).
MORE ON THE OFFENSE: Last Sunday at Army, Bucknell surpassed the team record for hits in a season, 505, which was set in 1999 (53 games), and currently have a total of 510 on the year through 48 games. As a squad, the Bison are hitting .309, the team's highest average since 2000 (.315, 47 games). The last time Bucknell posted a .300-or-better batting average for the year was 2004 (.302). Ten different players have hit home runs for the Orange and Blue thus far this season. In total, the Bison have combined for 35 homers, the most by a Bucknell team since the squad finished the year with 46 in 2000. The 2008 Bison also hold the highest slugging percentage (.433) since 2000 (.494).
DEPEW NEARING MILESTONES: In his 27th year at the helm for the Bison squad, head coach Gene Depew currently is eight wins away from his 500th and will enter next year's Patriot League season 11 wins shy of his 200th PL victory. Depew holds an overall record of 492-570-7 (.464) and is Bucknell's coaching wins leader by a wide margin. His record against Patriot League is 189-163 (.537), the highest league wins total in history. The only other two coaches to break 100 PL wins thus far are Army's Joe Sottolano (109 wins) and Lehigh's Sean Leary (115 wins).
YODER ON THE RISE: After starting out the year 2-for-28 at the plate, Bison second baseman Ben Yoder has been a menace to opposing pitchers, hitting .385 the rest of the regular season to set new career highs in hits (39), runs scored (23) and RBI (24) and currently carries the team's longest active hitting streak (eight games). Yoder was the Patriot League's Rookie of the Year in 2007 and also garnered Freshman All-America status.
YOUTH MAKES IMPACT AMID VETERAN LINEUP: In a Bucknell lineup laden with upperclassmen, freshman left-hander Eric Jarrett earned a spot in the Bison rotation this spring and has now with 70.1 innings pitched on the year, the most by a freshman in program history. In just his second season with the Orange and Blue, sophomore Ben Allen has excelled as the squad's leadoff hitter, drawing a team-high 19 walks and becoming the first Bucknell player to score 40 runs in a season since John DiBonaventura scored 40 in 2001.
