Baseball: Three Things to watch for this weekend

After getting a week off because of the weather the Bulls will be heading to South Carolina for a trio of neutral site games with Bucknell. The contest was supposed to be at Bucknell but the weather forced the four-game home series to be relocated and changed to a three-game set.

Two weeks ago UB opened up their season with three losses. There were some bright spots but UB twice held leads into the middle innings and once had the go-ahead run on in the 9th.

Can Nick Sinay keep it up?

UB's lead off hitter had phenomenal numbers. Eleven at-bats, six hits, and he took three pitches for a base. He also had an RBI and crossed the plate twice. Once he got to base Sinay stole four bases on six attempts.

Given the troubles at the bottom of the order (we will get to that) Sinay will need to stay hot for the Bulls to win some games. An on-base percentage of .600+ will pretty damn hard to maintain but if he stays north of .500 the Bulls offense might hold out for a good number of wins.

Can UB find middle relief?

Two of the Bulls' losses came in the middle inning when relievers came in. The middle relievers pitched eight and two third innings, gave up 4 runs, and allowed opposing batters to hit 313.

And those runs are not counting the guys on base who got around once the relief came in.

Can the bottom of the order come through?

The bottom three batters in the order hit .250, accounted for a single run and managed to bat in two runners. That third of the order played a huge part in the number of runners left on but to be be fair they did show some improvement as the series went on.

This week:

Bucknell is 4-1 after last weeks series sweep of VCU. They also have a solid win over Wake Forest and a close lose to Georgetown.