Bucknell University Athletics
Bucknell Baseball Opens Patriot League Play this Weekend at Lafayette
4/1/2010 8:00:00 AM | Baseball
April 1, 2010
LEWISBURG, Pa. – Last spring, the Bucknell baseball team tied Army for the Patriot League regular-season title and earned the No. 1 seed in the conference's postseason tournament. The Bison begin their quest for their second consecutive top seed this weekend when they open Patriot League play at Lafayette. It is the first of five consecutive league weekends for Bucknell, which has lost six straight games and has been idle since Sunday.
Bucknell and Lafayette will square off in doubleheaders both Saturday and Sunday at Metzgar Fields Athletic Complex beginning at noon. As is the case in all Patriot League series, the first contest in each doubleheader will be seven innings, while the second will be a nine-inning affair.
Fans will be able to follow along with the series via live statistics on GameTracker, while Sunday's doubleheader will have a live video broadcast available through Lafayette Sports Network All-Access and Bison Vision.
Bucknell Baseball Notebook (10-14, 0-0 PL)
• Bucknell, which was picked second in the Patriot League Preseason Poll, is in the midst of an 11-game road trip. The Bison are 4-9 on the road this year, but have won five of their last six Patriot League road contests, dating back to last year.
• Since coming back from a 5-2 trip to Florida, Bucknell is 0-6. The Bison have struggled to score in those six games, averaging just over three runs per game. Bucknell was hitting .334 as a team entering last week's doubleheader against Le Moyne. That average has dropped to .310 thanks to a .219 average over the last six outings.
• Andrew Brouse has been Bucknell's top hitter during the recent six-game losing streak, going 6-for-18 (.333). He hit his 17th career home run over the weekend at Columbia, moving him into a tie for ninth on the Bison career list with Michael Ritz.
• Seven of Bucknell's 10 wins this year have come when the Bison have scored at least 10 runs.
• Ben Allen has made 107 consecutive starts at shortstop for the Bison. He now ranks sixth in program history in games started with 143.
• Bucknell has not won a game this year when the opponent has not made an error (0-5).
• Despite owning a record below .500, Bucknell has outscored its opponents by 24 runs (176-152). The Bison are averaging 7.3 runs per game.
• Ben Allen enters the weekend with a four-game hitting streak, the longest current streak by a Bison.
• Since opening the season with 27 hits in his first 51 at bats (.529), senior catcher B.J. LaRosa is hitting 5-for-31 (.161)
• Ben Yoder enters the weekend hitting a team-best .424 despite starting just two of the last 10 games due to injury. He ranks second in the Patriot League in hitting and also has smashed a team-high five home runs.
• Nearly one half (131 of 270) of Bucknell's hits this year have come from seniors.
• Ben Allen, Andrew Brouse and David Duffett are the only Bison to start all 24 games this season. Allen was the only player to start all 47 contests a year ago.
• Bucknell's pitchers have struck out 147 hitters for an average of nearly more than six per game. Last year, Bison hurlers struck out 213 hitters for an average of just 4.5 per game. Trey Frahler leads the way with 32 strikeouts this season, while Dylan Seeley is second with a career-high 28.
• The Bison bullpen has continued its strong season. The relievers have yielded just 42 earned runs in 87.1 innings for a solid ERA of 4.33. The starters have combined for an ERA of 7.22.
• Reliever Michael Dallanegra has allowed just one earned run all year, that coming on Feb. 27 at Old Dominion. He has pitched 8.0 consecutive scoreless innings and owns a team-best 0.84 ERA.
• Junior Dylan Seeley has made six starts this year and owns a solid 2-2 record. He has not allowed more than one earned run in any of his last three outings, and has yielded more than four earned runs just once. His 3.55 ERA ranks fifth in the Patriot League.
Bucknell 2010 Awards/Honors
• Patriot League Player of the Week
B. J. LaRosa (3/15), Andrew Brouse (3/22)
• Patriot League Pitcher of the Week
Dylan Seeley (3/22)
• Damon's Bison Athlete of the Week
B.J. LaRosa (3/15)
Bucknell vs. Lafayette
• Lafayette leads the all-time series 98-56.
• Fourth-seeded Lafayette won the best-of-three Patriot League Tournament semifinal series last May at Depew Field.
• Lafayette won three of four during last year's regular-season series at Depew Field.
• Lafayette has won 14 of 19 meetings since 2006 and eight of 11 in 2008 and 2009.
About Lafayette
• Lafayette, which plays at Delaware Thursday afternoon, is 3-13 this season. The Leopards won three of four against Penn last weekend after opening the year with an 0-11 mark.
• Lafayette is hitting just .285 as a team, while its opponents are hitting .363. Only two Leopard pitchers own an ERA of under 6.00.
• Lafayette returns three of its four weekend starters from last year (Jeremy Atkins, Zach Fritz, Corey Shea).
• The Leopards were picked to finish fifth in the Patriot League Preseason Poll after advancing to last year's championship series against Army.
Up Next
• After not playing any mid-week games this week, Bucknell will be busy next week. The Bison play at Penn State on Tuesday at 6:30 p.m. The very next day they will make the trek north to Buffalo to play a 1 p.m. doubleheader at Canisius. Bucknell was a combined 1-5 against those two opponents in 2009.
