Baseball Takes on Saint Joseph's for a Doubleheader on Saturday

Saturday, March 1

Philadelphia, Pa.

12 p.m.

Bucknell University

Saint Joseph's

Photo by: Alisa Mitchell

Baseball Takes on Saint Joseph's for a Doubleheader on Saturday

2/27/2025 3:37:00 PM | Baseball

* Due to inclement weather in the forecast, Saturday's doubleheader originally scheduled at home has been moved to Saint Joseph's. Sunday's game has been canceled. *

Bucknell (4-3) at Saint Joseph's (2-6)
When: Saturday, Mar. 1, 12:00 p.m. (DH)
Where: John W. Smithson '68 Field
Watch: N/A
Live Stats

Bucknell at a Glance

The Bison head to Philadelphia on Saturday for a doubleheader at Saint Joseph's, scheduled to start at 12 p.m. Originally a home contest, the Bison will have to wait another week for its home-opener. With the schedule change, Sunday's contest has been canceled.
Bucknell is rolling into the weekend after taking two-of-three from Davidson on the backend of last weekend, and defeating Pitt 7-3 on Tuesday in a single, midweek game. They have won three in a row and the victory over Pitt marked its second this season over an Atlantic Coast Conference opponent.
Seven Bison pitchers combined for a four-hit, 17 strikeout effort against Pitt on Tuesday. The 17 strikeouts were four shy of the team record of 21, set in 1956 against Franklin & Marshall (all by Don Richards) and in 1989 against Wilkes.
Sophomore Luke Nascimento hit his first career home run. The right-handed swinging catcher went opposite field for a no-doubter.
Junior Ryan Facinelli had two hits, including a key RBI double to provide some insurance. Two balks brought runs home for the Bison late in the game to help pull away.
Freshman Everett Garber made his collegiate debut, getting the start on the mound. Garber fanned three batters in 1.2 innings, allowing one run.
Dante Pavone earned his first collegiate win with another solid outing. The sophomore allowed no runs in 2.1 innings, striking out five batters. He entered the game with the bases loaded, striking out a batter to get out of a jam. Pavone has allowed two earned runs in 5.2 innings for the Bison. Last weekend, Pavone got through a clean inning in Bucknell's Game 2 win over Davidson.
Freshman Bryce Mitchell tossed 1.2 scoreless innings with three strikeouts. The only base runner he allowed came on a walk. Sophomore Jonathan Adelmann recorded the final five outs against Pitt with four coming via the strikeout. In 6.2 innings, Adelman has yet to give up a run. He has struck out nine hitters and allowed just three hits in three appearances.
At the plate, Senior Billy Kender leads the Bison with a .320 batting average. Kender has a .520 slugging percentage and a .400 on-base percentage. Junior Michael Trommer is 6-for-26 at the plate for a .231 batting average. Trommer and Kender lead the team with seven RBIs.
Last weekend, the Bison took the last two games of the series at Davidson. After just two runs on four hits in a Game 1 loss, the Bison won Games 2 and 3 with an 8-3 win and a 10-7 win, respectively.
Davidson took an early 2-0 lead in Game 2 before the Bison plated a run in six straight frames. Michael Trommer highlighted the Bison offense with a 2-for-4 day with four RBIs. Trommer tied the game 3-3 in the fifth inning with an RBI double, then cleared the bases in the eighth inning with a three-run double to break the game open 8-3.
It was a back-and-forth Game 3, but the Bison took an early 7-1 lead after four innings and never gave up the lead. Billy Kender capped off a five-run inning with a three-run shot. It was the sixth of his career and the first Bison homer of the year. A three-run sixth inning gave the Bison a 10-5 lead after the Wildcats cut the lead to two runs.
Kender was 6-for-12 with six RBI and a walk in the series after managing just one hit in the opening series at Virginia Tech. He leads the Bison through two series with a .333 batting average.
Trommer finished the series 4-for-14 with four RBIs at the plate and had multi-hit days in the last two games of the series. Junior Billy Fluharty was 3-for-11 with five runs scored. Fluharty came up big in Game 3 with a two-run double in the fifth inning.
Junior Ryan Facinelli and sophomore Andrew Swenson each had two RBIs in the series. In Game 3, Facinelli brought home what became the winning run on a fielder's choice. Three batters later, Swenson drove in another run with a double to extend the lead to 10-7.
In Game 3, junior Garrison Bullock halted a big Davidson rally in the seventh inning with a perfect throw from rightfield to get the runner at third for a huge second out. In leftfield, sophomore Michael Chiaravallo saved three-runs from scoring with a diving catch in the left-centerfield gap to end the eighth inning. The three runs would have tied the game 10-10.
Jonathan Adelmann was lights out in the Game 2 victory. Adelmann took over in the seventh inning, pitching three scoreless innings to earn the save. Adelmann stranded both baserunners he allowed and struck out three batters.
Junior Hadley Maxwell has earned two saves in both of his appearances. Maxwell earned a save in Bucknell's Game 2 win over Virginia Tech and tossed 2.2 innings to close out Game 3 over Davidson. Maxwell took over a bases-loaded situation in the seventh. Maxwell allowed just two inherited runs to come home before getting out of the jam. He tossed a scoreless eighth and ninth to earn the save.
Through seven games, the Bison have a .196 team batting average and a 9.74 team ERA entering the weekend. Opponents are batting .335 and have had a 4.28 ERA against the Bison.
The Bison will head south once again this season. The Bison take on Florida Atlantic in a two-game series before a four-game set with Florida International over the spring break (Mar. 11-16).
Head coach Scott Heather is in his 13th season at the helm, passing Bill Lane (1946-57) as the third-longest tenured coach in program history. Heather's 224 career wins are second-most in team history, trailing only Hall-of-Famer Gene Depew (591).

