Baseball Hosts Towson Tuesday at Depew Field

4/9/2018 8:11:00 PM | Baseball

By: TBD

Setting the Scene
Who: Towson (7-22, 4-5 CAA) at Bucknell (10-20, 7-7 PL)
When: Tuesday, Apr. 9, 3:30 p.m.
Where: Depew Field, Lewisburg, Pa.
Live Stats: BucknellBison.com

About the Bison
• Feeling good after a three-game sweep of Lafayette over the weekend, Bucknell hosts Towson in a non-league game on Tuesday afternoon. The Bison and Tigers are former rivals in the old East Coast Conference.
• Bucknell topped Lafayette by scores of 2-1, 9-5 and 5-1. The sweep leveled Bucknell's Patriot League record at 7-7 and solidified the team's postseason position. The Bison sit in fourth place and gained ground on third-place Holy Cross, which is now 6-4. Fifth-place Lafayette fell to 2-7.
• It was a terrific weekend for the Bison pitching staff. Starters Connor Van Hoose, Jeff Gottesman and Jack Grabek combined to pitch 19 innings without allowing any earned runs. They allowed only nine hits over those 19 innings and struck out 25. All told, the whole staff posted a 1.80 ERA and limited the Leopards to a .169 batting average.
• Bucknell's streak of 17 straight games without allowing a home run came to an end in game two of the series, when Luke Robinson went deep for the Leopards. Earlier in the game, JohnPaul Bell belted his team-leading fifth homer of the season for the Bison.
• Freshman Dominic Toso had a good series against Lafayette. He had a three-hit game in the opener, including a clutch two-out, RBI double that tied the game at 1-1 in the bottom of the sixth. The Bison then walked it off in the seventh when Bell raced home on a wild pitch. Toso was 4-for-11 in the series, with three of the four hits doubles.
• Evan Madigan (.341), Luke Johnson (.330) and Tyler Wincig (.304) are all batting over .300 on the season. Madigan and Johnson rank fifth and eighth, respectively, in the Patriot League batting race. Wincig's .486 on-base percentage continues to lead the league, well ahead of Lafayette's Robinson at .446. Wincig (25) and Luke Hartman (24) rank 1-3 in the league in walks. Navy's Logan Knowles also has 25.
• Bucknell entered the weekend with 17 stolen bases on the season, but the Bison stole a season-high eight bases in game two of the series.

Scouting Towson/Series Record
• The Tigers come to Lewisburg with a 7-22 overall record and a 4-5 mark in the Colonial Athletic Association. Towson lost 2 of 3 at William & Mary over the weekend, dropping the first two games 8-7 and 5-4 before winning 6-1 on Sunday.
• Richie Palacios is enjoying a strong season at the plate. The Towson shortstop is hitting .358 with six homers and 24 RBIs, all team highs. Palacios slugs .624 and has a .481 slugging percentage. Towson hits .237 as a team.
• The Tigers have 6.81 team ERA in 29 games. Probable starter Dean Stramara has appeared in 11 games with one other start this season, and he has a 1-1 record with a 3.42 ERA.
• Towson leads the all-time series 28-16 dating back to 1980. The last meeting game in 2015, when Bucknell rallied to win 7-6 at Depew Field on a walk-off double by Anthony Gingerelli in the bottom of the ninth. Gingerelli also homered in the game, and Alex O'Neill collected three hits. Only two current Bison played in that game. Keifer Rawlings started at third base and went 0-for-2, and Mike Korchak started on the mound and allowed four runs in three innings.

Looking Ahead
• Next up for Bucknell is a trip to Worcester, Mass., for a three-game series with Holy Cross.