Post by rgs318 on Mar 25, 2018 9:16:35 GMT -5
About the Bison/Last Time Out
• Bucknell was scheduled to travel to Penn State on Tuesday and host Saint Joseph's on Wednesday this week, but both were postponed due to weather. So now the Bison turn their attention back to Patriot League play, as Army West Point and Holy Cross come to town for doubleheaders. This will be Bucknell's first weekend impacted by the new 25-game Patriot League scheduling format, with different opponents each day. All teams will play each PL opponent five times this season, split between home and away games.
• Bucknell opened Patriot League play with four games against Navy last weekend, and the Bison will return to Annapolis later in the year for a single game. The Bison took the opener 10-2 in a battle of two of the league's top pitchers, as Connor Van Hoose and the Bison bats outslugged Navy's Noah Song. But the Mids stormed back and took the final three games of the series, 3-2, 5-1 and 12-6.
• Evan Klugerman paced the offense in Saturday's game-one rout, going 2-for-3 with a pair of doubles and four RBIs. Dominic Toso added two hits, and Luke Hartman and Luke Johnson knocked in two runs apiece. Meanwhile, Van Hoose went six innings and yielded only two unearned runs while striking out six.
• Jeff Gottesman and Jack Grabek turned in solid starts in the middle two games, but came up on the losing end as the Bison bats were silenced by Sean Kamhoot and Andrew Sauers.
• Klugerman hit .364 (4-11) with five RBIs in the four-game series against Navy, raising his season average to .245.
• Tyler Wincig is Bucknell's leading hitter on the year. He now leads the Patriot League in batting average (.391) and on-base percentage (.508), and his OPS is up to 1.019. Wincig is 12-for-24 (.500) in his last eight games, including a four-hit outing against UMass in Florida last week.
• Bucknell features three of the Patriot League's top five hitters in Wincig, Johnson (.357) and Evan Madigan (.357).
• JohnPaul Bell continues to lead the Patriot League in home runs with four. Austin Masel of Holy Cross also has four.
• Johnson has hit safely in seven of his last eight games, with five multi-hit games in that span. His only o-fer in that stretch came in game three of the Navy series, when he went 0-for-1 with two walks. He his 15-for-31 (.484) in his last eight outings, raising his average from .256 to .357.
Scouting Army West Point/Series Record
• The Black Knights have some quality non-league wins thus far, but they come to Lewisburg looking to shake a four-game losing streak, the last three coming at South Florida last weekend. Army took 2 of 3 from Maryland earlier in the year, and it also boasts wins over Michigan, Boston College, Stetson, Niagara and Bryant. Army was picked fifth in the Patriot League preseason poll
• Preseason All-Patriot League catcher Jon Rosoff leads Army in batting average (.328), on-base percentage (.494), hits (20) and RBIs (11). Rosoff had a five-hit game against the Bison last year. Jacob Hurtubise leads the squad in runs scored (18) and stolen bases (10). Army hits .229 as a team and has one home run, that coming from Matt Hudgins.
• LHP Tyler Giovinco (2-3, 5.70) and RHP Matt Ball (2-1, 4.72) are scheduled to take the mound for the Black Knights on Saturday. Both are strikeout pitchers. Ball has fanned 33 in 26.2 innings, while Giovinco has struck out 30 in 30.0 IP. As a staff, Army has a 5.38 ERA.
• Army leads the all-time series 68-51 dating back to 1910. The Black Knights took 3 of 4 at Depew Field last season, including a wild 16-14, 11-inning verdict in game four. Bucknell won the third game of the series, 10-5.
Scouting Holy Cross/Series Record
• The Crusaders opened the 2018 campaign with a 3-2 win over 24th-ranked Houston, then proceeded to drop seven straight games against good competition. Since then, however, Holy Cross has won four of its last five incluing three straight wins over Charleston Southern by a combined score of 18-2. The Crusaders have been idle since March 10, and they will play two games at Navy on Saturday before coming to Lewisburg.
• Austin Masel is off to a strong start at the plate, with a .346 average, four home runs and 11 RBIs. He has also scored a team-high 12 runs. Thomas Russo (.313) is also hitting over .300 thus far. Holy Cross has a .220 team batting average but leads the league with 11 homers.
• On the mound Pat McGowan (1-2, 2.53) and Declan Cronin (1-1, 4.22) have combined to start eight of the team's 13 games thus far. Holy Cross has a 6.71 team ERA, but much of that damage came in a four-game stretch in which the Crusaders allowed 76 runs against Valpraiso, Oklahoma and Mercer.
• Holy Cross was picked third in the Patriot League preseason poll behind Bucknell and Navy. Masel, Russo and Danny Barlok were Preseason All-PL picks.
• This is a rematch of last year's Patriot League championship series, won by the Crusaders in two games. After claiming game one 4-3, Holy Cross won a wild one in game two, 11-7 in 11 innings. The Bison were down to their last out in the bottom of the ninth, but Brett Smith hit a dramatic 3-run homer to send the game into extra innings. But the bullpen got wild in the 11th, and Holy Cross plated four runs with the benefit of only one base hit. In last year's regular-season series in Worcester, Holy Cross took 3 of 4. The Bison won game two by an 11-5 count. Bucknell has a slim 56-54 lead in an all-time series that dates back to the start of Patriot League play in 1991.