Saint Joseph's at a Glance/Series History

Saint Joseph's is 2-6 with a tough schedule to start the year. The Hawks took a win over Washington and a win over Mount St. Mary's.
The Hawks have faced strong opponents in Coastal Carolina, Kansas State and Mount St. Mary's this year. Kansas State won its NCAA Regional last season and Coastal Carolina fell in the NCAA Regional Championship. The Mount is a hot 5-1 start to the year with its only loss coming to Saint Joseph's.
Saint Joseph's is coming off a 12-6 loss to Rutgers on Tuesday. The Hawks are 1-2 against Big Ten opponents this year.
The Hawks are batting .248 as a team through the first eight games. Carson Applegate leads the team with a .375 batting average and a 1.198 OPS. Applegate is 9-for-24 with eight walks and a team-high nine RBIs. Alex Kelsey has also been hot, batting .364. Kelsey leads the team with 12 hits and has five RBIs. Opponents have a 5.69 ERA.
On the mound, the Hawks have a 7.77 ERA and opponents are batting .270. Colton Book has been dominant through his first two starts. Book earned the win in both of the team's two wins. Book has tossed 13.0 innings without a run, and has allowed just two hits. Opponents are batting a measly .051 against Book and have struck out 23 times.
The bullpen has struggled to start the year. Noah Tincher is the only reliever not to have allowed a run thus far. Tincher has made two appearances, pitching 1.2 innings.
Saint Joseph's will look to make another run at the Atlantic 10 Championships. The Hawks were 29-26 last season with a 13-11 conference record. The season ended in the A10 semifinals with a loss to Richmond.
Owen Petrich had a great 2024 season. In the A10, he ranked third with 73 hits and ranked second with 60 RBIs.
This Bison and Hawks will meet on the diamond for the 18th time, dating back to 1963. Saint Joseph's holds the series 11-5-1 all-time. The Hawks took two-of-three from the Bison last season. The Bison won the first game before falling 15-5 and 9-5 in Games 2 and 3. In the first ever meeting, the Bison won 10-0.

Looking Ahead

Bucknell will host Maine in what will now be the home-opener on Friday, March 7 at 2:30 p.m. at Depew Field. Friday's game is the first of a three-game series with a single game Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. Saturday and Sunday's games are both set for 1 p.m.
Bucknell and Maine have met only twice. The Bison are 2-0 against the Black Bears with its wins coming back in 2015 and 2016.