Bucknell University Athletics
Bucknell's Ben Yoder Named Patriot League Baseball Player of the Week
4/27/2009 8:00:00 AM | Baseball
April 27, 2009
LEWISBURG, Pa. - Bucknell's Ben Yoder (Belleville, Pa./Indian Valley) hit .588 (10-for-17) with two home runs and drove in eight runs in five games last week and earned his first career Patriot League Baseball Player of the Week honor on Monday. He is the fourth different Bison to earn the award this year, following Andrew Brouse, Andrew Loucks and Doug Shribman.
Yoder, a junior third baseman, had hits in all five games he appeared in last week to stretch his hitting streak to nine games, equaling the longest of his career. He has at least one RBI in eight straight contests and hit a pair of home runs during a four-game weekend series at Lehigh to boost his season total to seven, which ranks second on the team.
A left-handed hitter, Yoder ended the regular season on a high note as he was 4-for-6 with two runs scored and three RBIs in the final game against Lehigh. It was the first four-hit outing of his career.
Third on the Bison with 33 RBIs this year, Yoder has career highs in batting average (.318), runs (33), hits (48), home runs (7), RBIs (33), walks (14) and stolen bases (4).
Yoder is not the only member of his family to be honored this week as his brother, A.J., who is a senior second baseman at VMI, was named the Big South Player of the Week after hitting .500 (9-for-18) in a 3-2 week for the Keydets.
Bucknell (21-23, 13-7 PL) won three of four games at Lehigh over the weekend to clinch the No. 1 seed in next weekend's Patriot League Tournament. The Bison will host fourth-seeded Lafayette in a best-of-three series May 9-10.
