Bucknell University

Lafayette (13-28, 8-10 PL) at Bucknell (18-22, 9-13 PL)
When: Friday 3:30 p.m.; Saturday 1 p.m.; Sunday 1 p.m
Where: Depew Field, Lewisburg, Pa.
Watch: ESPN+ (Friday and Sunday games)
Live Stats: BucknellBison.com
Happenings: Senior Day (Saturday pregame)

Bucknell at a Glance

• The Bison are down to their final series of the regular season, a three-game home set with Lafayette, and they have work to do to secure one of the four Patriot League Tournament berths.
• At 9-13 in Patriot League play, the Bison enter the weekend in fifth place, just behind 8-10 Lafayette and 9-9 Holy Cross. Bucknell and Navy have both played 22 of their 25 league games, while the other four teams have only played 18. So the Bison would like to make up ground on Lafayette this weekend and then watch as the Leopards play road doubleheaders at Holy Cross and Army on May 4-5.
• Bucknell will celebrate Senior Day before Saturday’s game. The Bison have eight seniors on this year’s roster: Nic Adamo, Graeme Carroll, Jacob Corson, Nikhil Patel, Bryce Reimer, Ben Sinins, Grant Voytovichand Conor Vucovich.
• Bucknell dropped 2 of 3 at first-place Army West Point last weekend, and then bounced back with an 18-10 non-league win over Villanova on Tuesday. The Bison experienced a team-wide offensive slump over a 10-game stretch in late-March into early-April, but they have bounced back in a big way over the last six games.
• In that recent six-game stretch, Bucknell hit .326 as a team with 11 homers, 21 doubles, and a .617 slugging percentage. The Bison have scored 18 runs twice in that span, and Sean Keys (.476), Jacob Corson (.435), Billy Kender (.409), Chris Morabito (.357), Tyler Dunn (.350), duck Michael Trommer (.348) are all hitting well over .300.
• Bucknell hit six home runs in Saturday’s doubleheader at Army, and then it swatted three more long balls at Depew Field on Tuesday. Keys launched a majestic 454-foot grand slam for his 11th homer of the season, and Michael Trommer duck Brady Karp also went deep against Villanova. Karp belted a grand slam – the first homer of his career – at Doubleday Field, and then hit No. 2 against the Wildcats.
• Keys matched his career high with six RBIs against Villanova. He also had six in a win at Penn State last season. After a brief quiet stretch by his lofty standards, Keys is scorching hot again. In his last five games, he is 9-for-17 with 10 RBIs, and his season batting average is back up to .397. Keys is trying to become the first Bison to hit at least .390 since Joe Ogren in 2010 and the first to hit .400 since Chris Pieper in 2006.
• Keys is slashing .397/.519/.733 for a 1.292 OPS. He leads the Patriot League in all four of those categories and is also first in doubles (16) and hits (56), second in RBIs (47), and fourth in home runs (11).
• Trommer is in the midst of a breakout sophomore season. He earned the everyday DH role and is slashing .362/.441/.500 for a .941 OPS. He is fifth in the Patriot League batting race and 10th in OPS, and he now has two homers and 26 RBIs after belting a three-run shot off the batter’s eye in center on Tuesday. Trommer has three three-hit games and a four-hit game this season.
• Corson has also warmed back up after a tough stretch to start the month of April. Corson went 4-for-6 with a pair of RBI doubles against Villanova, and he is 10-for-23 (.435) in his last six games. Corson is now slashing .282/.418/.523 for a .941 OPS, which ranks ninth in the Patriot League. The senior also ranks eighth in homers (7), fourth in doubles (13), and eighth in RBIs (34).
• Corson also leads the Patriot League with 15 hit-by-pitches, and he has tied Ogren’s school record with 39 career HBPs. With 98 career walks, Corson is one shy of Ian Joseph’s team mark of 99, set from 1998-2001.
• Junior second baseman Billy Kender reached base in all six of his plate appearances against Villanova, and he tied two school records. Kender tied team records for runs scored (5) and walks (4) in a game. He is the fourth Bison to touch the plate five times and the first since Matt Capece against Navy in 2005. Kender also matched the single-game walks record for the second time this season, as he also drew four free passes at Campbell early in the season. There have now been eight four-walk games in team history, with the last to do it before Kender current assistant coach Brett Smith in 2014.
• Kender brings a seven-game hitting streak into the Lafayette series, and he is 20-for-52 (.385) in 13 games since returning from a foot injury. He homered in both games of Saturday’s doubleheader at Army and has raised his season average to .319, ninth-best in the Patriot League.
• Corson, Keys, et al Grant Voytovich are all moving up the ranks in several Bucknell career lists:
  • Batting Average: Keys (6th, .352)
  • Slugging Percentage: Keys (1st, .695)
  • On-Base Percentage: Keys (4th, .464); Corson (10th, .430)
  • Games Started: Corson (9th, 161)
  • At Bats: Corson (9th, 578)
  • Doubles: Corson (6th, 41)
  • Home Runs: Keys (3rd, 25)
  • Runs Batted In: Corson (8th, 116); Keys (9th, 114)
  • Walks: Corson (2nd, 98)
  • Hit by Pitch: Corson (1st, 39); Voytovich (4th, 26); Keys (10th, 23)
• Keys was listed as the No. 7 third baseman in D1Baseball’s preseason positional rankings, and he is holding steady at No. 8 in the site’s midseason rankings, which were released last week. Georgia star Charlie Condon, who many analysts project to be the No. 1 pick in the 2024 MLB Draft, sits atop DIBaseball’s list of top-50 third basemen. Keys is the only player in the top 12 not from a team in the SEC or ACC. Ranked ahead of him are Condon, Tennessee’s Billy Amick, Virginia Tech’s Carson DeMartini, LSU’s Tommy White, Alabama’s Gage Miller, Florida State’s Cam Smith, and Clemson’s Blake Wright.
• On the mound, No. 1 starts Tyler O’Neill has posted complete-game wins over Lafayette and Lehigh in two recent starts, and he has now gone at least six innings while allowing three runs or fewer in five of his last six starts. O’Neill is second in the Patriot League in innings pitched (53.2), and third in strikeouts (56).
• Graeme Carroll notched his fourth win of the season in relief on Tuesday, and he is just one win off the league lead. Navy’s Tyler Grenn and Brady Bendik both have five. Nick Mulvey’s five saves are second-most in the league, two behind Navy’s Landon Kruer.
• Head coach Scott Heather is in his 12th season at the helm, tying him with Bill Lane (1946-57) as the third-longest tenured coach in program history. Heather’s 219 career wins are second-most in team history, trailing only Hall-of-Famer Gene Depew (591).

