Baseball Hosts Navy in Patriot League Semifinal Series at Depew Field

Saturday, May 13

Lewisburg, Pa.

12 p.m.

Bucknell University

Navy (PL Semifinals)

Photo by: Lianne Garrahan

Baseball Hosts Navy in Patriot League Semifinal Series at Depew Field

5/12/2023 9:33:00 AM | Baseball

#3 Navy (23-25, 14-11 PL) at #2 Bucknell (21-21-1, 14-11 PL)
Games 1 & 2: Saturday, May 13, 12 p.m.
Game 3 (If Necessary): Monday, May 15, 1 p.m.
Where: Depew Field, Lewisburg, Pa.
Streaming: ESPN+
Live Stats: BucknellBison.com
Follow on Twitter: @Bucknell_BB

Happenings:

Free admission!
Food Trucks! (Homestead BBQ, LaRue Sweet BBQ, Pelican's SnoBalls)
Little Leaguers escort players on field and run bases between games (please arrive by 11:30 a.m. if you wish to escort the players at the start of the game).

Bucknell at a Glance

The postseason has arrived, and for the second year in a row the Bison are the No. 2 seed and home for the semifinal series. Bucknell will host third-seeded Navy in a best 2-of-3 series, with two nine-inning games scheduled for Saturday. With Bucknell's graduation ceremonies slated for Sunday, should a third and deciding game be required, it would be played on Monday at 1 p.m.
The Bison and Midshipmen both finished 14-11 in Patriot League play, but Bucknell won three of the five regular-season meetings to claim the tiebreaker. The two teams split a four-game series in Annapolis back in March, and then Bucknell took the season series with a 5-1 win at home on Apr. 19.
Army is the No. 1 seed in the tournament and will host No. 4 Lafayette in the other semifinal series at West Point. The Black Knights and Leopards will play one game on Saturday and two if needed on Sunday.
This is Bucknell's 20th Patriot League Tournament appearance, tied with Army for second-most in league history behind Navy, which has qualified for the 23rd time.
Bucknell is seeking its seventh Patriot League championship and first since 2014. Its other PL titles came in 1996, 2001, 2003, 2008, and 2010. Navy has captured seven PL Tournament titles, with its last coming in 2016. Both teams are looking to break Army's four-year title run.
Bucknell was well-represented on the All-Patriot League and Academic All-Patriot League teams this week. Six of the team's eight everyday position players earned all-league status, including all three outfielders and three of the four infielders. Junior right fielder Grant Voytovich, sophomore third baseman Sean Keys, and sophomore second baseman Billy Kender were all named to the All-Patriot League First Team, and junior shortstop Anthony Sherwin, junior left fielder Jacob Corson, and senior center fielder Kyle Lyons were Second Team selections.
Bucknell's six all-league honorees are second-most in the league. Regular-season champion Army garnered nine selections, including eight on the First Team.
Voytovich and Corson are both two-time all-leaguers, as both made the Second Team as sophomores a year ago. Bucknell's three First Team picks this year are its most since 2017, when Sam Clark, Connor Van Hoose, and current assistant coach Brett Smith were all named to the top squad.
Keys and Sherwin followed up their All-Patriot League nods with spots on the Academic All-Patriot League Team. Bucknell has had at least one representative on the squad in all 12 years of the award's existence.
The Bison have been on hiatus since May 1, but prior to the final exams break they were playing good baseball. Bucknell is 6-1-1 in its last eight games, including a three-game sweep of Holy Cross on Apr. 29 and May 1. All three of those wins over the Crusaders were needed to secure the No. 2 seed, and the Bison locked it up with a 7-5 win, sparked by home runs from Sherwin and Keys and a quality start on the mound from Tyler O'Neill.
Bucknell leads the Patriot League with a .393 team on-base percentage and ranks third in batting average (.285), slugging percentage (.435), and runs per game (6.6).
Sherwin leads the Patriot League with a .500 on-base percentage, and he is trying to become only the fourth Bison ever to record an OBP of .500 or better. Randy Ruger set the school record with a .557 OBP in 1969, and Ted Aceto (.525 in 1989) and Tyler Wincig (.500 in 2019) also reached base at least half the time.
Keys is a three-time Patriot League Player of the Week in 2023. He is slashing .323/.425/.645 on the season, and he ranks in the top-10 in the Patriot League in eight different offensive categories, including third in home runs (12), fourth in RBIs (54), third in slugging percentage, fourth in OPS (1.070), and eighth in batting average.
Keys ranks sixth on Bucknell's single-season charts in both homers and RBIs, and he has reached base via hit or walk in 40 of the 43 games this season. His 12 long balls are the most by a Bison since Doug Shribman had 16 in 2011, and his homer tally includes a walk-off three-run shot in a home win over Lehigh and a go-head three-run blast in the top of the ninth in the win at Penn State.
Kender earned an All-Patriot League citation in his first season as the starting second baseman after replacing another all-leaguer in Brendan Lowery. Kender is slashing .272/.343/.344 while tallying 41 hits in 41 games thus far. He has nine multi-hit games, including a three-hit performance against Lafayette, and he belted his first career home run against the Leopards in Easton. Kender has been hot of late, with hits in 14 of his last 17 games entering the postseason.
Voytovich is in the midst of another outstanding season, both offensively and in right field, where he was a candidate for the league's Defensive Player of the Year award. At the plate, Voytovich is slashing .293/.418/.520 with eight home runs, 34 runs batted in, 35 runs scored, and a team-high nine stolen bases in 41 appearances. He ranks 10th in the Patriot League in on-base percentage and homers, and his 14 hit-by-pitches are second-most in the league. He has three four-hit games this season, coming against, Army, Navy, and Penn State, and he had a memorable two-homer, seven-RBI game in a win at Lehigh. The latter contest was highlighted by a go-ahead grand slam in the sixth inning of an 8-7 victory, and he also hit a grand slam in a 17-14 win at Penn State.
Sherwin's Second Team mention perhaps undersells his impact on the team, as he was a strong Patriot League Player of the Year candidate but happened to play the same shortstop position as Army senior Kevin Dubrule, who did garner the POY nod after hitting .399 during the regular season. Sherwin is not far behind with a .371 average, and he currently leads the Patriot League with that .500 on-base percentage, while ranking second in OPS (1.105) and fourth in slugging (.605). He has reached base via a hit or walk in 30 of his 34 games played, and he has eight three-hit games and a four-hit game, where he went 4-for-4 with six RBIs in a win over Navy, which led to a Patriot League Player of the Week award.
Corson earned Second Team honors for the second year in a row thanks to another strong season at the plate. He is slashing .280/.447/.490 with seven home runs and 32 RBIs while starting all 43 games. Of those career-high seven homers, none was more dramatic than his two-out, three-run shot in the top of the ninth in an 8-7 win over Lehigh on Apr. 23. Corson ranks fifth in the Patriot League in OBP and walks (32) and third in hit-by-pitches (13).
Lyons has long been considered one of the league's best defensive center fielders, and now he is on his way to hitting over .300 for the second year in a row. He enters the postseason with a .311 average and a .362 OBP, with 46 hits in 42 games. Lyons has 12 multi-hit games this season, including two three-hit games against Navy and another against Lafayette.
Bucknell's top three starting pitchers – Chris DiFiore, Will Greer, and O'Neill – are all coming off solid starts in the Holy Cross series. Meanwhile, No. 4 starter Ben Magovern's two best outings of the season both came against Navy. The sophomore lefty went 2-0 against the Midshipmen, allowing two earned runs on 11 hits in 14.0 innings.
Senior Theo Farynick (4-1, 3.34) and freshman Ryan Osinski (0-1, 8 SV, 2.35) have been outstanding in the back end of Bucknell's bullpen. Farynick leads the team with 18 appearances, and Farynick ranks 24th nationally and second in the Patriot League with his eight saves. Navy's Landon Kruer leads the PL with 11 saves.
Osinski's eight saves are third-most in a season in Bucknell history. Phil Futrick tallied 11 saves in 2003, and Jason Buursma had nine in 2006.
Bucknell has trailed in 16 of its 21 wins this season, including eight in which the winning run came in its final at-bat.

