Saturday, April 19
Bethlehem, Pa.
12 p.m.
Bucknell University
at
Lehigh
Photo by: Alisa Mitchell
Baseball Travels to Lehigh for Pivotal Three-Game Series
4/17/2025 11:47:00 AM | Baseball
Bucknell (13-22, 5-11 PL) at Lehigh (17-18, 6-10 PL)
When:Â Saturday, April 19, 12 p.m. (DH) | Sunday, April 20, 12 p.m.
Where: J. David Walker Field at Legacy Park
Watch: ESPN+
Live Stats
Bucknell at a Glance
When:Â Saturday, April 19, 12 p.m. (DH) | Sunday, April 20, 12 p.m.
Where: J. David Walker Field at Legacy Park
Watch: ESPN+
Live Stats
Bucknell at a Glance
- Bucknell is back on the road this weekend for a three-game series at Lehigh. The Bison and Mountain Hawks kick off the series with a doubleheader on Saturday, then a single game on Sunday to complete the series.
- Bucknell completed an eight-game home stand as league-leading Navy took a Patriot League midweek contest from the Bison 6-4 on Wednesday afternoon at Depew Field.
- The Bison got back in the game after trailing the Mids 6-0, but the comeback fell just short as the Bison left 17 runners on base in the game.
- Last weekend, The Bison took an exciting Game 1 on Saturday in walk-off fashion over Holy Cross before the Crusaders bounced back to take both games of a doubleheader on Sunday.
- Lafayette, Lehigh and Bucknell are all battling for the fourth-place spot in the Patriot League. Bucknell is currently in sixth with a 5-11 record — three games back of Lafayette at 8-8 and one game back of Lehigh at 6-10. Navy sits atop of the league with an 12-7 record with Holy Cross 0.5 games back at 10-6. Army is in third with a 10-9 record.
- Tyler O'Neill's eight inning gem in Game 1 on Saturday helped the Bison take a thrilling 1-0 walk-off win in the ninth and earn the senior this week's Patriot League Pitcher of the Week award. The Bison had just two hits before senior Billy Kender and junior Michael Trommer started the ninth inning off with singles. Junior Ryan Facinelli roped a ball that was snagged by the third baseman for a sure double play, but the throw went astray to allow Kender to come home to score.
- O'Neill went eight innings for the third time this season, allowing no runs and just three hits with six strikeouts. O'Neill out-dueled Holy Cross starter Danny Macchiarola, who allowed no runs and just two hits through seven innings. This was O'Neill's fifth start this season allowing one earned run or less.
- Tyler O'Neill ranks third in the PL with a 3.03 ERA in nine starts this season. O'Neill sits third on Bucknell's all-time strikeouts list with 211 strikeouts, 27 behind second-place Connor Van Hoose '18. Opponents are hitting .215 off the right-hander, good for second in the PL, and ranks second with 54 strikeouts to just 16 walks. O'Neill is climbing several other career program records for the Bison. O'Neill is fourth in games started (38) and seventh in innings pitched (247.2).
- Bucknell led in both Game 2 and Game 3 on Sunday before big innings by Holy Cross flipped the game on its head. The Crusaders put together a four-run inning to grab the lead in Game 2, then put together a five-run seventh inning in Game 3 to take the lead.
- Freshman John Calabrese leads the Bison with a .355 average, and was the Patriot League Rookie of the Week and Bison of the Week honoree two weeks ago. Calabrese made his debut with a pinch-hit single against FAU and has become a mainstay in the BU lineup.
- In 23 games with 19 starts, Calabrese is slashing .355/.419/.506 — good for a .925 OPS. Calabrese is hitting .368 off of right-handed pitchers and is 8-for-19 with runners in scoring position. Calabrese has at least one hit in 16 of the 23 games he has played in for the Bison.
- Senior Tyler Dunn extended his on-base streak to 28 games — all 28 games he has played in this season. The first baseman was 4-for-7 with three RBIs and a walk in the three-game series against Holy Cross. All three RBIs came in Game 2, where Dunn brought a run home on three productive outs.
- Dunn is third in the Patriot League with a .985 OPS and is slashing .330/.489/.496, all of which rank seventh or higher in the PL.
- Dunn is climbing several career program records this season. The four-year starter ranks 11th in games played (168), 9th in games started (162), 9th in at-bats (594), 15th in hits (163), 14th in RBIs (107), 6th in walks (88), 10th in hit-by-pitches (23), 20th in doubles (30), and fourth in sacrifice flies (10).
- Junior third baseman Michael Trommer leads the Bison with 34 hits and has a .258 batting average. Trommer leads the Bison and ranks third in the PL with 30 RBIs, and ranks sixth with three home runs. Trommer currently has a 12-game on-base streak.
- Senior second baseman Billy Kender is second on the team with 33 hits. Kender has 11 extra-base hits and 19 RBIs. Kender currently has a 17-game on-base streak and a four-game hit streak.