• Bucknell was scheduled to travel to Penn State on Tuesday and host Saint Joseph's on Wednesday this week, but both were postponed due to weather. So now the Bison turn their attention back to Patriot League play, as Army West Point and Holy Cross come to town for doubleheaders. This will be Bucknell's first weekend impacted by the new 25-game Patriot League scheduling format, with different opponents each day. All teams will play each PL opponent five times this season, split between home and away games.
• Bucknell opened Patriot League play with four games against Navy last weekend, and the Bison will return to Annapolis later in the year for a single game. The Bison took the opener 10-2 in a battle of two of the league's top pitchers, as Connor Van Hoose and the Bison bats outslugged Navy's Noah Song. But the Mids stormed back and took the final three games of the series, 3-2, 5-1 and 12-6.
• Evan Klugerman paced the offense in Saturday's game-one rout, going 2-for-3 with a pair of doubles and four RBIs. Dominic Toso added two hits, and Luke Hartman and Luke Johnson knocked in two runs apiece. Meanwhile, Van Hoose went six innings and yielded only two unearned runs while striking out six.
• Jeff Gottesman and Jack Grabek turned in solid starts in the middle two games, but came up on the losing end as the Bison bats were silenced by Sean Kamhoot and Andrew Sauers.
• Klugerman hit .364 (4-11) with five RBIs in the four-game series against Navy, raising his season average to .245.
• Tyler Wincig is Bucknell's leading hitter on the year. He now leads the Patriot League in batting average (.391) and on-base percentage (.508), and his OPS is up to 1.019. Wincig is 12-for-24 (.500) in his last eight games, including a four-hit outing against UMass in Florida last week.
• Bucknell features three of the Patriot League's top five hitters in Wincig, Johnson (.357) and Evan Madigan (.357).
• JohnPaul Bell continues to lead the Patriot League in home runs with four. Austin Masel of Holy Cross also has four.
• Johnson has hit safely in seven of his last eight games, with five multi-hit games in that span. His only o-fer in that stretch came in game three of the Navy series, when he went 0-for-1 with two walks. He his 15-for-31 (.484) in his last eight outings, raising his average from .256 to .357.
Scouting Army West Point/Series Record
• The Black Knights have some quality non-league wins thus far, but they come to Lewisburg looking to shake a four-game losing streak, the last three coming at South Florida last weekend. Army took 2 of 3 from Maryland earlier in the year, and it also boasts wins over Michigan, Boston College, Stetson, Niagara and Bryant. Army was picked fifth in the Patriot League preseason poll
• Preseason All-Patriot League catcher Jon Rosoff leads Army in batting average (.328), on-base percentage (.494), hits (20) and RBIs (11). Rosoff had a five-hit game against the Bison last year. Jacob Hurtubise leads the squad in runs scored (18) and stolen bases (10). Army hits .229 as a team and has one home run, that coming from Matt Hudgins.
• LHP Tyler Giovinco (2-3, 5.70) and RHP Matt Ball (2-1, 4.72) are scheduled to take the mound for the Black Knights on Saturday. Both are strikeout pitchers. Ball has fanned 33 in 26.2 innings, while Giovinco has struck out 30 in 30.0 IP. As a staff, Army has a 5.38 ERA.
• Army leads the all-time series 68-51 dating back to 1910. The Black Knights took 3 of 4 at Depew Field last season, including a wild 16-14, 11-inning verdict in game four. Bucknell won the third game of the series, 10-5.
Scouting Holy Cross/Series Record
• The Crusaders opened the 2018 campaign with a 3-2 win over 24th-ranked Houston, then proceeded to drop seven straight games against good competition. Since then, however, Holy Cross has won four of its last five incluing three straight wins over Charleston Southern by a combined score of 18-2. The Crusaders have been idle since March 10, and they will play two games at Navy on Saturday before coming to Lewisburg.
• Austin Masel is off to a strong start at the plate, with a .346 average, four home runs and 11 RBIs. He has also scored a team-high 12 runs. Thomas Russo (.313) is also hitting over .300 thus far. Holy Cross has a .220 team batting average but leads the league with 11 homers.
• On the mound Pat McGowan (1-2, 2.53) and Declan Cronin (1-1, 4.22) have combined to start eight of the team's 13 games thus far. Holy Cross has a 6.71 team ERA, but much of that damage came in a four-game stretch in which the Crusaders allowed 76 runs against Valpraiso, Oklahoma and Mercer.
• Holy Cross was picked third in the Patriot League preseason poll behind Bucknell and Navy. Masel, Russo and Danny Barlok were Preseason All-PL picks.
• This is a rematch of last year's Patriot League championship series, won by the Crusaders in two games. After claiming game one 4-3, Holy Cross won a wild one in game two, 11-7 in 11 innings. The Bison were down to their last out in the bottom of the ninth, but Brett Smith hit a dramatic 3-run homer to send the game into extra innings. But the bullpen got wild in the 11th, and Holy Cross plated four runs with the benefit of only one base hit. In last year's regular-season series in Worcester, Holy Cross took 3 of 4. The Bison won game two by an 11-5 count. Bucknell has a slim 56-54 lead in an all-time series that dates back to the start of Patriot League play in 1991.