Navy at a Glance/Series History

Navy closed out the Patriot League slate by taking two of three games at Lehigh thanks to some outstanding pitching. After dropping the series opener 1-0, the Midshipmen came back to post 5-1 and 14-1 victories. They held the powerful Lehigh lineup to just three runs in the three games.
Starting pitchers Nate Mitchell and Matthew Shirah and reliever Landon Kruer were three of the five Navy players to earn Second Team All-Patriot League honors. Catcher Alex Smith and outfielder Nick Burch were also recognized.
While Bucknell has been idle since May 1, Navy was able to schedule three non-conference games since then. They dropped a single game to George Mason, 4-1 on May 3, and then split a pair with Elon last weekend, falling 3-1 before winning 8-5 a day later.
The Midshipmen are hitting .264 as a team on the season and .270 in league games. On the mound, Navy's 5.76 team ERA is third-best in the league, and that figure shrinks to 4.62 in PL play.
Smith (.337) and Kyle Rausch (.303) are both hitting over .300 on the season. Smith ranks sixth in the league in hitting, and Rausch is tied for the league lead in triples with five.
Bucknell and Navy played four games in Annapolis Mary 17-19. The Midshipmen won the first two 8-6 and 7-6 before the Bison salvaged a split with 17-4 and 6-3 wins.
In game two of the series, Bucknell rallied to take a 6-5 lead but Navy got a game-tying home run from Colin Smith in the sixth and a walk-off homer from Henry Mitchell in the seventh.
In Bucknell's 5-1 win at Depew Field that clinched the season series, Grant Voytovich went 4-for-4 and Tyler Dunn had three hits and three RBIs to pace Bucknell's 12-hit attack. Ben Magovern worked seven strong innings allowing just a run on five hits with three strikeouts.
Anthony Sherwin went 4-for-4 with six RBIs in the 17-4 win, and he went 8-for-15 with eight RBIs and six runs scored in the series. In 15 career games against Navy, he is 28-for-60 (.467) with 21 RBIs and 22 runs scored. Sherwin has two career four-hit games and two career games with five or more RBIs, all coming against the Midshipmen.
Bucknell hit .337 as a team in the five games against Navy this season. Chris Klein (.500), Dunn (.471), Mason Kelly (.429), Sherwin (.421), Kyle Lyons (.421), Voytovich (.357), Billy Kender (.353), and Jacob Corson (.353) all hit .300 or better against the Midshipmen. The one Bison all-star who was kept in check by Navy was Sean Keys, who was 4-for-19 (.211) in the five meetings, although he did have a home run, five RBIs, and five runs scored.
Bucknell and Navy have met 176 times in a series that dates back to 1904. The Midshipmen hold a 94-81-1 lead in the series. The Bison have won 10 of the last 15 on the heels of a Navy 10-game winning streak.
Bucknell is 16-10 against Navy in Patriot League Tournament action. The last time these two teams met in the postseason was 2017, when the Bison swept a semifinal series 4-1 and 5-0 in Annapolis.