- Sophomore center fielder Billy Fluharty is batting .240 this season. Fluharty ranks ninth in the PL with 28 runs scored and leads the Bison with eight steals.
- Sophomore Jonathan Adelmann leads the Bison out of the bullpen with a team-low 1.73 ERA in 26.0 innings over 16 appearances. He has racked up 35 strikeouts compared to 15 walks and has three saves this season.
- Senior Ben Magovern had a great start on the mound in Game 3 against Holy Cross on Sunday. The left-hander allowed one earned run on four hits in six innings, and ended his day as the Bison led 3-2. Magovern has allowed just one earned run in his last two starts and has five starts this season with one earned run or less. Magovern ranks ninth in the PL with a 5.30 ERA.
- Freshmen Samuel Janik and AJ Murray have been solid on the mound in recent outings. Janik was tagged for six earned runs a couple weeks ago at Penn State, but has allowed one earned run or less in six of his last seven appearances.
- Murray got the start against Navy and was credited with three earned runs. Murray had allowed an RBI double before getting two big outs before his day was done on the mound. Navy continued the rally with a walk and a hit-batter to tie the game before a grand slam gave the Mids a 6-0 lead.
- Through 35 games, the Bison have a .232 team batting average and a 7.59 team ERA. Opponents are batting .285 and have a 5.22 ERA against BU.
- The Bison are 2-2 against ACC foes. Bucknell won its single game against Pitt, and took Game 2 from Virginia Tech in its opening series.
- Against Pitt, seven Bison pitchers combined for a four-hit, 17-strikeout effort. 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.
- 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 236 career wins are second-most in team history, trailing only Hall-of-Famer Gene Depew (591).
- Lehigh enters the weekend with a 17-18 overall record and a 6-10 mark in the Patriot League, one game ahead of Bucknell heading into the three-game series. The Mountain Hawks are coming off of tough 19-4 loss against Lafayette on Wednesday. Â
- The Mountain Hawks have lost four of its last six games, all Patriot League contests. Lehigh dropped two of three games to Army last weekend and split a doubleheader with the Bison the week prior.
- Lehigh is averaging 6.4 runs per game, and enters the weekend with a .243 team batting average. Lehigh has 247 strikeouts as a team, the lowest of any Patriot League school this year. The Bison on the other hand have struck out the most this season, leading the PL with 335 strikeouts.
- Aidan Quinn leads the Mountain Hawks offense, slashing .336/.546/.426 this season. Quinn has 16 extra-base hits and a league-leading 37 RBIs — six more than any other player. Quinn ranks in the top 5 in the PL in BA, SLG, OPS, RBIs and doubles.
- Owen Walewander is hitting .276/.418/.395. Walewander is third on the team with 21 RBIs and eight doubles. Jake Whitlinger is tied for the PL lead with six home runs and is second on the team with 22 RBIs. Whitlinger is slashing .265/.449/.377. Whitlinger is dangerous on base, stealing 16 bases with 41 runs scored.
- Cole Leamen leads the team with seven starts on the mound. He has a 5.33 over 27.0 innings with 34 strikeouts. Marcus Danchison and Liam O'Hearen have made five starts each. Danchison has a 4.94 ERA and O'Hearen has a 5.01 ERA.
- O'Hearen was named PL Pitcher of the Week on Mar. 24 after tossing a complete-game shutout with 11 strikeouts against the PL defending champions, Army.
- Jack Hamilton has a 2.81 ERA in nine appearances with one start. Opponents are hitting .191 off of Hamilton who has allowed just nine hits in 16.0 innings.
- Noah Gyauch-Quirk is third on the team with a 3.20 ERA in eight appearances with two starts. In 19.2 innings, he has 22 strikeouts compared to 12 walks. Cole Kochanowicz also has a 3.20 ERA in eight appearances. Kochanowicz has 22 strikeouts compared to 13 walks in 19.2 innings.
- Bucknell leads the all-time series 117-104. In the last 12 games dating back to 2023, the Bison are 7-5 against the Mountain Hawks. Last season, Lehigh took the season-series with a 3-2 mark over the Bison.
- Bucknell and Lehigh split a doubleheader on Monday, April 7. The Mountain Hawks took Game 1 in a 1-0 pitcher's duel between starters Ben Magovern and Cole Leaman. The only run of the game was unearned, and came on a wild pitch in the top of the seventh.
- The Bison then took Game 2 by a 6-5 walk-off win on a Michael Trommer double. The Bison trailed 5-0 into the sixth inning before a four-run frame got BU back in the ballgame. The Bison then plated a run in both the eighth and ninth innings to pull off the comeback win. Â
- The Bison have just seven games left to play this season after the series with Lehigh. Bucknell travels to Villanova on Tuesday for a 3:30 p.m. start before hosting defending champions Army in a three-game series at Depew Field.
- Bucknell then travels to Lafayette for its final series of the season the following weekend. As it stands now, the Leopards sit three games ahead of the Bison in fourth place in the PL.
Players Mentioned
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