Baseball to Host Merrimack Friday, Doubleheader Saturday for Home-Opening Series

Friday, February 27

Lewisburg, Pa.

2 p.m.

Bucknell University

Merrimack

Photo by: Alisa Mitchell

Baseball to Host Merrimack Friday, Doubleheader Saturday for Home-Opening Series

2/26/2026 2:35:00 PM | Baseball

*SCHEDULE CHANGES: Sunday's game has been moved to Saturday. Saturday is now a doubleheader beginning at 11:15 a.m. with the second game beginning approximately 30 minutes after the conclusion of the first game. The first game will be seven innings and the second game will be nine innings. There are no changes to Friday's game.*

Merrimack (1-2) at Bucknell (1-6)
When: Friday 2 p.m.; Saturday 11:15 a.m. (DH)
Where: Depew Field at Marren Park | Lewisburg, Pa.
Watch: ESPN+ (Friday)
Stats: BucknellBison.com

The Bucknell baseball team is set for its home-opening series as Merrimack comes to town for a three-game series. The series starts on Friday at 2 p.m. followed by a doubleheader on Saturday beginning at 11:15 a.m.

Bucknell is coming off of a loss at Pittsburgh and are 1-6 to start the year. The Bison were swept by Charleston Southern in the opening series and took one of three games against Radford.

Last Time Out

Bucknell fell 18-3 at Pittsburgh in seven innings on Wednesday afternoon at Charles L. Cost Field. Bucknell scored the first run of the ballgame, but Pitt used a big five-run third inning and a seven-run fourth inning to take the big win.
Andrew Swenson hit his first home run of the season in the fifth inning, and Chris Morabito and Michael Chiaravallo both drove in runs. The Bison scored their three runs on five hits. Pitt's 18 runs came on 13 hits. Michael Trommer tallied his fourth extra-base hit of the season, and Garrett Mathias, Morabito and Ty Lagoni all had a hit in the game.

Bucknell at a Glance

Bucknell is hitting .219 through seven games and pitchers have posted a 7.39 team ERA. Opponents are hitting .284 against the Bison and pitchers have a 3.25 ERA.
Outfielder Michael Trommer is hitting .357/.400/.643 for a 1.043 OPS. He has two homers and two RBIs along with four multi-hit games. Trommer had two hits in all three games against Radford.
Outfielder Michael Chiaravallo is hitting .294/.333/.647 in five starts. The junior has two home runs and five RBIs this season.
Transfer infielders Ty Lagoni and Zach Selfon have seven hits each. Selfon had a six-game hit streak to start the year. Lagoni had a breakout game against Radford where he went 3-for-5 with four RBIs at the plate in game one.
Bucknell have hit nine home runs this season. Lagoni, Andrew Swenson, Ryan Facinelli, Garrison Bullock and Garrett Mathias have all homered. Trommer, Chiaravallo and Mathias all homered in their first at-bats of the season.
Mathias is 4-for-12 with three RBIs at the plate, playing in five games. John Calabrese is 3-for-10 with an RBI at the plate.
Bucknell's only win of the year so far came in a 4-1 victory behind a dominant pitching performance by freshman Brady Hoar. Hoar allowed one unearned run on one hit with three strikeouts in just his second career start. Fellow freshman Tyler Seidman tossed two scoreless innings and Hadley Maxwell earned the save with a 1-2-3 ninth inning.
Hoar was the named this week's Patriot League Pitcher of the Week.
Jonathan Adelmann has a 1.00 ERA in 9.0 innings in his new role as a starter for the Bison. Only one of the six runs against him was earned and he's struck out eight batters with nine walks. Opponents have hit just .188 off of Adelmann.
Hoar has a 5.19 ERA in two starts. After a tough first game against a strong CSU squad, Hoar had a great outing in his second start. Opponents are hitting just .148 off of him.
Senior Ryan Facinelli was named to the Preseason All-Patriot League Team and was a Second Team All-Patriot League selection in 2025.
Bucknell posted an 18-27 overall record with a 10-15 mark in the Patriot League. The Bison finished fifth in the PL missed the playoffs after making the postseason the previous three seasons.
Holy Cross won the 2025 Patriot League Championship, ending Army's three-year run as champions.
Head coach Scott Heather is in his 14th season at the helm, and he is the third-longest tenured coach in program history. Heather's 242 career wins are second-most in team history, trailing only Hall-of-Famer Gene Depew (591).
Coach Heather is assisted by Jason Neitz (16th season), Brett Smith '17 (6th season) and Josh Kieffer (5th season).

Merrimack at a Glance/Series History

Merrimack is 1-3 to start the 2026 season with their lone win coming against Ball State 9-5 in the Swig & Swine Classic in South Carolina.
The Warriors are hitting .259 through four games and pitchers have posted an 8.49 team ERA. Opponents are hitting .344 and have posted a 5.75 team ERA.
Jayden Hamilton is hitting .500/.526/.556 thus far. He has nine hits, five runs scored and three RBIs.
Garrett MaGovern is hitting .400/.455/.500 with four RBIs. Joey Frammartino is hitting .364/.611/.727 for a 1.338 OPS. Frammartino has four hits, but has drawn seven free bases.
Matt DeShiro is second on the team with six hits and has four RBIs. Christian Scanlon also has four RBIs.
James Borsari has a 2.25 ERA. He's pitched four total innings in two starts, allowing just one earned run with three strikeouts.
Nick Hunkele has pitched 3.0 innings over two appearances. He has not allowed a hit but surrendered four walks.
Oliver Barkal, Bobby Loper, and Owen Zachary have not allowed an earned run in their name yet, but all three pitchers have thrown just two innings or less thus far.
The Bison and Warriors have met just once in their history back in 2023 when the Bison won 12-3.

Looking Ahead
Bucknell takes on Saint Joseph's next weekend for two home games and one road game. The Bison host the Hawks at 2 p.m. on Friday and 12 p.m. on Saturday before traveling to Philadelphia on Sunday for a 1 p.m. start.