- Duquesne Game Notes(.PDF)
| Rick Marlin has 12 RBI in his last six games, including the game-winning and go-ahead RBI hits in two of the four games last weekend. |
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa.; April 23, 2007 - After sweeping a Big Ten series for the first time since 2004 and winning its second straight Big Ten series for the first time since 2003 this past weekend, the Nittany Lion baseball team will wrap up its six-game homestand against Duquesne at 5:05 p.m. on Tuesday as the club gets ready to head back out on the road to Indiana this weekend.
The Nittany Lions are 14-7 in their last 21 games, which coincides with Penn State's first home games of the season. With the four-game sweep of Northwestern last weekend, the Nittany Lions are now alone in third place in the Big Ten standings with a 9-5 record. Penn State is also now just three games under .500 on the year at 16-19 entering Tuesday's game.
Penn State leads the all-time series with Duquesne 43-3. The teams first met in 1948. The Nittany Lions have won the last eight meetings, including last year??s meeting at Beaver Field. This will be the third straight year that the teams have played. Prior to 2005, Penn State and Duquesne had not met since 1999. The Dukes?? last win the series came in 1995, a 9-3 win in the first game of a doubleheader. The second game of that doubleheader featured the last no-hitter thrown by a Nittany Lion, as Nate Bump no-hit the Dukes in that May 7th twinbill at Beaver Field.
Making his first career start on Tuesday will be freshman right-hander John Karr. He has made seven relief appearances so far this year, including two in Big Ten play, and he picked up his first career win in the second game of last Saturday's doubleheader against Northwestern, throwing 1.2 innings out of the pen. He pitched a career-high of three innings last Wednesday against Mount St. Mary's giving up his first career hits. He had thrown six straight innings to begin his career without allowing a hit. Several other Nittany Lion hurlers are scheduled to follow Karr as the staff gets ready for an important four-game series at the Hoosiers this weekend.