Bucknell-Army Patriot League Championship Series Starts Saturday

Note: Game one of the 2023 Patriot League Baseball Championship, originally scheduled for 1 p.m. on Saturday, May 20, was postponed to Sunday due to inclement weather.

#2 Bucknell (23-21-1, 14-11 PL) at #1 Army (36-16, 21-4 PL)
Game 1: Sunday, May 21, 1 p.m.
Game 2: Monday, May 22, 1 p.m.
Game 3 (If Necessary): Tuesday, May 23, 1 p.m.
Where: Johnson Stadium at Doubleday Field, West Point, N.Y.
Streaming: ESPN+
Live Stats: GoArmyWestPoint.com
Follow on Twitter: @Bucknell_BB

How They Got Here
• No. 2 Bucknell and No. 1 Army both won Patriot League semifinal series at home to set up a rematch of the 2022 championship series.
• The Bison swept Navy last Saturday by scores of 2-0 and 7-6. Chris DiFiore was the story in game one, as the senior lefty twirled a three-hit shutout in one of the finest performances of his career. Bucknell trailed 6-4 in game two until Billy Kender came to the rescue. His RBI single in the eighth made it 6-5, and then he won it in the ninth on a two-out, two-strike, two-run single up the middle off Navy's standout closer Landon Kruer.
• Army dropped the opening game of its series to No. 4 Lafayette 7-5 and then fell behind 3-0 in game two, but the Black Knights dominated from there. They stormed back to win 15-6 to even the series, and then finished off the Leopards with a 5-1 verdict in game three.

Bucknell in the Postseason
• Bucknell is seeking its seventh Patriot League Tournament title, and likewise its seventh NCAA Tournament bid. The team's last NCAA appearance came in 2014.
• Prior to the Patriot League era, Bucknell won conference titles in 1950 (Middle Atlantic Conference), 1951 (MAC), and 1969 (MAC).
• The Bison are 34-30 in 20 PL Tournament appearances, including a 9-9 record against Army.
• Since the Patriot League adopted the current tournament format of best-of-three semifinal and championship series on consecutive weekends in 2008, Bucknell has played in the final series six times, including this season. The Bison won their first three championship series but have dropped the last two.

   Bucknell in Patriot League Championship Series
   2008   Defeated Navy, two games to none
   2010   Defeated Holy Cross, two games to one
   2014   Defeated Lehigh, two games to none
   2017   Lost to Holy Cross, two games to none
   2022   Lost to Army, two games to one

   Bucknell's PL Regular Season Titles Bucknell's PL Tournament Titles
   Outright: 1996, 2003 1996, 2001, 2003, 2008, 2010, 2014
   Shared: 1999, 2001, 2006, 2009, 2014

The Comeback Kids
• Come-from-behind wins have been a theme for the Bison in 2023. Bucknell has trailed in 17 of its 23 victories this season, including nine in which the winning run came in its final at-bat and four walk-off wins at Depew Field.

   Bucknell Last-At-Bat Wins
   3/12 vs. Rhode Island (G1)   W 3-2 (8 inn.)   Bison tie it in 7th on Sherwin's 2B; win it in 8th on Kender 1B
   3/12 vs. Rhode Island (G2)   W 3-2 (8 inn.)   Voytovich walk-off RBI single in 8th
   3/26 vs. Lehigh (G1)   W 6-4    Keys walk-off 3-run HR in 7th
   4/4 at Penn State W 17-14    Keys go-ahead 3-run HR in 4-run top of 9th
   4/8 at Lafayette (G1)     W 8-5 Keys go-ahead 3-run double in 4-run top of 7th
   4/23 at Lehigh   W 8-7 Corson go-ahead 3-run HR with two outs in top of 9th
   4/29 vs. Holy Cross (G1)    W 4-2 Wortman breaks tie with 2-run single in bottom of 6th
   4/49 vs. Holy Cross (G2)    W 7-5 Keys go-ahead RBI double in bottom of 8th
   5/13 vs. Navy (G2)    W 7-6 Kender walk-off 2-run single in bottom of 9th

More from DiFiore
• Bucknell senior lefthander Chris DiFiore earned Bison of the Week honors on Monday after his sensational start against Navy last weekend.
• Saturday's performance was remarkably pitch-efficient. DiFiore needed only 36 pitches to navigate the first five innings, he was at 80 pitches heading into the ninth inning, and he retired the side in order in six of his nine frames. Navy managed only four baserunners all day. The Midshipmen got back-to-back singles with one out in the second before a double play ended the threat. DiFiore worked around a one-out walk in the sixth, and he allowed a two-out double in the ninth before retiring All-Patriot League catcher Alex Smith on a fly ball to end the game.
• It was DiFiore's second shutout of the season, following his seven-inning, two-hit blanking of Lafayette on March 24.
• Prior to Saturday, the last Bison pitcher to post a complete-game, nine-inning shutout was Mike Castellani, also against Navy in the postseason. Castellani's two-hitter in Annapolis gave Bucknell a series sweep in the 2017 Patriot League Tournament semifinals.
• DiFiore is rounding back into form after missing just about all of last season with an army injury. He was a First Team All-Patriot League selection as a sophomore in 2021 and was the 2022 Preseason Pitcher of the Year. But he left after two innings on opening day against Ball State and missed the rest of the season.

