UPDATED: Baseball Hosts Navy for Patriot League Semifinal Series

Sunday, May 10

Lewisburg, Pa.

1:05 p.m.

Bucknell University

Navy (PL Semifinal Game 2)

Photo by: Steven Schoenfelder

UPDATED: Baseball Hosts Navy for Patriot League Semifinal Series

5/7/2026 1:44:00 PM | Baseball

*Bucknell and Navy have pushed this weekend's Patriot League semifinals back a day to Sunday, Monday and Tuesday due to forecasted weather conditions on Saturday. All games will remain a 1:05 p.m. start time.

PATRIOT LEAGUE SEMIFINAL
No. 3 Navy (30-17, 16-10 PL) at No. 2 Bucknell (24-22, 17-9 PL)
When: Sunday, 1:05 p.m. | Monday, 1:05 p.m. | Tuesday, 1:05 p.m. (if necessary)
Where: Depew Field at Marren Park.
Watch: ESPN+
Stats: BucknellBison.com

The Bucknell baseball team is back in the playoffs and hosting Navy for a Patriot League semifinal at Depew Field at Marren Park for the first time since 2023. The series now begins on Sunday at 1:05 p.m., followed by game two on Monday at 1:05 p.m. Game three will be played at the same time on Tuesday if necessary.

The Bison won a share of the regular season title for the first time since 2014 — the last time that the Bison won the Patriot League tournament.

Bucknell secured the two-seed in the Patriot League tournament in an exciting final weekend of action as Army, Bucknell and Navy came into the final series tied in the standings. Army and Navy faced off where the Black Knights took two of three games. Bucknell took two of three games from Lehigh, but Army held the head-to-head tiebreaker over the Bison. Bucknell took the first two games and Army split the first two games to give the Bison an opportunity to earn the one seed, but Lehigh played spoiler in game three.

The Patriot League announced its All-League awards on Tuesday, and the Bison and Midshipmen combined for 12 student-athletes on the two All-League squads. Navy led the league with seven selections while Bucknell had five. Both programs collected one major award.

Head coach Scott Heather and assistant coaches Jason Neitz, Brett Smith and Josh Kieffer were named the Patriot League Coaching Staff of the Year after the Bison were picked to finish fifth in the preseason polls. Jason Neitz is the acting head coach as head coach Scott Heather is not with the team due to a medical emergency last week.

Navy's Brady Bendik was named the Patriot League Pitcher of the Year after leading the league and ranking fourth in the nation with a 1.72 ERA in 12 starts.

On the All-Patriot League First Team: Matt Archibald (Navy), Brady Bendik (Navy), Tyler Cripe (Navy), Chris Klug (Navy), Hadley Maxwell (Bucknell) and Michael Trommer (Bucknell)

On the All-Patriot League Second Team: Evan Brown (Navy), Victor Izquierdo (Navy), Patrick Walsh (Navy), Brady Hoar (Bucknell), Lleyton Coupe (Bucknell) and Billy Fluharty (Bucknell)

Hadley Maxwell was named the Patriot League Scholar Athlete of the Year. This marks the second consecutive season that a Bison has won the award after Tyler Dunn won the award in 2025. Navy's Timmy Virtudes landed a spot on the Academic All-Patriot League Team while Jonathan Adelmann, Coupe and Maxwell all landed spots on the team.

Maxwell was also named to the NCBWA Stopper of the Year Midseason Watch List a week ago. Maxwell is one of 61 relief pitchers named to the watch list. He ranks eighth in the nation with nine saves. The senior is second in program history for single-season saves (10) and tied for third in career saves (13).

Last Time Out

Bucknell took two of three games from Lehigh to secure a share of the regular season title and the two-seed in the Patriot League tournament.
The Bison grabbed an emotional game one with a 4-0 shutout behind a quality start by Jake Schultz. Bryce Mitchell tossed two no-hit innings in relief and Maxwell shut down the ninth.
Maxwell picked up his 10th save of the year in game two as the Bison took a 2-1 win over the Mountain Hawks. Lehigh led 1-0 until two runs in the sixth inning gave the Bison the lead. Brady Hoar gave the Bison his sixth quality start for his sixth win of the year.
Lehigh played spoiler in game three as the Bison had an opportunity to clinch the top seed. Lehigh led 2-1 after five innings but broke the game open with an eight-run sixth to ultimately win 10-4.

