- Michigan State Series Notes(.PDF)
| Matt Cavagnaro has reached base safely in his last 15 games. |
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa.; April 13, 2007 - The Penn State baseball team will hit the road for the second straight weekend as the Nittany Lions play at Michigan State for a four-game series this weekend. The series was moved to a Saturday-Monday format from the originally scheduled Friday-Sunday format due to weather concerns and since the forecast calls for warmers temperatures on both Sunday and Monday.
Penn State will attempt to play all four games in a Big Ten series for the first time this year after having each of its first two scheduled conference series of the year shortened to three games due to weather. Weather has played a big part in the first two weekends of Big Ten play as only two teams in the Big Ten, Indiana and Northwestern, have been able to play all of their scheduled conference games so far.
The Nittany Lions enter this weekend with a 9-17 overall record after defeating Temple on Wednesday night by a 14-8 score. The 14 runs scored was the highest run output of the year for the Lions and the most scored since last year, when they scored 14 in a win over Bucknell.
Last year's Penn State-Michigan State series at the old Beaver Field featured much of the same offensive exploits as Wednesday's game vs. Temple. Penn State scored 31 runs over the four games while the Spartans plated 35 runs in the four games. Three of the four games went into extra innings. The teams split the four games with Penn State winning both of its games with game-winning hits in its final at-bat.
Similar offensive numbers seem unlikely this weekend, as some of the top pitchers in the league will match up. Michigan State's scheduled Saturday starter, Craig Brookes, is second in the Big Ten with a 1.29 ERA while Craig Clark, who is scheduled to start Sunday's first game, has a low ERA as well at 2.47. Clark is tied for second in the league in strikeouts with 38. Brookes also ranked third in the Big Ten in fewest walks allowed while Penn State's Ryan Stobart is tied for fifth in that same category. The Nittany Lions also have one of the top relief pitchers in the Big Ten in Matt Ogrodnik, who owns two wins and save in his last three appearances.
This weekend's games will begin at 1:05 p.m. on both Saturday and Sunday, with Monday's finale scheduled for a 3:05 p.m. first pitch.