The Tigers take on the Bucknell Bison Tuesday at 3:30 p.m. in Lewisburg, PA. Bucknell is another in a seemingly endless stream of beautiful liberal arts colleges that Towson has on the schedule this year. Their mascot is the Bison because the school is located near the Buffalo Creek, which still doesn’t make sense. Were there in buffalo in Pennsylvania?
Wikipedia says nobody really knows, so I guess that’s one thing I won’t learn today. I do know that the Bison are 10-20 on the year, but have won three straight and are 6-4 in their last ten games. Such is Towson’s luck this year.
I also know that Bucknell won the first ever Orange Bowl over the Miami Hurricanes in 1935. Towson head coach Matt Tyner was the Player of the Year for Miami in 1980. So I think we can guess why this game is really on the schedule.
This is clearly a man with revenge on his mind.
Bucknell is led offensively by their middle infield, sophomore shortstop Evan Madigan (.341/.386/.443) and senior second baseman Luke Johnson (.330/.408/.438). First baseman Tyler Wincig is the only other starter hitting over .300, also showing fantastic on-base skills (.304/.486/.380), while Dominic Taso (12 doubles) and JohnPaul Bell (five home runs) supply the power. On the mound, Bison reliever Nate Grisius leads the staff with a 1.70 ERA, but some scary peripherals (12 hits, nine walks, five wild pitches, and two hit batters in 15.2 innings, albeit with 14 strikeouts), while starters Jeff Gottesman (2.49 ERA, .189 batting average against) and Connor Van Hoose (66 strikeouts in 46.1 innings with two complete games) are weapons that Towson should avoid in a mid-week game. Those are the only three Bucknell pitchers with earned run averages below 6.43.
Lineup
Here is today’s line-up, with a little bit of a different feel. The best news first – Richard Miller is back after getting hit in the head with a pitch on March 30. Mark Grunberg moves up to the lead-off spot he occupied at the beginning of the season, while Billy Lennox drops down to bat clean-up. Lennox plays third base, while Andrew Cassard, who had been primarily a DH for the last couple of weeks, returns to left field. Dirk Masters and Richie Palacios man the middle infield, while Tristan Howerton is behind the plate.
- Mark Grunberg, CF
- Richie Palacios, SS
- Colin Gimblet, RF
- Billy Lennox, 3B
- Logan Burke, 1B
- Andrew Cassard, LF
- Richard Miller, DH
- Dirk Masters, 2B
- Tristan Howerton, C
Starting Pitcher– Dean Stramara, RHP
Dean Stramara gets his second start of the season today. In his first he needed only 63 pitches to go five innings, allowing one run on five hits and a walk. The right-hander hasn’t allowed a run or walked a batter in his last five appearances, spanning 8.1 innings.
Bucknell counters with freshman Nicholas Sadd, making his fourth start of the year. He sports a hefty 8.74 ERA and has more walks (10) than strikeouts (8) in 11.1 innings. If online reports are to be believed he throws 89-90 mph, with a change-up and curve. Control is clearly an issue, so the Tigers should have plenty of scoring opportunities if they are patient.
It doesn’t look like there is streaming video for the game, but live stats can be followed here.
Actually there were numerous bison in that area prior to 1800. The last one was killed at what is now called Buffalo Crossroads a few miles from the Bucknell campus at that time. That was believed to be the last bison east of the Mississippi.
Well, there you go – I did learn something today!
Forgot to mention that you mistakenly looked at a Buffalo Creek that is located hundreds of miles from the Bucknell campus. Check your link.
BTW, Bucknell is NOT called the Bison because of Buffalo Creek. Not sure where you got that from. Actually the nickname was derived from Bucknell being on one side of the Buffalo Valley, which once was home to an estimated 10,000 bison.
Ah, that makes sense. It was a little confusing because when I looked for Buffalo Valley almost everything that came up was in reference to Tennessee. Though I honestly didn’t have much time to research it. Thanks for the info!