Bucknell vs. Navy in 2026

Bucknell took two of three games in Annapolis early in the Patriot League slate. The Bison and the Mids split a doubleheader before Bucknell took the series with a 3-1 win in the finale behind a great start by Hoar.
Navy then took two of three games in Lewisburg to even up the series 3-3 on the season. Navy took both games of a doubleheader before the Bison battled back for a big 5-4 win in 13 innings as Zach Selfon walked off the game in extras.

Bucknell at a Glance

Bucknell hit .250 in 26 games as a team at the plate and pitchers have posted a 5.99 team ERA. Opponents hit .268 against the Bison and pitchers have a 4.86 ERA.
In conference play, the Bison lead the Patriot League with a .274 batting average and rank second to Navy with a 4.68 ERA. Navy led the league with a 3.45 ERA in conference play.
Freshman DH and first baseman Garrett Mathias is hitting .305/.415/.511 for a .926 OPS. He has 43 hits and a team-high 40 RBIs. Mathias has seven home runs on the season, including a home run in his first collegiate at-bat. He started his career with a 37-game on-base streak that came to an end against Penn State. Mathias is 15-for-44 (.341) with 15 RBIs with runners in scoring position. He is also
Left fielder Michael Trommer is hitting .295/.409/.526 for a .935 OPS with 50 hits to rank second in the Patriot League. He has nine home runs, 22 RBIs and 40 runs scored along with 16 multi-hit games. The senior has 11 doubles and 21 extra-base hits. Trommer has drawn 26 walks and eight hit-by-pitches.
Centerfielder Billy Fluharty is batting .291 and leads the league with 52 hits. The leadoff hitter has 18 RBIs, 33 runs scored and 11 extra-base hits. He has 14 multi-hit games including four four-hit games. Fluharty is 11-for-24 (.458) in his last six games.
Leyton Coupe is batting .290/.405/.473 in 35 games with 27 starts. Coupe has 11 extra-base hits including two home runs and 17 RBIs. He is 10-for-31 (.323) with runners in scoring position.
Right fielder John Calabrese is hitting .287 in 40 games with 31 starts. Calabrese has 16 RBIs and 12 of his 29 hits have been doubles. Calabrese has drawn 15 walks and struck out just 17 times. Calabrese is 10-for-30 (.300) with six RBIS with runners in scoring position.
Zach Selfon is hitting .269 with 45 hits and 17 RBIs. He has walked 19 times and was hit by seven pitches compared to just 22 strikeouts in 197 plate appearances.
Outfielder Michael Chiaravallo is hitting .313 (20-for-64) with 14 RBIs in 33 games with 14 starts. He is slashing .313/.384/.531 for a .915 OPS. He is 5-for-14 (.357) when pinch hitting and 9-for-24 (.375) with runners in scoring position.
Ty Lagoni is batting .219 and is second on the team with 29 RBIs. He has four home runs and 39 hits. The shortstop has been named a Patriot League Player of the Week twice this season.
The Bison have hit 31 home runs. Trommer, Chiaravallo and Mathias all homered in their first at-bats of the season. Garrison Bullock homered in his second at-bat of the year. Tommer leads the team with nine and Mathias has seven for the Bison.
Freshman Brady Hoar has a 4.60 ERA in 12 starts and is 6-3 on the season. Hoar has five starts of at least five innings where he allowed one run or less. He has pitched six quality starts this season. Hoar has been named a Patriot League Rookie of the Week twice and Pitcher of the Week once.
Everett Garber has a 5.05 ERA in 46.1 innings over nine starts. Garber is 3-3 on the mound and has six outings of at least five innings or more. He has one complete game against Lafayette this season. He has allowed 26 earned runs on 48 hits and has 47 strikeouts compared to 25 walks.
Hadley Maxwell has a 2.05 ERA and is 10-for-11 in save opportunities this season for the Bison. He's allowed six earned runs on 23 hits with 29 strikeouts in 26.1 innings. Navy tagged him for four runs against the Mids, but Maxwell came back with four shutout innings to earn his first win of the season the last time they faced.
Jake Schultz has 2.67 ERA in eight appearances with six starts. He made his return to the mound in over a year against No. 15 North Carolina. He's allowed 10 earned runs on 24 hits over 30.1 innings. He had his best outing of the season last time out with six shutout innings against Lehigh.
Jonathan Adelmann has a 3.00 ERA in five starts for the Bison in his new role for the Bison. He's pitched 27.0 innings, going five innings or more in three starts. He's gone seven innings in each of the last two games, giving quality starts against both Saint Joseph's and Lafayette. He's struck out 25 batters compared to three walks the last two starts.
Liam Jones has a 5.14 ERA in 10 relief appearances. He has not allowed an earned run in six of his 10 appearances. He's allowed eight earned runs on 20 hits in 14.0 innings with 15 strikeouts.
Tyler Seidman has a 6.09 ERA in 14 appearances with four starts. Seidman made a spot start on Sunday against Army where he pitcher six one-hit innings as the Bison shut out Army 8-0. He followed with five innings against Navy where he allowed just two runs.
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 last season. 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 six-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 265 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). Former player and Scholar Athlete of the Year Tyler Dunn assists the team as a volunteer coach.

