Baseball Opens Patriot League Slate with Four-Game Series at Navy

Friday, March 17

Annapolis, Md.

2 p.m.

Bucknell University

Navy

Baseball Opens Patriot League Slate with Four-Game Series at Navy

3/16/2023 11:19:00 AM | Baseball

Bucknell (5-9, 0-0 PL) at Navy (7-9, 0-0 PL)
When: Friday, March 17, 2 p.m. | Saturday, March 18, 1 p.m. (DH) | Sunday, March 19, 1 p.m.
Where: Terwilliger Brothers Field at Max Bishop Stadium, Annapolis, Md.
Watch: ESPN+ (Saturday and Sunday games only)
Live Stats: Friday | Saturday G1 | Saturday G2 | Sunday

Bucknell at a Glance

The Bison open up Patriot League play with a four-game weekend series at Navy, with single games on Friday and Sunday wrapped around a Saturday doubleheader. The Bison and Midshipmen were both predicted to be Patriot League Tournament teams this season. Bucknell was selected second and Navy fourth in the preseason poll.
Both teams built some momentum with impressive three-game series sweeps on their home fields last weekend. The Bison came from behind in all three games in a sweep of Rhode Island, while Navy allowed only eight runs in taking all three from Princeton. Bucknell then had a mid-week game at UMBC rained out, while Navy dropped a mid-week affair at Delaware State 9-4 on Wednesday.
Five of Bucknell's nine losses have come against teams from the Atlantic Coast Conference. The Bison were swept at then-No. 5 Louisville to start the season and have also dropped games to Boston College and Pittsburgh. Louisville is now 14-1 and has climbed as high as No. 2 in the Collegiate Baseball Newspaper poll. Boston College is 12-2, including a win at No. 2 Tennessee and a pair of wins over No. 10 Virginia Tech to start ACC play, and the Eagles are now ranked in some polls.
Bucknell's three wins over Rhode Island came on the heels of a five-game losing streak, and all three came in dramatic fashion. In the series opener, the Bison spotted the Rams a 5-0 lead after two innings but stormed back to win 8-6. Sean Keys' two-run double capped a five-run fifth inning that tied the game at 5-5, and then Anthony Sherwin put the Bison on top with a two-run double in the sixth.
Bucknell swept Sunday's doubleheader with a pair of walk-off wins. Both games were scheduled for seven innings, and the Bison won both 3-2 in eight. Billy Kender and Grant Voytovich supplied the walk-off base hits.
Voytovich's game-winning single in the series finale capped a big week for the junior right fielder. Including a three-hit game against Marist in a mid-week loss, Voytovich hit .400 for the week (6-15) and was named the Bison Athlete of the Week on Monday. A Preseason All-Patriot League pick, Voytovich upped his season average to .283. He leads the team with three home runs and 15 hits, and he ranks third with nine RBIs.
Keys continues to hold the team's top average among qualifiers at .292. He has hit home runs against No. 5 Louisville and Western Michigan – the first of those was a 433-foot blast off the batter's eye in center field at Louisville – and leads the team in RBIs (12) and slugging percentage (.500).
Sherwin has given the Bison a big lift since returning to the leadoff spot after missing nine early season games due to injury. He had a three-hit game, including the go-ahead double, in the series opener against Rhode Island, and his double off the wall in right tied the game in the bottom of the seventh and forced extra innings in game two of the series. Sherwin is hitting .316 (6-19) in five games.
Jacob Corson is hitting .238 on the season but ranks fourth in the Patriot League in on-base percentage at .468. Corson leads the league in both walks (14) and hit-by-pitches (5).
Kyle Lyons has not only played a terrific center field for the Bison, but he has provided offensive production out of the 9-hole in the order. He enters the Navy series with a six-game hitting streak and is 9-for-19 (.474) in that span. Lyons has upped his season average to .277 after a 4-for-27 start to the season.
Will Greer, Chris DiFiore, Tyler O'Neill, and Ben Magovern have accounted for all of Bucknell's starts on the mound this season. DiFiore, O'Neill, and Greer all pitched well in the Rhode Island series.
DiFiore was victimized by some shaky defense early in his start and was saddled with five unearned runs, but he got through five innings allowing five hits while striking out five. DiFiore was a First Team All-Patriot League selection as a sophomore in 2021 and was picked as the Preseason Pitcher of the Year heading into last season. But just two innings into his opening-day start against Ball State he had to leave with an injury, and he missed the rest of the season. This season he has made two good starts against Ball State and Rhode Island, but a pair of tough outings against Louisville and North Carolina A&T have inflated his ERA to 8.10.
O'Neill is 2-2 on the season and leads the rotation with a 4.57 ERA. He is coming off his best start of the year on Sunday against Rhode Island, an eight-inning complete game in which he allowed only two runs on seven hits. O'Neill was touched for a 2-run home run in the second inning before putting up six straight zeroes, allowing the Bison to come from behind and win. His other victory game against Merrimack on Feb. 26 in Charleston, S.C., when he struck out eight over 5.2 innings.
Greer was Bucknell's opening-day starter this season after earning Second Team All-Patriot League honors as a junior a year ago. After a tough start against Western Michigan, Greer bounced back with a solid outing against Rhode Island on Sunday, when he allowed just one run and five hits over 5.1 innings.
Bucknell's top five arms out of the bullpen have been righthanders Ryan Osinski (0-0, 0.00 ERA), Nikhil Patel (1-0, 1.69), and Theo Farynick (0-0, 4.15), and lefties Nick Mulvey (1-0, 2.53) and Connor Vucovich (0-0, 3.52). Those five have combined for a 2.70 ERA with 37 strikeouts in 36.2 innings pitched. Patel and Mulvey earned their first collegiate wins against Rhode Island over the weekend, while the freshman Osinski registered his first career save. Osinski has been receiving late-inning work and has six Ks and has allowed only one hit in his four appearances.

