Athletic Shorts: Bucknell’s Sean Keys Named Patriot League Baseball Player of the Week | Local

LEWISBURG — Sophomore third baseman Sean Keys was named the Patriot League’s second player of the week for the past three weeks on Tuesday. Keys continued to make a hot hitter in the middle of Bucknell’s lineup, and last week he delivered two more final game-winning hits in victories over Penn State and Lafayette.

In four games last week for Bucknell (15-16, 8-7 PL), Keys hit .450/.500/.750 and recorded one home run, three doubles and 13 runs hit.

In last week’s wild 17-14 win at Penn State, Keys went 3-on-5 with a career-high six RBIs, including a dramatic three-run homer at the top of the ninth inning that yielded a 14-all tie. A game later, Keys amassed five more RBIs, topped by a three-run double off the right center wall that erased a one-run deficit at the top of the seventh and final inning at Lafayette.

Keys went 3-on-5 with two RBIs against the Leopards in the series finals, making him 9-on-20 for the week and increasing his season slash line to .339/.434/.626.

In 31 games this season, Keys now ranks second in the Patriot League for slugging percentage and RBIs (39), third for home runs (7) and OPS (1,060), sixth for hits (39) and batting average and seventh-place base percentage.

Zimmerman was named Freedom Player of the Week for MAC’s Lycoming

WILLIAMSPORT — In the 12-10 win over Delaware Valley, Senior Owen Zimmerman hit a career-high seven for the second straight game and earned his first MAC Freedom Offensive Player of the Week award on Tuesday.

Zimmerman accelerated the scoring streak with two goals in the first quarter, scored three more goals in the second, and then hit the back of the cage once each in the third and fourth quarters for his second straight seven-goal game for Lycoming.

Zimmerman entered the program’s top-10 in terms of career goals on March 8 after scoring six goals in a 14-6 lead over Keuka College, and has climbed steadily since then. The 13th Warrior to cross the 100-career-goal mark, Zimmerman’s second goal of the night against the Aggies tied him with Lycoming Athletics Hall of Famer Shawn Rosa ’00 (135) before scoring another five goals to take the third place alone to take -time. He is six goals behind Dan Wilcox ’04 (146) for second all-time. The attacker also ranks seventh all-time with 182 career points.

He is 13 goals away from the school record of 57 goals in a season set by Michael Bonnes in 2000 and six goals away from becoming the first Warrior to score 50 goals in a season since Matt McCaffer scored 53 in 2014 .

With 44 goals, six assists and 50 points, Zimmerman leads the MAC Freedom with an average of 4.00 goals per game. He ranks second with an average of 4.55 points per game.

Stauffer, Block Sweep MAC Freedom Player of the Week Honors for Lycoming Women’s Lacrosse

WILLIAMSPORT — With two dominant performances in a 2-0 week, the Lycoming women’s lacrosse team won the MAC Freedom Weekly Awards for the second time this season, as junior goaltender Zoe Stauffer and freshman midfielder Riley Block, the defensive and offensive player won of the Week Awards, the conference bureau said on Tuesday.

Block scored a career-high seven goals in the 18-2 win over Delaware Valley University on Wednesday, April 5, also added an assist, generated turnover and two draw controls. On Friday, in a 13-10 comeback win over Manhattanville College, Block added another four goals, an assist, two ground balls and caused two turnovers, scoring the last two goals in the last 2:09 of the game to seal the win to back up.

With 32 goals, nine assists and 41 points, Block is second in all three categories for Lycoming (6-4, 2-0 MAC Freedom). Block is third in the MAC Freedom with an average of 3.20 goals per game and fifth with 4.10 points per game.

Stauffer earned her second Defensive Player of the Week award this season, winning against Delaware Valley and Manhattanville, averaging 6.0 goals per game. Stauffer made seven saves in 13 shots against the Aggies and finished the week with seven saves in 28 shots against the Valiants.

Stauffer also earned that honor on March 20 after the Warriors defeated Randolph College and Buffalo State 2-0 and made 20 saves. Her 10.60 saves per game ranks first in the MAC Freedom, while her .455 percentage ranks third and 12.70 clean sheets ranks second.

Duke’s Kyle Filipowski is returning for a sophomore year

DURHAM, NC (`) — Duke 7-footer Kyle Filipowski is returning to the Blue Devils for his sophomore season rather than testing the NBA draft waters.

Filipowski announced his decision in a social media post on Tuesday, saying, “I’m not done until next year.”

Filipowski was named Atlantic Coast Conference Newcomer of the Year by The Associated Press, and he was named the ACC Tournament Most Valuable Player after the Blue Devils captured the title. He averaged 15.1 points and 8.9 rebounds and possesses the ability to go outside.

Duke loses a pair of one-and-done prospects, Big Man Dereck Lively II and Wing Dariq Whitehead, to the NBA draft, while junior guard Jeremy Roach has declared for the draft while retaining his college eligibility. Filipowski’s return gives the Blue Devils a strong core along with Tyrese Proctor and Mark Mitchell, who have announced plans to return.

` Source: Big Ten taps ex-MLB manager Petitti as commissioner

The Big Ten is hiring former Major League Baseball manager Tony Petitti as its next commissioner, a person with knowledge of the decision told The Associated Press Tuesday night.

The person spoke on condition of anonymity as a deal was yet to be struck. An announcement from the conference is expected by the end of the week.

Petitti replaces Kevin Warren, who is leaving the company to become president of the Chicago Bears. Warren’s last day of work was scheduled for April 17.

Petitti continues a trend of recent hires to chair the top conferences outside of collegiate sports — like Warren, who worked for the Minnesota Vikings before taking over from Jim Delany and becoming the Big Ten’s first black commissioner in 2019.

The Pac-12 then hired George Kliavkoff, who was an executive at MGM Resorts International. Last year, the Big 12 hired Brett Yormark as a commissioner, having previously managed New York’s Barclays Center and worked for talent agency Roc Nation.

Petitti has extensive television experience, having worked for ABC, CBS and MLB Network. He was also the chief operating officer for MLB, taking over from Rob Manfred before becoming commissioner.