Navy at a Glance/Series History

Navy finished the regular season with a 30-17 record and a 16-10 record in the Patriot League to earn the three seed.
The Mids are coming off of a series loss to Army in Annapolis last weekend. Navy and Army split the first two games before the Black Knights dominated game three.
Navy is hitting .256 at the plate as a team and pitchers have posted a 3.79 team ERA. Opponents are hitting .237 and opposing pitchers have a 5.02 ERA.
Tyler Cripe is hitting .305/.393/.474 and leads the team with 38 RBIs. Cripe has five home runs and 14 extra-base hits. He has 13 multi-hit games.
Chris Klug is hitting .297/.387/.430 in 38 games. He has 38 hits and 16 RBIs. He is 18-for-22 on stolen base attempts.
Patrick Walsh is batting .296/.418/.520 for a .938 OPS in 38 games. He has five home runs and 20 extra-base hits. He is second on the team with 36 RBIs and leads the team with 28 walks. He currently has reached base in each of his last 28 games.
Victor Izquierdo is hitting .265 at the plate and leads the team with 48 hits. He has 32 RBIs and is tied for a team-high five home runs. He has drawn 21 walks and struck out just 21 times.
Brady Bendik has a 1.72 ERA in 12 starts with a 6-3 record. He's pitched 78.1 innings, going five innings or more in all of his starts. He went seven innings or more in five of his last six. He has 89 strikeouts and surrendered just 24 walks. Opponents are hitting .223 off of him.
Matt Archibald has a 2.35 ERA in 11 starts with a 7-3 record. He has pitched 65.0 innings and has an impressive 98 strikeouts. Opponents are hitting just .171 off of him.
Owen Phypers has a 6.00 ERA in 11 appearances with 10 starts with a 5-4 record. He has struck out 52 batters and allowed just 18 walks in 54.0 innings.
Tyler Grenn has a 2.62 ERA in 17 appearances with six starts. He has earned two saves and has pitched 55.0 innings with 43 strikeouts. Opponents are hitting just .242 off of him.
Timmy Vertudes has a 2.70 ERA in nine relief appearances. He has allowed four earned runs on 12 hits over 13.1 innings.
Jackson Beattie has a 2.86 ERA in 12 relief appearances. He has allowed nine earned runs on 26 hits in 28.1 innings. He has 26 strikeouts compared to six walks.
Jackson Clark has a 3.07 ERA in 19 relief appearances. He has tossed 29.1 innings and has 34 strikeouts. Opponents are hitting .211 off of him.
Navy leads the series 103-90-1 over the Bison dating back to 1904. Navy won the very first matchup 8-2.
The Mids went 4-1 against the Bison last season, winning three of four in Annapolis before winning a single game at Depew Field.

Looking Ahead

The winner of the best-of-three semifinal series will head to the Patriot League Championship. They will take on the winner of No. 1 Army vs. No. 4 Holy Cross.