Postseason Honors
• Bucknell was well-represented on the All-Patriot League Teams this year. 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.
• SEAN KEYS: Keys is a three-time Patriot League Player of the Week in 2023. He is slashing .329/.431/.652 on the season, and he ranks in the top-10 in the Patriot League in eight different offensive categories, including fourth in home runs (12), third in RBIs (56), third in slugging percentage, fourth in OPS (1.083), and seventh 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 42 of the 45 games this season. His 12 long balls are the most by a Bison since Doug Shribman had 16 in 2011.
• BILLY KENDER: 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 .269/.337/.338 while tallying 43 hits in 43 games thus far. He has 10 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 15 of his last 19 games, including his dramatic walk-off against Navy on Saturday.
• GRANT VOYTOVICH: 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 .291/.415/.506 with eight home runs, 36 runs batted in, 36 runs scored, and a team-high nine stolen bases in 43 appearances. He ranks 10th in the Patriot League in 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.
• ANTHONY SHERWIN: 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 a .497 on-base percentage, while ranking third OPS (1.088) and fifth in slugging (.591). He has reached base via a hit or walk in 32 of his 36 games played, and he has eight three-hit games and a four-hit game.
• JACOB CORSON: Corson earned Second Team honors for the second year in a row thanks to another strong season at the plate. He is slashing .291/.452/.510 with seven home runs and 32 RBIs while starting all 45 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 fourth in the Patriot League in OBP, fifth in walks (33), and fourth in hit-by-pitches (13).
• KYLE LYONS: Lyons has long been considered one of the league's best defensive center fielders, and now he is trying to hit over .300 for the second year in a row. He entered the postseason with a .311 average but dipped to .297 after going 0-for-7 in the Navy series. He has 46 hits in 44 games and has 12 multi-hit games, including three-hit performances against Navy and Lafayette.

Bison Strong in Back End of Bullpen
• Senior Theo Farynick (4-1, 3.58) 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 19 appearances, and Osinski ranks 31st nationally and second in the Patriot League with his eight 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.
• Opposing hitters are just 7-for-52 (.135) this season, including 0-for-22 with runners on base and 1-for-19 with two outs.

Getting it Done in the Classroom
• The Bison baseball team has enjoyed success on and off the field this year. Last semester, the team combined for a stellar 3.40 grade-point average.
• Sean Keys and Anthony Sherwin backed up their All-Patriot League honors with spots on the Academic All-Patriot League Team. Keys is a mechanical engineering major with a 3.69 GPA.
• Earlier this week, Keys, Chris Klein, Ben Magovern, and Connor Vucovich were all named to the College Sports Communicators (CSC) Academic All-District Team.

Head Coach Scott Heather Hits 200-Win Milestone
• Saturday's game-one win over Navy was Scott Heather's 200th as head coach at Bucknell.
• Heather is in his 11th season after succeeding Hall-of-Famer Gene Depew, who won 591 games from 1982-2012. Heather is second on Bucknell's all-time wins list behind his former mentor.
• Heather, who pitched collegiately at Arizona Western and Arkansas, was Bucknell's pitching coach for eight years before being named head coach following the 2012 season.

Bucknell-Army Series History
• Bucknell is 64-85 all-time against Army dating back to 1910.
• Army won four of the five meetings this season. The two teams split a doubleheader at West Point on Apr. 2 (Army 7-0, Bucknell 11-7), and then the Black Knights swept a three-game series at Depew Field on Apr. 15-16, winning 15-0, 8-2, and 9-4.
• Bucknell and Army have met 18 times in Patriot League Tournament play, with each team winning nine.
• Since the Patriot League adopted the current postseason format, the Bison won PL semifinal series at Army in 2008 and 2010, while the Black Knights claimed a semifinal series in 2018 and the championship series last season. All four of those series required a third and deciding game.
• In last season's championship series at West Point, Army came from behind in the ninth to take the opener 8-7 before Bucknell evened things up with a 13-3 win in game two. The Black Knights then rode a six-run first inning to a 12-2 victory in game three, giving them a fourth straight league title.

Notes & Notables
• Lefty Jacob Corson his hitting .414 (12-29) against left-handed pitching this season.
• As a team, the Bison hit .277 against LHP and .288 against RHP.
• Bucknell is hitting .359 as a team with the bases loaded this season, compared to their opponents' .227. The top bases-loaded mashers are Tyler Dunn (5-7) and Anthony Sherwin (3-4). Grant Voytovich is 3-9, but two of the three hits are grand slams.
• Sherwin (.500, 15-30) and Sean Keys (.393, 24-61) are Bucknell's top hitters with runners in scoring position. As a team, the Bison are hitting .318 with RISP.
• Bucknell is 19-2 when allowing six or fewer runs in a game and 13-0 when allowing four or fewer.
• Offensively, Bucknell's magic number is seven. The Bison are 15-4-1 when scoring seven or more runs.

Bucknell-Army Patriot League Championship Series Starts Saturday

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Players Mentioned

Jacob Corson

Chris DiFiore

Tyler Dunn

Theo Farynick

Billy Kender

Sean Keys

Chris Klein

Brendan Lowery

Kyle Lyons

Ben Magovern

Ryan Osinski

Anthony Sherwin

Grant Voytovich

Connor Vucovich