- Michigan Series Notes(.PDF)
| Paul Hawkins is scheduled to make his first career start this weekend at Michigan. |
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa.; May 11, 2007 - Sitting at 14-8 and in a tie for third place in the Big Ten Conference, the Nittany Lion baseball team will travel to Michigan this weekend for what should prove to be its biggest challenge in conference play this year, a series with the first place and nationally-ranked Wolverines. Michigan will be the third different nationally-ranked opponent for the Nittany Lions this year.
Penn State enters this weekend tied with Iowa at 14-8 in the Big Ten. The Hawkeyes currently own the tiebreaker based on taking two out of three from Penn State during the second weekend of the conference seaosn, however both teams lead sixth-place Illinois by four games. The top six teams qualify for the Big Ten Tournament. The Nittany Lions also lead Purdue and Michigan State, both of whom they took three out of four games from this year and both of whom are tied for seventh place, by five and a half games. Penn State trails second-place Minnesota by only a game and a half but by three in the loss column, as the Gophers are 14-5 having lost five conference games to weather this year as opposed to just two games that were lost by the Nittany Lions.
Michigan enters this weekend with a 17-3 record in conference play and is ranked anywhere from No. 16 through No. 26 in the four major polls. This weekend's series will be the same format as last weekend's Penn State-Purdue series, featuring two doubleheaders, one on Saturday and one on Sunday due to exams. Saturday's twinbill will begin at 2:05 p.m. while Sunday's actions will get underway at 12:05 p.m.
Penn State's offense has continued the gradual climb of its batting average. The Nittany Lions' team average is now up to .285 as the team average has gone up after every Big Ten series this year. For the first time this year, four different Nittany Lions are hitting over .300, led by Joe Blackburn (.380) and Matt Cavagnaro (.349), while Brian Ernst (.305) and Rick Marlin (.301) are also just above the .300 mark. Over their last 19 games, Penn State has raised its team average by 29 points from .256 to .285.