Bucknell University Athletics
Bucknell Baseball Hosts Army in Key Patriot League Weekend Series
4/18/2013 8:00:00 AM | Baseball
April 18, 2013
Note: The ceremonial first pitch of Sunday's doubleheader will be thrown out by Bison men's basketball seniors Bryson Johnon, Colin Klebon and Joe Willman.
LEWISBURG, Pa. –The Bucknell baseball regular season has just 10 games remaining and the Bison will play eight of those at Depew Field, starting with this weekend's key four-game series against Army. The teams enter the weekend tied for second in the tightly bunched Patriot League standings, just one game behind first-place Holy Cross.
Bucknell (13-24, 7-5 PL), which split back-to-back extra-inning non-league games against Towson and Penn State this week, is 6-1 in its last seven Patriot League games and 7-2 over its last nine games overall. The Bison had a season-best four-game winning streak snapped in a 12-inning loss at Penn State on Wednesday.
Bucknell is hitting .242 as a team and owns a 4.44 team ERA. Both figures are just shy of the best marks the Bison have had all season (.243 avg., 4.43 ERA). In Patriot League play, Bucknell is hitting .280 and has a strong 3.54 ERA. The 3.54 ERA is best in the league by nearly three-quarters of a run.
Army (16-17, 7-5 PL) enters the weekend on a hot stretch as well, having won five of its last six, and nine of its last 12. The Black Knights have not allowed more than four runs in a game over their last six contests and rank second in the Patriot League with a 4.41 ERA this season.
Both Bucknell and Army went 1-3 on the opening weekend of Patriot League play, but have bounced back to win six of their next eight to move into their second-place tie.
The Black Knights lead the all-time series against the Bison by a 61-42 margin. Army swept a four-game series at West Point last April.
All four games in this weekend's series will have a live audio broadcast available via SportsJuice.com.
Bucknell Baseball Notebook
• Travis Clark enters the weekend series on a 10-game hitting streak. The senior has reached base in 15 consecutive games. Clark is hitting .422 (19-for-45) during his streak. He has five multi-hit games during that stretch, including a pair of four-hit outings.
• Carter Bumgardner carries a season-best seven-game hitting streak into the weekend. The senior has at least one hit in 12 of his last 13 games and is hitting .429 (12-for-28) during his seven-game streak.
• Travis Clark has a team-high 13 doubles this season, placing him tied for second in the Patriot League. He now has 35 career doubles, placing him in a tie for eighth on Bucknell's all-time list with Mark Kennedy and Tyler Prout. Next up is seventh-place Ben Allen, who had 36 doubles from 2007-10.
• Corey Furman has been hit by a pitch 12 times this season. That places him 38th nationally in that category. He has 10 walks and 41 hits in addition to the dozen hit by pitches as his on-base percentage is a team-best .396 entering the weekend.
• Bucknell has already equaled its Patriot League win total from all of 2012. The Bison finished the 2012 campaign 7-13 in conference play.
• Bucknell is 2-3 at Depew Field this year. The Bison have finished above .500 at home each of the last two seasons (11-9 in 2012, 10-7 in 2011).
• After registering double figures in hits five times in the season's first 25 games, Bucknell has reached that plateau seven times in the last 12 contests.
• Bryson Hough has made nine starts this year for the Bison. In eight of those starts he has allowed three or fewer earned runs. In fact, taking away his start at Delaware when he yielded 10 runs, his ERA would be a stingy 2.35. Hough has pitched 21.0 innings against Patriot League opponents and allowed just 20 hits and four earned runs.
• Dan Weigel has logged at least 7.1 innings in each of his last five starts and has struck out at least five in each of those outings. His 150.2 career innings pitched are the most of any current Bison.
• Dan Goldstein has pitched three consecutive complete games (seven-inning games). He has allowed just one earned run over his last 14.0 innings and his 48 strikeouts this year lead the Bison. He is just nine strikeouts away from joining Bucknell's single-season top-10 list. No Bison hurler has joined that list since Jason Buursma, Mathew Wilson and Eric Jarrett in 2008.
• Freshman right-hander Andrew Andreychik is the least experienced member of the Bison weekend rotation, but he has been just as successful as his older teammates since the start of Patriot League play. The right hander, who earned Patriot League Rookie of the Week honors a couple weeks ago, is 2-1 with a 4.00 ERA in Patriot League play. He has allowed just two earned runs over 15.0 innings the last two weeks.
• Reliever Max Kra has made a team-high 15 appearances out of the bullpen this year. His five appearances vs. Patriot League competition is also a team-high figure. Kra leads the Bison with two saves and he has allowed just 21 hits and struck out 11 in 18.0 innings on the mound this year.
• Bucknell's opponents are hitting .277 this year. It is the lowest the Bison's opponent batting average has been since March 13.
• This year's April 20 Patriot League home opener marks the latest the Bison have ever played their first home Patriot League game. The previous latest date for the first Patriot League home game was April 19, 2003 vs. Army.
Select Bucknell Players Career Stats vs. Army
• Travis Clark: 42 AB, 4 RBI, 2 2B, 2 BB
• Dan Goldstein: 1-1, 3.86 ERA, 3 K, 7.0 IP, 6 H
• Dan Weigel: 0-1, 0.00 ERA, 5 K, 8.0 IP, 4 H
• Bryson Hough: 0-1, 0.00 ERA, 6 K, 7.1 IP, 7 H
