April 1, 2011

Composite Schedule
Weekly Release (3.28.11)
Cumulative Statistics (3.28.11)

Center Valley, Pa. - After more than a month of non-League action, the Patriot League baseball schedule opens up this weekend and it appears to be a wide-open race for the 2011 title.

The first set of games will have Navy traveling to Lehigh, Holy Cross at Army and Lafayette going to Bucknell for weekend series. Each Patriot League series is a four-game set with doubleheaders on Saturday and Sunday, with the first game on each day going seven innings.

Though picked just fourth and fifth in the preseason poll, respectively, Lehigh and Navy have played as well as anyone heading into Patriot League action. The Mountain Hawks (15-8) have won six straight and 11 of the past 13 games, and have been especially tough at home with a 9-2 record. The Mids (14-11-1) are off to a strong start as well as they aim to get back to the Patriot League Tournament for the first time since 2008, though they will look for their first true road win this weekend.

Holy Cross (12-10-1) has established itself as an emerging Patriot League program by finishing in third place and making the League Tournament in each of the past three seasons. The Crusaders are heating up going into Patriot League play, as they have won five of the past seven games and boast a 10-3-1 record since March 12. Army (7-13) has endured some ups and downs, but comes off an 11-8 win over Siena on Tuesday and enters the year with the bulls-eye as preseason favorite and the winner of at least a share of the last three regular-season Patriot League titles.

Defending Patriot League champion Bucknell (11-13) opens its 2011 campaign at home, where it won three of four games against Longwood over the weekend. The Bison have won the Patriot League Tournament title in two of the past three seasons, and also claimed the regular-season crown with Army in 2009. Lafayette (6-14) is trying to get back to the League Tournament after failing to qualify last season. The Leopards won a 13-inning affair against NJIT on Wednesday.

Patriot League teams have enjoyed a resurgence throughout the month of March. After going 7-23 in Februrary, the six teams combined for a 58-46-1 mark this month to get to just four games under .500 in non-League action.

For any live stat or audio links over the weekend, as well as the recaps and box scores at the conclusion of each day, go to the Baseball Composite Schedule