Bucknell University Athletics
Bucknell Baseball Hosts Four-Game Series Against Navy this Weekend at Depew Field
4/16/2010 8:00:00 AM | Baseball
April 16, 2010
Saturday
Game 1: Bucknell vs. Navy (GameTracker
)
Game 2: Bucknell vs. Navy (GameTracker)
Sunday (Radio Broadcast of Doubleheader)
Game 1: Bucknell vs. Navy (GameTracker)
Game 2: Bucknell vs. Navy (GameTracker)
LEWISBURG, Pa. – After a mid-week win at Towson, the Bucknell baseball team returns home to host a four-game series against Navy this coming weekend. The Bison and Mids will square off in doubleheaders both Saturday and Sunday at Depew Field. First pitch both days is slated for noon.
Sunday's doubleheader will have a live radio broadcast on 90.5 WVBU in Lewisburg and over the internet through SportsJuice.com.
Bucknell Baseball Notebook (14-22, 3-5 PL)
• Bucknell is coming off a 12-3 win at Towson on Wednesday where it hit five home runs. The Bison have now hit 21 home runs in their last 12 games and are seven shy of equaling the program single-season record of 50 set by the 1997 squad.
• Thanks to his two home runs on Wednesday, Andrew Brouse enters this weekend's series with 24 career home runs. He is tied with former teammate Jason Buursma for first on the Bucknell career list and is the only player in program history to have two double-figure home run seasons. Brouse, who hit 10 home runs a year ago, has 11 this season, placing him just three shy of Frank Fresconi's single-season record.
• Bucknell hit a five home runs Wednesday at Towson, equaling a season high. The Bison also hit five home runs in the second games of doubleheaders against Lafayette on April 3 and April 4.
• Bucknell reached double figures in runs against Towson on Wednesday, breaking a string where it had not scored at least 10 runs in seven straight games. The Bison, who are averaging 7.0 runs per game, have plated at least 10 runs in a game 10 times this year, including a high of 19 vs. North Dakota State.
• Bucknell's pitching staff has already piled up 199 strikeouts this season, which is just 14 fewer than it had last year in 47 games. Trey Frahler leads the way with 35 strikeouts, while Dylan Seeley is not far behind with a career-high 34. Six different Bison have struck out at least 10 hitters.
• Bob Donato had four hits, including two doubles, against Towson. He now has a team-high 13 doubles on the season, putting him in 10th place on the program's single-season list. He is tied with six other players with 13 doubles. The program record of 20 is held by Frank Fresconi. Four Bison have registered at least 10 doubles this season.
• Freshman Travis Clark came off the bench against Towson and was 2-for-2 with three RBIs. His 10 hits and .400 batting average top all Bison rookies. Three of his 10 hits have gone for extra bases.
• Bucknell will play 10 of its next 12 games at Depew Field. The Bison have finished above .500 at home in five of the last seven years.
• Left-handed reliever Matt Foley has had a solid week. He has yielded just three hits and one run in 4.0 innings of relief over his last two outings against Holy Cross (Sunday) and Towson (Wednesday). His ERA has dropped from 10.12 to 7.50 over that span, which has also featured three strikeouts and no walks.
• Right-hander Daniel Hart has been one of Bucknell's top pitchers all year. He has limited opponents to one run or fewer in all eight of his relief appearances. In fact, his ERA as a reliever is 2.19. Ten of the 13 runs he has given up this year have come in his two starts vs. Villanova and Le Moyne.
• Bucknell continues to play strong defense. The Bison own a fielding percentage of .968, which would be a new team record, eclipsing the .960 mark the 2001 squad produced. Navy ranks second in the league in fielding at .957.
• Andrew Brouse has driven in a team-high 40 runs this year. He now has 97 over the last two years and ranks fifth on the Bison career list with 118, one behind fourth-place Russell Lindberg. Ben Yoder is tied for eighth on that same list with 98 RBIs.
• Doug Shribman has at least one hit in 29 of his 35 games played this season. He has not gone back-to-back games without a hit all season. Shribman is second on the team to Brouse with 15 two-out RBIs.
• Bob Donato recorded his third four-hit game of the season on Wednesday at Towson. No other Bison has more than one. Donato has four four-hit outings in his two-year career.
• Ben Yoder and B.J. LaRosa enter the weekend with the longest hitting streaks on the team at three games. Earlier this year Yoder hit in 14 straight games, while LaRosa put together a 12-game hitting streak.
• Ben Allen, who has started 119 consecutive games at shortstop, is working his way up a number of Bucknell career lists. He stands fourth in program history in both games played (161) and games started (155), as well as at bats (600). He has scored 33 runs this year, bringing his career tally to 136, which is second only to Ian Joseph's 162. Allen is also just nine hits away from becoming the fourth player in Bucknell annals to reach 200 in a career. His 48 hits this year lead the Patriot League.
• Ben Allen, Andrew Brouse and David Duffett are the lone Bison to start all 36 games this year.
• Despite being under .500, Bucknell continues to outscore its opponents. The Bison hold a 252-241 advantage in runs.
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. Navy
• Navy leads the all-time series 59-48-1, although Bucknell has won seven of the last eight, including three of four last year in Annapolis.
• The first meeting in the series came in 1904.
About Navy
• Navy enters the weekend tied with Bucknell for fourth place in the Patriot League standings with a 3-5 conference mark. The Mids are 22-13 overall, but are just 12-12 since a 10-1 start.
• Navy has played the majority of its games at home, posting a 16-10 mark at Terwilliger Brothers Field at Max Bishop Stadium. The Mids are 2-2 on the road, having split a four-game series at Lehigh to open Patriot League play.
• Navy is hitting .312 on the season, but pitching is its real strength as it leads the Patriot League with a 4.11 ERA. Opponents are hitting just .269 and five pitchers who have appeared in at least nine games own ERAs under 4.00.
• Senior Michael Speciale, who is hitting .353 with five home runs and 31 RBIs, is Navy's top offensive player.
• Ben Nelson and Zach Sipe both have four wins to top the Navy pitching staff.
Up Next
• Bucknell will be busy with three mid-week non-league games next week. The Bison will travel to St. Bonaventure for a doubleheader on Tuesday and then host Maryland Eastern Shore in a single game Wednesday at 3:30 p.m. It is the last non-conference home game against a Division I foe for Bucknell.
