Bison Start 3-Game Set with Duke Friday, Watch Each on ACC Net/WatchESPN

Setting the Scene
Who: Bucknell (0-3, 0-0 PL) at Duke (2-2, 0-0 ACC)
When: Friday-Sunday, Feb. 23-25
Where: Durham Bulls Athletic Park, Durham, N.C.
Watch Live: ACC Network Extra via ESPN3 and WatchESPN app
Live Stats: GoDuke.com

Weekend Schedule:
Game 1 (2/23): 4 p.m.
Game 2 (2/24): 1 p.m.
Game 3: (2/25): 1 p.m.

Probable Starters
Game 1: RHP Connor Van Hoose (0-1, 47.25 ERA) vs. LHP Adam Laskey (0-1, 6.75 ERA)
Game 2: RHP Jeff Gottesman (0-0, 1.93 ERA) vs. RHP Ryan Day (0-0, 1.50 ERA)
Game 3: RHP Jack Simpson (0-1, 7.71 ERA) vs. LHP Mitch Stallings (0-1, 4.50 ERA)

About the Bison/Last Time Out
• After playing three games at fourth-ranked Arkansas last weekend, Bucknell's difficult non-league schedule continues with three games against a Duke team that was ranked in several of the preseason polls.
• Bucknell is scheduled to play its first 15 games of the season away from home, 10 true road games followed by neutral-site games against Villanova (2) and Massachusetts (3) during a Spring Break trip to Kissimmee, Fla.
• The March 17 home opener vs. Navy will also be Bucknell's Patriot League opener. That will be a much-anticipated four-game series. Not only is it a rematch of last year's PL Tournament semifinal series, but the Bison will be making their debut in front of the brand new stadium facility at Depew Field.
• Bucknell suffered a three-game sweep at the hands of fourth-ranked Arkansas last week, falling by scores of 14-2, 32-4 and 3-1. After two long days on the mound, the Bison got a stellar pitching performance in game three of the series and had the tying run at the plate in the eighth and ninth innings.
• One of the bright spots in the series was the relief outing by junior Jeff Gottesman on Sunday. Gottesman came on in the third inning with the bases loaded and one out, and on one pitch induced a 6-4-3 double play to end the threat and keep Bucknell's deficit at 2-1. Gottesman went on to pitch 4.2 innings, allowing just three hits and a run, which came on an opposite field home run.
• Freshman Brenden Tuttle pitched a 1-2-3 inning with a strikeout on Sunday in his collegiate debut.
• Luke Johnson led the offense with a 4-for-12 (.333) ledger, including a double, and four RBIs. JohnPaul Bell went 3-for-10 with a double. Freshman Dominic Toso had a nice debut series, picking up two hits and two walks while scoring a team-high three runs.
• Bison pitchers combined for 30 walks (15 in each game) in the first two games of the series. No. 1 starter Connor Van Hoose was a pitch away from escaping the first inning unscathed against Arkansas' potent lineup. But Van Hoose, who walked only 19 batters in 83 innings last season, walked four in a row and ended up with more than 40 pitches thrown in the inning. He would retire one more batter in the second and ended up being charged with seven earned runs. He allowed only 21 earned runs in 13 starts last season and led the Patriot League in ERA (2.28).
• The Arkansas series was a homecoming for Bison head coach Scott Heather, who pitched for the Razorbacks in 1997 and 1998.

Bison Preseason Favorite in Patriot League
• In the 2018 Patriot League Preseason Poll, the Bison finished at the top with 43 points and six first-place votes. Navy was chosen second with 38 points and four first-place votes. Holy Cross, the reigning Patriot League Champion, was picked third with 29 points and two first-place tallies. Rounding out the six-team ballot were Lehigh (27), Army West Point (25) and Lafayette (18).
• Senior RHP Connor Van Hoose was named Patriot League Preseason Pitcher of the Year, and he was joined on the Preseason All-Patriot League Team by senior shortstop Luke Johnson.

The Bison Last Season
• Bucknell finished 21-28 last season, including a 10-10 mark in the Patriot League.
• The Bison were the No. 4 seed in the four-team Patriot League Tournament, and they knocked off top-seeded Navy by sweeping two games in the best 2-of-3 semifinal series. Pitchers Connor Van Hoose and Mike Castellani both tossed complete games, conceding only a single run in 4-1 and 5-0 victories.
• In the championship series at second-seeded Holy Cross, Bucknell dropped the opener 4-3, then lost a wild one, 11-7 in 11 innings. The Bison were down to their final out in the bottom of the ninth, but then-senior Brett Smith hit a dramatic 3-run homer to tie the game and force extra innings. The Crusaders took advantage of three walks and two hit batsmen in a 4-run top of the 11th to end Bucknell's season.

Scouting Duke
• Duke comes into the series with a 2-2 record. The Blue Devils lost 2 of 3 games at No. 15 Vanderbilt to start the season, then posted an 8-2 win over North Carolina Central at home on Wednesday.
• The Blue Devils have posted four straight 30-win seasons and return nine position starters and three weekend starting pitchers from last year's squad that finished 30-28. Duke was the preseason No. 3 pick in the ACC Coastal Division, behind North Carolina and Virginia and ahead of Miami, Georgia Tech, Virginia Tech and Pittsburgh.
• Griffin Conine, the son of former MLB All-Star Jeff Conine, leads the team with a .333 average (5-15) and has the team's lone home run thus far. Conine is a consensus top-20 draft prospect and is on the preseason watch list for the Golden Spikes Award. Fellow outfielder Jimmy Herron is also a preseason All-American and is off to a 5-for-16 start at the plate.
• On the mound, Duke returns three weekend starters from last year in Adam Laskey, Mitch Stallings and Ryan Day. All three are expected to start this weekend against the Bison. Each made a start in the Vanderbilt series. Day had the most success, allowing just two runs (one earned) on five hits over six innings in the Blue Devils' 5-4 victory in game two. Ethan DeCaster earned the win in relief, as Duke scored the go-ahead run in the eighth, then threw out the potential tying run at the plate in the bottom of the ninth to end the game.

Series History with Duke
• The Blue Devils have won all three previous meetings, all coming in a three-game series in Durham in February of 2013.
• Duke won by scores of 9-0, 2-0 and 4-1.
• Three Duke pitchers combined on a two-hitter in the opener.
• Game two was a terrific pitching duel between Bucknell's Dan Weigel and Duke's Drew Van Orden, with the two teams combining for just four total hits in the contest. The game was scoreless until Jordan Betts hit a two-out, walk-off home run in the bottom of the ninth. Weigel allowed only two hits in 8.1 innings, but reliever Marcus Garone served up the home run to the Duke cleanup hitter. Van Orden struck out 13 while yielding just one hit in eight shutout innings, with Andrew Istler working a scoreless top of the ninth.
• In game three, Duke broke open a 1-1 game with a pair of runs in the bottom of the fifth, and the Bison just could not generate enough offense to mount a comeback.
• The Duke pitching staff limited the Bison to just one run on nine hits in the three-game series.