Baseball Starts Five-Game Homestand Tuesday against Villanova

Tuesday, March 21

Lewisburg, Pa.

3 p.m.

Bucknell University

Villanova

Photo by: Marc Hagemeier

Baseball Starts Five-Game Homestand Tuesday against Villanova

3/20/2023 3:34:00 PM | Baseball

Villanova (2-16) at Bucknell (7-11)
When: Tuesday, March 21, 3 p.m.
Where: Depew Field, Lewisburg, Pa.
Watch: ESPN+
Live Stats: BucknellBison.com

Bucknell at a Glance

Winners of five of their last seven games, the Bison host Villanova in a non-league game on Tuesday afternoon to open up a five-game homestand. Patriot League rivals Lafayette and Lehigh come in over the weekend.
Bucknell began Patriot League play this past weekend and split a four-game series with Navy in Annapolis. The Bison dropped two close games, 8-6 and 7-6, to start the series before bouncing back to win 17-4 and 6-3.
Shortstop Anthony Sherwin was the offensive star of the weekend for the Bison. He went 8-for-15 (.533) at the plate with four doubles, eight RBIs, and six runs scored. In game two of Saturday's doubleheader, he went 4-for-4 with a career-high six RBIs, and in Sunday's series finale he drove in the go-ahead run with a double in the fifth inning.
It was a nice rebound for the Bison after losing a back-and-forth series opener and then falling on a walk-off home run in the bottom of the seventh in game two of the series. Bucknell ran away with the third game, scoring a season-high 17 runs on 14 hits and nine walks. And then in Sunday's season finale, the Bison spotted Navy a 3-0 lead in the first inning, but Ben Magovern and Nick Mulvey blanked the Midshipmen the rest of the way.
Kyle Lyons also went 8-for-15 in the Navy series, giving the Bison a big lift out of the No. 9 spot in the lineup. Tyler Dunn and Jacob Corson both had five hits in the series, while Billy Kender and Sean Keys had four each as the offense hit .331 off Navy pitching.
Corson and Keys both homered in the series. Keys' third home run of the year was a titanic blast pulled down the right-field line. Corson, Keys, and Grant Voytovich are tied for the team lead with three home runs apiece, accounting for nine of the team's 11 on the season.
Sherwin is now hitting .412 with a 1.076 OPS on the season, although he does not yet have enough appearances to qualify for the batting title after missing nine games due to injury.
Lyons raised his season average to .339 to rank seventh in the Patriot League.
Corson continues to lead the league in walks (17) and hit-by-pitches (7), and he ranks third in the league in on-base percentage (.481).
Magovern and Will Greer picked up wins on the mound this weekend, and Mulvey recorded his second save of the season.

Villanova at a Glance/Series History

The Wildcats have played a difficult schedule thus far and are 2-16 on the season. They dropped 2 of 3 at home against Rider this past weekend, winning the opener 7-6 in 10 innings before falling 11-3 and 4-0.
Cameron Hassert had a big day in Friday's win over the Broncs. He went 4-for-4 with four RBIs, including an inside-the-park home run in the eighth inning and a game-tying two-run single in the ninth.
Hassert leads the team with a .291 batting average and has six multi-hit games this season.
Jack O'Reilly is hitting .275 and leads the team with five home runs.
Villanova was picked seventh in the Big East preseason coaches' poll after finishing 19-29-1 overall and 8-12 in league play last season.
Bucknell and Villanova first met on the diamond all the way back in 1899, and the Wildcats have a 23-8 lead in the all-time series.
Villanova has won the last four head-to-head meetings, including a 10-4 verdict at Villanova Ballpark last season. Grant Voytovich had two hits and two RBIs to lead the Bison in that mid-April contest. Five Wildcats had multi-hit games and August Biggio hit a two-run homer.
Bucknell's last series win was a 10-5 decision at Villanova in 2019.

Looking Ahead

After the single game against Villanova, Bucknell returns to Patriot League play with weekend doubleheaders against Lafayette on Saturday and Lehigh on Sunday. Both Sunday games will be streamed on ESPN+.