Update from Head Baseball Coach Scott Heather -- September 2024

Greetings from Lewisburg,

We are back in the thick of things as we have just completed our second week of full team practice. You are allowed 45 days in the fall for full team practice and we have been able to get in four intrasquad scrimmages already. We have been trying to emphasize what’s important to us and ingrain into the team what we feel will help us win this spring.

I have been impressed with our overall talent level. This team will probably be shaped differently than last few years. We should have good depth in our lineup. Swinging at the right pitch has been a huge emphasis and will remain essential to being a good offensive club this year. Developing roles on the mound and competing in the zone is our top emphasis this fall. I feel to win big this year, we will have to be built on pitching and defense. How we develop in both categories this fall will play a key role in our overall success. It’s not quite there yet but I am excited for our potential to be the team we need to be this spring.

Our fall schedule will focus on player development during the week and competing as much as possible on weekends. We will do the Fall World Series in the first week of October which is always a team favorite. We are also set to play a pair of games against outside competition. Winfield native and former major leaguer Steve Kline’s IUP team will come to Lewisburg on October 12. They are fresh off a 4th-place finish in the Division II World Series. That should be a great test for us as our first competition. We conclude our fall season the following weekend at Penn State. We will go over there on October 19 and it looks to be a 5:00 p.m. start as long as the weather holds up. That of course will be a great barometer of where we are and what we need to work on as the off-season begins. We hope our hitters get about 50 at-bats this fall, and that our pitchers get 12-18 innings of work on the hill.

I am excited about our spring schedule. We open up at Virginia Tech to start the season and I am requesting that Chris Cannizzaro ’22 throw out the first pitch. He did tell me it would be in a Bison jersey if he did. Chris got to play two years at Virginia Tech after his four-year career at Bucknell but I won’t hold him to that. He had an extra COVID year and a medical redshirt year and capped off an amazing college career with Tech last year. We play the following weekend at Davidson, which is a fun place to play as well. I am most excited that we will be returning to Florida for a spring break trip this year where we will face Florida Atlantic and Florida International in the week before league play begins. With our final exam period falling a week later this spring, there will be a slight change to the conference schedule allowing us to play in the final weekend of league play. We have had to take a bye in previous years because of finals but this year we do not. This also allows us to start league play a week later. Next year should be the same before it goes back the following year. It should be great competition and I know the players are excited about the trip.

It was so much fun to follow our Bison playing pro ball this past summer. Sean Keys had a tremendous start to his professional career finishing the summer batting .293 with 20 RBIs over 82 at-bats playing for the Dunedin Blue Jays. I was lucky enough to watch Jacob Corson ’24 and Anthony Sherwin ’24 in person this summer and see great games from them. Jacob played just up the road for the Williamsport Crosscutters, and he hit a triple off a former Lafayette pitcher and even made a diving play in the outfield. He had a tremendous summer finishing over .300 with an on-base percentage of .443. Anthony also had a great day at the game I was at, capping off a win for his team with a three-run homer in the 8th inning to put the game away. It was his 8th home run of the summer. My daughter Ellie and I were able to retrieve that ball beyond the fence. Ellie was willing to give it to Anthony after the game but he signed it for us and it will be a keepsake forever that we will treasure.

These young men all had a tremendous work ethic on the field and in the weight room when they played for us, and that as much as anything has led them to playing professional baseball. I was so proud to play a small role in their development and see them live out their dreams of playing professional baseball. Sean and Anthony are back on campus now completing their degrees and helping Bison baseball keep our 100% graduation rate!

We hope to keep that trend of our players getting professional opportunities. I know that we have several prospects trending positively.

Finally, I have to tell you that we held another very successful Gene Depew Memorial Golf Tournament at the end of the summer. It was our biggest turnout in terms of both golfers and sponsors, and we are very appreciative of the continued support we receive in memory of Gene. We will keep that date of August 22 for next year so put it in your calendar now and get your foursome together. I do have to say, my team has won it two years in a row so hopefully some alumni can get together and take us down next year. Terry Depew ’73 captured the longest drive for the second time, and Chris DiFiore ’23 and Andrew Swenson ’27 walked away with closest-to-the-pin prizes. It was a great day for everyone and a special way to kick off being back to school. I hope you can make it next year.

I will be in touch again soon. Thank you as always for your continued support!

Go Bison!

Scott Heather
Head Baseball Coach
sheather@bucknell.edu

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