April 2, 2008
University Park, Pa. - Penn State will open a five-game homestand on Wednesday night with a 6:35 p.m. game against traditional opponent Bucknell. This year's game between the Nittany Lions and Bison will mark the 143rd all-time meeting between the schools, the most against any single opponent in Penn State program history.
The Battle of Route 45, as it is sometimes called, dates all the way back to the teams' first meeting in 1882. Penn State won that meeting in what is believed to be the first win in program history. Overall, Penn State holds a 111-30-1 all-time advantage in the series and the Lions have won 12 straight in the series. This will mark the 22nd straight year that the teams have met. Bucknell's last win in the series came in the 1998 season in the first game of a doubleheader at Bucknell.
Bucknell (13-10-2) is winners of seven of its last eight games and took three out of four games from Army in its first Patriot League series of the year this past weekend.
Penn State (7-14) is coming off a weekend split with Ohio State in its first Big Ten series of the year. Following Wednesday's game, the Nittany Lions will host preseason favorite Michigan in a four-game weekend series.
Freshman left-hander Calvin Grumley will make his first career start for the Nittany Lions on Wednesday night. A highly regarded prep pitcher out of Johnsonburg, Pa., Grumley was scheduled to start Penn State's game against Penn on March 14 in Florida on the team's spring break trip but that game was cancelled due to rain. Grumley last appeared the following day against Bethune-Cookman. On the year, he has appeared in four games and has struck out 10 in just six innings of work.