April 4, 2008

LEWISBURG, Pa. - After opening with a 3-1 series win at Army last weekend, the Bucknell baseball team will play its final Patriot League road games of the regular season this Saturday and Sunday, Apr. 5-6, as the squad travels to Lafayette in Easton, Pa. The Bison, who enter the weekend with a record of 13-11-2 (3-1 PL), will play two doubleheaders against the Leopards (12-9, 1-3 PL), the first beginning at 1 p.m. tomorrow.

BISON BASEBALL NOTEBOOK

Against Lafayette
- At 143 games and counting, Bucknell has played Lafayette on more occasions than any other team in program history. Since the squads met in 1895, the Leopards hold the series advantage at 90-53. Since the formation of the Patriot League, however, the Bison lead 39-24, in regular season league match-ups. Lafayette swept the season series in 2007, 4-0 in Lewisburg.

Probable Pitching Matchups
- Game 1: RHP Jason Buursma (4-0, 3.48 ERA) vs. RHP Kevin Reese (2-2, 2.58 ERA)
- Game 2: LHP Eric Jarrett (3-2, 3.12 ERA) vs. RHP Zach Fritz (1-1, 1.93 ERA)
- Game 3: RHP Andrew Clarke (0-2, 3.48 ERA) vs. RHP Jeremy Atkins (2-1, 5.40 ERA)
- Game 4: RHP Dylan Seeley (2-0, 2.62 ERA) vs. LHP Corey Shea (0-0, 3.75 ERA)

The Bison Briefly
- Senor Jason Buursma (Seattle, Wash./Lakeside School) currently paces the Bison with a .439 batting average and boasts an .894 slugging percentage. Buursma, who has 10 multiple hit games this season, leads the Patriot League in home runs with nine. He also has 21 runs scored and 22 RBI to his credit.
- Sophomore John Avanzino (Manhasset, N.Y./Manhasset), who has picked up four awards this week after a stellar performance in the opening week of Patriot League play, is batting .423 with 14 runs scored, 27 RBI, seven doubles and eight home runs. Avanzino, who began the week ranked third in the nation in slugging percentage, has logged multiple RBI in seven games this season, a team best.
- Senior Mark Angelo (Quakertown, Pa./Quakertown) has already surpassed his career single season highs in hits, runs scored and RBI. Angelo has 38 hits on the season and leads the squad with 11 multiple hit games, while also contributing 18 runs scored, five doubles and 22 RBI.
- Junior Dane Grandizio (Bloomsburg, Pa./Bloomsburg) has 10 multiple hit games on the season and is batting .344 with 19 runs scored, 16 RBI, four doubles and three home runs, while leading the team in stolen bases with seven.
- Freshman Dylan Seeley (Shavertown, Pa./Wyoming Seminary) paces the Bison pitching staff in ERA, but does not have enough innings under his belt to qualify for the league leaders in that category. In 24.0 innings of work, Seeley is 2-0 with a 2.62 ERA.
- Freshman Eric Jarrett (Jersey Shore, Pa./Jersey Shore Area) is 3-2 on the year and began the week fourth in the Patriot League with a 3.12 ERA. He is tied for seventh in the league with 29 strikeouts and averages 6.47 per game. He ranks fourth in opponent batting average as well, as he has held hitters to a .231 average in 40.1 innings on the mound.
- Buursma leads the Patriot League in strikeouts with 37 and averages 8.06 per nine innings. He holds a league-best record of 4-0 in 10 appearances and has walked just seven batters in 41.1 innings of work. He ranks first in innings pitched, is tied for third in appearances (10) and is seventh in opponent batting average (.256).

Recapping Midweek Match-up with Penn State
- Bucknell out-hit Penn State this past Wednesday evening, but unearned runs proved costly as the Bison fell to the Nittany Lions by an 8-3 margin on Medlar Field at Lubrano Park. The Orange and Blue managed 12 hits in the contest, marking the 20th time this season the team has tallied 10 or more hits, while Penn State made the most of its eight hits to improve to 8-14 on the year. The Lions went in front, 1-0, in the first and added another five in the bottom of the third. In the top of the seventh, the Bison took one of the runs back with two out. Grandizio reached on a fielder's choice, moved to second on a single by Angelo, went to third on a walk to Buursma and scored on a bases loaded walk to Avanzino. However, Lions' reliever Paul Cianciolo induced an inning-ending groundout off the bat of sophomore Andrew Brouse (Kreamer, Pa./Midd-West), keeping Bucknell at bay. The Orange and Blue crept closer with two more in the eighth to cut the deficit to three. Junior Zachary Brown (Stroudsburg, Pa./Notre Dame) led off with a single through the left side and sophomore Ben Yoder (Belleville, Pa./Indian Valley) brought him in with a sacrifice fly. Sophomore Ben Allen (Port Royal, Pa./Juniata) reached on a fielder's choice and Angelo plated him with a single up the middle. A successfully executed double steal by Grandizio and Angelo gave the Bison runners on second and third with two out, but Cianciolo escaped the jam by striking out Buursma and went on to earn the save. Penn State extended its lead back out to five with two runs in the bottom of the frame, bringing the final score to 8-3. Freshman Doug Shribman (Marblehead, Mass./Belmont Hill School) started for the Bison and took the loss (1-0), allowing one unearned run with no hits, four walks and one strikeout in two innings of work. Yoder, Angelo and Buursma all went 2-for-4 in the contest to lead Bucknell offensively, while Grandizio was 2-for-5 at the plate.