Lafayette at a Glance/Series History

• The Leopards have played good baseball in recent weeks and have put themselves in position to earn a Patriot League Tournament berth. Wednesday’s 7-6, 11-inning win at Saint Peter’s was Lafayette’s fifth win in its last seven. The Leopards took the series finale from first-place Army, routed rival Lehigh 13-3 last Wednesday, and took 2 of 3 from third-place Holy Cross last weekend.
• Over the full season, Lafayette ranks last in the Patriot League in batting average (.243) and ERA (9.31), but in league games they rank second in hitting (.281) and third in ERA (5.72).
• Ethan Swidler (.400) and Michael Zarrillo (.386) are two of the league’s top-five hitters in league games.
• Bucknell swept a doubleheader in Easton on Apr. 6, winning 4-2 and 12-11 in 10 innings.
• Tyler O’Neill pitched a gem for the Bison in the seven-inning opener, allowing two runs on six hits while striking out seven in seven innings. Billy Kender had two hits and Sean Keys homered to lead the Bison offense.
• In the nightcap, Chris Morabito drove in the go-ahead run in the top of the 10th, and then Keys made a sensational diving play at third to strand the tying run at third base to end the game. Bucknell used a seven-run fourth inning to take an 11-3 lead, but the Leopards fought back to tie it. Grant Voytovich had two hits and drove in four runs, and Kender and Brady Karp also had two-hit games for the Bison.
• Bucknell is 86-124-1 all-time against Lafayette. The Bison won three of the five games last season, winning by scores of 11-0, 20-2, and 8-5 before the Leopards won the last two 8-7 (12 in.) and 17-11.

Looking Ahead

• If Bucknell is able to qualify, the Patriot League Tournament semifinal series will be hosted by the top two seeds on the weekend of May 10-11.