Baseball Heads to West Point for Three-Game Series

Setting the Scene
Who: Bucknell (5-18, 2-6 PL) at Army West Point (12-12, 4-0 PL)
When: Saturday, March 31, 12 p.m. (DH) | Sunday, Apr. 1, 12 p.m.
Where: Doubleday Field, Wesy Point, N.Y.
Watch Live: Patriot League Network (Sunday only)
Live Stats: GoArmyWestPoint.com

About the Bison
• Bucknell plays its first road Patriot League games this weekend with a three-game set at Army West Point. The Bison are trying to get things going at 2-6 in league play, while the Black Knights have been the hottest team in the league of late. Army is 4-0 in the PL after sweeping doubleheaders from Bucknell and Navy last week. Including a 9-6 mid-week win over Siena, the Black Knights have five games in a row.
• After three straight postponements, Bucknell finally got a mid-week contest in on Wednesday. Villanova overcame a 4-1 deficit to beat the Bison 6-4 at Depew Field. JohnPaul Bell picked up two hits and Luke Hartman had two RBIs for the Bison. Hunter Robichaux was effective out of the bullpen, pitching 2.1 scoreless innings with three strikeouts.
• Connor Van Hoose will get another crack at Army after absorbing a tough 1-0 loss last Saturday. Van Hoose took a no-hitter into the seventh and final inning, but the Black Knights parlayed a couple of singles into the only run of the contest. Van Hoose fanned six, but the Bison could not manage a run off of Army southpaw Tyler Giovinco.
• Jeff Gottesman and Jack Grabek are also expected to take the mound for the Bison this weekend. Grabek is coming off his best outing of the year last time out against Holy Cross. He fell one out shy of a complete game but was the winning pitcher in Bucknell's 5-0 win over the Crusaders in game one last Sunday. Gottesman's 3.44 ERA is the best among the starting staff.
• Bucknell enters the Army series boasting the Patriot League's top three hitters. Evan Madigan (.359), Tyler Wincig (.350) and Luke Johnson (.349) are 1-2-3 in batting average.
• Tyler Wincig is Bucknell's leading hitter on the year. He now leads the Patriot League in batting average (.391) and on-base percentage (.508), and his OPS is up to 1.019. Wincig is 12-for-24 (.500) 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). Wincig leads the league in on-base percentage at .506, and he is third in walks with 18. Wincig's OPS sits at a lofty .956.
• JohnPaul Bell continues to lead the Patriot League in home runs with four. Austin Masel of Holy Cross also has four.
• Johnson has a team-high 10 multi-hit games and has reached base safely in 15 straight.

Scouting Army West Point/Series Record
• Army beat the Bison 1-0 and 7-6 last Saturday, then traveled to Baltimore the following day and beat Navy 5-3 and 8-2 at Camden Yards. The Black Knights then topped Siena 9-6 in a non-league game at West Point on Wednesday.
• Jon Rosoff leads Army in hitting at .291. Drake Titus is next at .283 after pounding out four hits against Siena. The Black Knights have just one home run and a team slugging percentage of .297, but they have a solid .362 on-base percentage and are adept at manufacturing runs. Jacob Hurtubise leads the Patriot League with 15 stolen bases. No other player in the league has more than eight.
• Army has a 4.84 staff ERA. LHP Tyler Giovinco has been the team's top starter, with a 3-3 record and a 4.66 ERA. Daniel Burggraaf is 2-0 with three saves and a 2.81 ERA out of the bullpen.
• Army leads the all-time series 70-51 dating back to 1910. The Black Knights took 3 of 4 at Depew Field last season, including a wild 16-14, 11-inning verdict in game four. Bucknell won the third game of the series, 10-5.

Looking Ahead
• Bucknell will travel to Binghamton on Tuesday and host Saint Joseph's on Wednesday in non-conference action next week. The Saint Joseph's game is a makeup from an earlier weather postponement. The Bison will also be home next weekend for a three-game series against Lafayette.