Entering the Bison Record Book
- Buursma is climbing the ranks in the Bucknell record book as he moved into a tie for third in career home runs (20) this past week and is now one shy of tying the program's career mark. He is also tied for sixth in career RBI (98), is eighth in hits (150), is ninth in total bases (253), and is ninth in triples (9). His career ERA of 2.26 is now second in both the Bison's and Patriot League's top-10 all-time, while his average of 2.71 walks per-nine innings is fifth-lowest in school history and his strikeouts per-nine innings ranks sixth (7.49). He also holds the school record for saves (tied for second in PL history) with 15 and is third in appearances (61).
- Buursma and Avanzino have both entered Bucknell's single season home run top-10 list as Buursma is tied for fourth with nine and Avanzino is tied for seventh with eight.
- Brouse posted three doubles on Mar. 12 versus Illinois State to tie a school single game record set by Pete Gorski against William & Mary in 1996.
- Bucknell set a team record for doubles in a game with eight against IPFW on Mar. 9, surpassing the previous record of seven, which was set twice--versus Rochester in 1975 and against Lehigh in 1990.

Buursma and Wilson Named Lowe's Senior CLASS Award Candidates
- Buursma and senior Mathew Wilson (Toronto, Ontario/Northern S.S.) were named to a list of 30 national candidates for the Lowe's Senior CLASS Award in the baseball division earlier this season. The honor will be presented in June to the top senior student-athlete in collegiate baseball who demonstrates the qualities both on and off the field of what it means to be a complete student-athlete, with specific attention paid to achievements in the classroom and community. Buursma and Wilson are the second and third Bison student-athletes to be nominees for the accolade as 2007 graduate Ryan Gryskevicz was a finalist for the inaugural award last spring and was named an All-Senior All-American. Bucknell is one of only two schools in the nation with two candidates for the award, along with Creighton. A list of 10 finalists will be announced on April 16.

Patriot League Preseason Poll
- Bucknell was tabbed fourth in the Patriot League Preseason poll, which was announced on Feb. 20. The Bison, who finished with a record of 16-24 last season (8-12 PL) picked up 29 points and two first-place votes, while Navy was first (43 points, four first-place votes), Lafayette second (42 points, four first-place votes) and Army third (37 points, two first-place votes).
- The Patriot League tournament has a new format beginning in 2008 as it will move from a three-team one weekend event to a four-team field with best-of-three semifinals and championship series played on back-to-back weekends, May 10-11 and May 16-17, at the home fields of the higher seeds.

Watch Lists
- Two of Bucknell's three senior co-captains earned national preseason recognition. Buursma was named to the National Baseball Writers Association (NCBWA) Stopper of the Year Award watch list for a second consecutive year. The award, which was first presented in 2005, is given annually to the top relief pitcher in Division I baseball.
- Wilson was one of three Patriot League players to make the preseason cut for the Brooks Wallace Player of the Year Award watch list and, most recently, was named a candidate for the Roger Clemens Award. Buursma and Wilson finished one-two in the Patriot League in ERA in 2007 at 1.65 and 1.78, respectively. Wilson's innings qualified him for the national leaders, where he finished ranked eighth in Division I in ERA.

Bison Honors
- Patriot League Player of the Week: Dane Grandizio (3/4/08), John Avanzino (3/31/08)
- Patriot League Pitcher of the Week: Eric Jarrett (3/11/08), Jason Buursma (3/17/08)
- Damon's Bison Athlete of the Week: Jason Buursma (3/24/08), John Avanzino (3/31/08)
- College Baseball Foundation National All-Star Lineup: John Avanzino (4/2/08)
- ECAC Division I Player of the Week: John Avanzino (4/2/08)

Next Up
- The Bison will travel to Towson, on Tuesday, Apr. 8, for a 3 p.m. game against the Tigers before settling in for a nine-game homestand.