Wednesday, March 8
Lewisburg, Pa.
2:30 P.M.
Bucknell University
vs
Marist
Photo by: Denise Lyons
Baseball Opens Home Slate with Wednesday Contest vs. Marist, Three-Game Weekend Series with Rhode Island
3/7/2023 4:52:00 PM | Baseball
Marist (1-8) at Bucknell (2-8)
When:Â Wednesday, March 8, 2:30 p.m.
Where:Â Depew Field, Lewisburg, Pa.
Watch: ESPN+
Live Stats: BucknellBison.com
Rhode Island (3-6) at Bucknell (2-8)
When:Â Saturday, March 11, 1:30 p.m. | Sunday, March 12, 12 p.m. (DH) **SCHEDULE UPDATED 3/9**
Where:Â Depew Field, Lewisburg, Pa.
Watch: ESPN+
Live Stats: BucknellBison.com
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Bucknell at a Glance
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When:Â Wednesday, March 8, 2:30 p.m.
Where:Â Depew Field, Lewisburg, Pa.
Watch: ESPN+
Live Stats: BucknellBison.com
Rhode Island (3-6) at Bucknell (2-8)
When:Â Saturday, March 11, 1:30 p.m. | Sunday, March 12, 12 p.m. (DH) **SCHEDULE UPDATED 3/9**
Where:Â Depew Field, Lewisburg, Pa.
Watch: ESPN+
Live Stats: BucknellBison.com
 Â
Bucknell at a Glance
- Bucknell looks to bounce back from a tough week when Marist and Rhode Island come to Lewisburg for the first home games of the 2023 season. All four games this week – a single game against Marist and a three-game series against Rhode Island – will be streamed on ESPN+.
- Bucknell closed out the month of February on a positive note with wins over Ball State and Merrimack, followed by a tough 11-8 loss to Pittsburgh in which the Bison led 8-4 into the late innings. But last weekend in Greensboro, N.C., didn't go as planned, as the Bison allowed 40 runs in three games and fell twice to Western Michigan and once to North Carolina A&T.
- Sophomore third baseman Sean Keys was one of the team's bright spots last weekend. He went 5-for-12 with a home run and four runs batted in, raising his season average to a team-best .351. Keys ranks seven in the Patriot League in batting and sixth in OPS (1.024).
- Jacob Terwilliger enters the Marist game with a seven-game hitting streak, and he has upped his season average to .303.
- Grant Voytovich swatted his team-leading third home run of the season in the North Carolina A&T game on Saturday. That is already a career high for home runs in a season for the junior outfielder, and it is tied for fifth-most in the Patriot League.
- Jacob Corson is 6-for-28 on the season but ranks fourth in the Patriot League in on-base percentage (.500). That is because he leads the league in both walks (11) and hit-by-pitches (5).
- Wednesday's probably starting pitcher, sophomore lefty Ben Magovern, is coming off a solid outing at Pitt last week. He was touched for a third-inning grand slam, but those were the only runs he allowed in his four innings of work, and he struck out six.
- Freshman reliever Ryan Osinski has been impressive thus far with three scoreless outings. He has yet to allow a hit while striking out six in three innings.
- The Red Foxes are 1-8 after playing three tough road series against USC, William & Mary, and East Tennessee State. After seven straight losses to open the season, they broke through with an 11-3 win at ETSU on Saturday, backed by 6.2 strong innings from Brian Yetter and three home runs from the offense.
- Marist is coming off an outstanding 2022 season. The Red Foxes finished 29-17 overall and 17-5 in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference, and at one point they held the nation's longest winning streak at 11. The postseason didn't go as planned, however, as the second-seeded Red Foxes bowed out of the MAAC Tournament with losses to Canisius and Niagara.
- This year's squad was picked fourth in the MAAC preseason poll, behind Canisius, Fairfield, and Rider. Shortstop Dylan Hoy was a Preseason All-MAAC selection.
- Colin Mackle is the team's top hitter with a .323 average. He had a hit in the first eight games of the season until an 0-for-3 on Sunday. Freshman Bayram Hot is next at .300 after going 5-for-11 in the ETSU series last weekend.
- Graduate student Brian Hart, a First Team All-MAAC selection last season, is off to a 5-for-29 start, but four of his five hits are home runs. He also leads the team with eight RBIs.
- Facing some potent lineups early in the season, Marist's team ERA sits at 11.71. Wednesday's probable starter, senior southpaw Jack Keenan, has allowed 12 runs on 14 hits with eight walks and seven strikeouts in his first three appearances, covering 9.1 innings. Keenan was limited to five appearances and two starts last season before suffering a season-ending injury. He did have a 1.80 ERA in that stint, and he was the team's opening-day starter at USC.
- Bucknell and Marist have met seven times dating back to 1999, and the Red Foxes have won four of the seven. The two teams were slated to meet last season in Lewisburg, but it was a weather casualty.
- The last time the Bison and Red Foxes squared off was in 2017, when they opened the season with a three-game series in Cary, N.C. Marist won the opener 5-0 before Bucknell earned a split of the doubleheader with a 7-3 victory. The Red Foxes then won a Sunday single game 10-8 thanks to a seven-run bottom of the seventh. Current Bison assistant coach Brett Smith had three hits in the series.
- The Rams are 3-6 on the season, with all nine games coming on the road against quality southern opponents. Rhode Island dropped 2 of 3 at Sam Houston State to open the season, then the Rams took 2 of 3 from Mercer before getting swept at No. 19 Virginia this past weekend.
- Mercer had been 5-1 on the season until Rhode Island won the final two games of that series. Sunday's win was a 15-4 run-rule romp that ended after seven innings. Freshman Michael Anderson went 4-for-4 with two of the team's four home runs in that game, and he is hitting a robust .484 (15-31) with three homers, four doubles, and 10 RBIs on the season.
- Billy Butler (.371), Addison Kopack (.323), Mark Coley (.316), and Eric Genther (.303) are all over .300 for a Rams squad that is hitting .283 as a team with 17 home runs in nine games. Coley has a team-high four homers, and all five of those .300 hitters have at least two long balls.
- Rhode Island set a school record with 65 home runs last season. The Rams finished with a 20-35 overall record and a 14-10 mark in the Atlantic 10.
- Kopack was named to the Collegiate Baseball Preseason All-America Second Team. The catcher won the Atlantic 10 batting title last season (.430) and also led the league in slugging percentage (.925) and OPS (1.450). He was a First Team All-A-10 pick as well.
- Trystan Levesque (2-1, 4.30 ERA), Sean Sposato (0-2, .794), and Braeden Perry (1-1, 13.00) have each made three starts apiece on the mound.
- Bucknell and Rhode Island have met just twice previously. The Rams won 8-7 in Homestead, Fla., in 2000, and the Bison returned the favor with an 8-4 win at IMG Academy Park in Bradenton, Fla., in 2003. Brian Hirschberg had three hits and Zack Allen tossed six shutout innings in that win for the Bison, who would go on to win the Patriot League championship later that season. Â
- Following the Rhode Island series, Bucknell will play a single game at UMBC next Tuesday in Baltimore before heading to Navy for a four-game set to open Patriot League play.
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