Bucknell University Athletics
Bucknell Baseball Travels to Army this Weekend for Best-of-Three Patriot League Semifinal Series
5/8/2008 8:00:00 AM | Baseball
May 8, 2008
LEWISBURG, Pa. - The Bucknell baseball team will make its return to the postseason this weekend as the squad will travel to West Point, N.Y., to take on top-seeded Army (23-23, 13-7 PL) in a best-of-three Patriot League semifinal series. The Bison are the No. 4 seed in the field and hold a record of 22-21-2 (10-10 PL) entering game one, which is slated for a noon start on Saturday, May 10.
A BRIEF LOOK AT THE MATCHUP: With the two-round, best-of-three Patriot League Tournament setup taking place for the first time in League history, Bucknell becomes the first No. 4-seed to play in the tournament. The Bison are 31-49 all-time against Army with a 2-3 mark in postseason games. The squads have not met in the Patriot League Tournament since 2000, when Army upset higher-seeded Bucknell, 5-4, in the play-in game.
AN UNWELCOME VISITOR: In its last two trips to West Point, Bucknell has come away with a combined record of 7-1 after sweeping Army for the first time in school history in 2006 and taking three-of-four from the Black Knights during the regular season this spring. Army posted a 6.00 earned-run average and a .248 batting average against the Bison before going 12-4 against the rest of the Patriot League with a 2.47 ERA, hitting .312 en route to the 2008 regular season title. In 2006, Mathew Wilson threw the 19th two-hit game in school history against Army, following up 2007 graduate Matt Curry's two-hit shutout that began the series.
BISON WELL REPRESENTED ON ALL-LEAGUE TEAMS: The Bison landed seven student-athletes on the 2008 All-Patriot League first and second teams, it was announced this past Wednesday, 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. 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 named the 2008 Patriot League Player of the Year this past Thursday. He joins Kevin Silverman and Frank Fresconi as the only members of the Orange and Blue to ever earn the award and becomes the first Bison player to do so since Fresconi was honored at the conclusion of the 2000 season. For Buursma, the recognition comes after earning a First Team All-Patriot League selection as an outfielder the day before, 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.
2008 BISON SECURING PLACES IN PROGRAM HISTORY:
- This season, Jason Buursma broke the school record for home runs on against Lehigh on Apr. 27 when he hit his 22nd of his career and will likely finish his time with the Bison ranking in the top-10 in program history for 15 career pitching and hitting categories, with his name appearing at least 12 times on the single season lists. He holds the school's career saves record with 15, as well and this spring became just the fourth player in program history to post 60-plus strikeouts in a season.
- With his shutout against Holy Cross, Mathew Wilson tied the program career record, four, held by Kurt Waldner (1990-93).
- Buursma and John Avanzino have both entered Bucknell's single season home run top-10 list as Buursma is third with 11 and Avanzino is tied for fifth with nine.
- 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).
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.
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 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 3.89 ERA in 39.1 innings on the mound and is averaging an eye-popping 10.53 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 22-21-2 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: As a squad, the Bison are currently hitting .313 on the year, 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 33 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 (.438) since 2000 (.494) and the most hits (484) since setting a school record in 1999 with 505.
DEPEW NEARING MILESTONES: In his 27th year at the helm for the Bison squad, head coach Gene Depew currently is 10 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 490-569-7 (.463) 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 .379 the rest of the regular season to equal his freshman year total of 38 hits. Yoder has also set new career highs in runs scored (23) and RBI (24) and carries the team's longest active hitting streak into the postseason (seven games). Yoder was the Patriot League's Rookie of the Year in 2007 and also garnered Freshman All-America status.
AVANZINO EARNS NATIONAL RECOGNITION AFTER PERFORMANCE VS. ARMY: John Avanzino was named to the College Baseball Foundation National All-Star Lineup on Apr. 12 and became first Patriot League player to be honored by the College Baseball Foundation since Ryan Gryskevicz was recognized by the CBF in 2006. Playing in six of the team's seven games in the previous week, Avanzino posted gaudy numbers at the plate, going 15-for-25 for a .600 average and totaling 10 runs scored and 15 RBI. He recorded five home runs and four doubles, helping him to a 1.360 slugging percentage, while also walking four times and registering a .655 on base percentage. Against Army that weekend, Avanzino hit .471 with two doubles, four home runs and eight RBI. In addition to being recognized by the CBF, Avanzino was also named Damon's Bison Athlete of the Week and Patriot League and ECAC Player of the Week.