Navy at a Glance/Series History

Navy is 7-5 since starting the season with four losses to quality opponents in No. 19 Virginia, UNC Wilmington, Ohio, and Georgetown. That includes last weekend's sweep of Princeton by scores of 3-1, 5-3, and 7-4.
Hudson Lehnertz went 5-for-11 in the Princeton series to raise his season average to a team-best .385. That is the fourth-best mark in the Patriot League.
Logan Keller (.317) and Brock Murtha (.315) are also regulars hitting over .300 on the season. Keller leads the team with 14 RBIs. Freshman Henry Mitchell has started the last four games at second base and went 5-for-9 in the Princeton series. He is 6-for-17 (.353) in seven appearances this season, and he was named the Patriot League Rookie of the Week on Tuesday.
Like Bucknell, Navy's pitching staff has some inflated ERAs due to some tough early season outings down south. Senior Nate Mitchell has been the Midshipmen's top arm with a 2-1 record and a 2.14 ERA. In four starts, Mitchell has 18 strikeouts and only four walks. He allowed just a run on three hits over seven innings in his most recent start against Princeton.
Bucknell and Navy have met 171 times in a series that dates back to 1904. The Midshipmen hold a 92-78-1 lead in the series.
Navy recently build a 10-game series winning streak against the Bison, including a five-game season sweep in 2019, but since ending that streak, Bucknell has won seven of the last 10.
The Bison took four of the five meetings last season, including the first three in this corresponding four-game series to start Patriot League play at Depew Field. Bucknell won 12-2, 7-2, and 11-0 before Navy closed the weekend with a 5-2 win. The Bison then prevailed 11-1 in Annapolis later in the year.
Anthony Sherwin (12-22) and Chris Cannizzaro (12-21) did major damage at the top of the lineup in the five games against Navy last season. Cannizzaro, an All-Patriot League outfielder, is currently making the most of his fifth year as a graduate student at nationally ranked Virginia Tech. He is his hitting .461 with five home runs and 20 RBIs in 16 games and already has a walk-off home run and a cycle on his ledger. Cannizzaro is leading the nation in hits per game (2.19).

Looking Ahead

Following the Navy series, Bucknell will play its next five games at home. The Bison host Villanova in a single non-league game on Tuesday, and then Lafayette and Lehigh come in for doubleheaders on Saturday and Sunday.