Bucknell University Athletics
Baseball Visits Penn State, Hosts Saint Joseph's in Non-League Action this Week
3/19/2018 5:29:00 PM | Baseball
Setting the Scene, Part 1
Who: Bucknell (4-14, 1-3 PL) at Penn State (6-9, 0-0 Big Ten)
When: Tuesday, March 20
Where: Medlar Field at Lubrano Park, University Park, Pa.
Watch Live: goPSUsports.com
Listen Live: WVBU 90.5 FM
Live Stats: goPSUsports.com
Setting the Scene, Part 2
Who: Saint Joseph's (8-8, 0-0 A-10) at Bucknell (4-14, 1-3 PL)
When: Wednesday, March 21
Where: Depew Field, Lewisburg, Pa.
Live Stats: BucknellBison.com
About the Bison/Last Time Out
• Bucknell plays a pair of non-conference games this week, at Penn State on Tuesday and at home against Saint Joseph's on Wednesday.
• Bucknell and Navy were the first teams to start Patriot League play this past weekend. The Bison took the opener 10-2 in a battle of two of the league's top pitchers, as Connor Van Hoose and the Bison bats outslugged Navy's Noah Song. But the Mids stormed back and took the final three games of the series, 3-2, 5-1 and 12-6.
• Evan Klugerman paced the offense in Saturday's game-one rout, going 2-for-3 with a pair of doubles and four RBIs. Dominic Toso added two hits, and Luke Hartman and Luke Johnson knocked in two runs apiece. Meanwhile, Van Hoose went six innings and yielded only two unearned runs while striking out six.
• Jeff Gottesman and Jack Grabek turned in solid starts in the middle two games, but came up on the losing end as the Bison bats were silenced by Sean Kamhoot and Andrew Sauers.
• Klugerman hit .364 (4-11) with five RBIs in the four-game series against Navy, raising his season average to .245.
• Tyler Wincig, who is expected to get the start on the mound at Penn State, is also Bucknell's leading hitter on the year. His average now stands at .383, and with a team-high 12 walks, he has a Patriot League-best .508 on-base percentage and 1.019 OPS. Wincig is 12-for-25 (.480) in his last eight games, including a four-hit outing against UMass in Florida last week.
• Bucknell features three of the Patriot League's top five hitters in Wincig, Johnson (.357) and Evan Madigan (.357). John Marti of Lafayette leads the league in hitting at .391.
• JohnPaul Bell continues to lead the Patriot League in home runs with four.
• Johnson has hit safely in seven of his last eight games, with five multi-hit games in that span. His only o-fer in that stretch came in game three of the Navy series, when he went 0-for-1 with two walks. He his 15-for-31 (.484) in his last eight outings, raising his average from .256 to .357.
Scouting Penn State/Series Record
• The Nittany Lions took 2 of 3 at home against NJIT over the weekend to improve to 6-9 on the season. Penn State started the year with three straight wins over Elon, but then lost eight out of nine prior to the NJIT series.
• Braxton Giavedoni leads the team with a .290 batting average, while Connor Kiemann and Ryan Sloniger are both hitting .286 with three home runs apiece. Sloniger has a team-high 17 RBIs.
• Bailey Dees, a 6'7" freshman, is expected to make his first career start on Tuesday. Dees has made two appearances in relief and has given up four runs on seven hits in 3.1 innings.
• Penn State holds a 121-34 lead in an all-time series that dates back to 1886. The Nittany Lions took two close games from the Bison last season, winning 4-3 in 10 innings and 5-3.
Scouting Saint Joseph's/Series Record
• Saint Joseph's has won two straight and four of its last five to even its mark at 8-8 on the season. The Hawks are scheduled to host Villanova on Tuesday before heading to Lewisburg.
• The Hawks are coming off a 6-3 home win over Manhattan on Sunday, and a day earlier they smacked Sacred Heart 13-1. Earlier in the month, Saint Joseph's went 4-2 on a Spring Break trip to Florida, including a pair of wins over Notre Dame.
• Charlie Concannon leads the squad with a .361 batting average, while James McConnon is also over .300 at .327. Dominic Cuoci paces the Hawks in home runs (3) and RBIs (12).
• Justin Aungst (1-3, 3.28 ERA) and Tim Brennan (3-1, 3.81) have been Saint Joseph's top two starting pitchers. Steve Powles has two saves and has yet to allow a run out of the bullpen.
• Saint Joseph's 10th-year head coach Fritz Hamburg is a former assistant coach at Army.
• The Hawks have a 5-4 lead in a series that dates back to 1963. The two teams were schedule to play last year but the game was washed out. In the last meeting in 2016 in Philadelphia, Saint Joseph's won 6-5, as Peter Sitaris hit a go-ahead two-run double with two outs in the bottom of the eighth inning.
Looking Ahead
• Following the two non-conference games, Bucknell will play four Patriot League games at home this weekend. The Bison will host Army for a doubleheader on Saturday, and then Holy Cross comes to Depew Field for a pair on Sunday.
