Bucknell University Athletics
Former Bucknell Baseball Pitcher Eric Junge Named Pacific Coast League Pitcher of the Week
5/24/2011 8:00:00 AM | Baseball
May 24, 2011
LEWISBURG, Pa. - Former Bucknell baseball pitcher Eric Junge '99 was named the Pacific Coast League Pitcher of the Week on Monday. A starting pitcher for the AAA Salt Lake City Bees, Junge started and pitched seven shutout innings in a 3-0 victory over the Oklahoma City RedHawks on May 17.
Bucknell's most veteran current professional player, Junge is 2-3 with a 3.90 ERA this season. He has started nine games and struck out 39 in 60.0 innings. Junge has logged at least six innings in eight of his nine outings in 2011.
Drafted by the Los Angeles Dodgers in the 11th round of the 1999 Major League Baseball Draft, Junge made his Major League debut with the Philadelphia Phillies on Sept. 10, 2002, becoming the first Bucknellian to appear in a Major League game since 1958.
A co-captain of the 1999 Bison that tied for the Patriot League regular-season title, Junge posted a 16-15 record with 12 saves during his Bucknell career. He is pitching for the Bees for a second straight year, following a 2010 campaign that featured a 5-3 record and a 5.15 ERA in 14 appearances.
Junge is not the only Bison baseball alum to make news lately as 2004 graduate Matt Daley was recently called back up to the Colorado Rockies. A veteran of 85 games with the Rockies in 2009 and 2010, Daley started 2011 in the minor leagues with the Colorado Springs Sky Sox. There, he compiled an 0-2 record with a 6.28 ERA in 14.1 innings spanning 17 appearances.
Since being recalled to the big leagues, Daley has pitched two perfect innings of relief and has three strikeouts.
Originally signed by Colorado as a free agent in the week following the 2004 MLB Draft, Daley was part of two Patriot League Champion and NCAA teams at Bucknell. During his time as a Bison he posted a 30-inning stretch without an earned run and came within one out of a nine-inning no-hitter.
Bucknell graduates Jason Buursma (AAA - Memphis Redbirds) and B.J. LaRosa (A - Rancho Cucamonga Quakes) are also playing professionally this summer.
A 25th-round selection in the 2008 MLB Draft by the St. Louis Cardinals, Buursma is 0-0 with a 3.78 ERA in 16.2 innings this year. He has not allowed an earned run over his last four outings, a span of five innings.
La Rosa, a 2010 Bucknell graduate who was a two-time First Team All-Patriot League selection, is currently on the disabled list and has not seen game action in 2011. He was drafted in the 23rd round last June by the Los Angeles Dodgers.
