- Ohio State Series Notes(.PDF)
| Jim Leitgeb will be one of five seniors that will be playing their final home games this weekend as the Nittany Lions host Ohio State. |
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa.; May 17, 2007 - Alone in third place, just a mere half-game out of second place and 1.5 games out of first, the Penn State baseball team will close out the regular season this weekend by hosting the Ohio State Buckeyes for four games at Medlar Field at Lubrano Park. This weekend's series will be presented by First Comp Insurance.
Already assured of a berth in the Big Ten Tournament, the Nittany Lions lead Ohio State and Illinois, who are tied for fifth place, by three games. Penn State also leads fourth place Iowa by one game.
The Nittany Lions still have a shot at winning the conference championship as well, although they will have to win and get some help to do so. In order for Penn State to clinch the Big Ten title and home field advantage in the upcoming Big Ten Tournament, the Nits will have to win all four games this weekend. If Penn State sweeps Ohio State, then it will need for Michigan to lose at least three out of four from Iowa and for Minnesota to have no better than a split at Indiana. Penn State will lose out on any tiebreaker with Iowa due to the Hawkeyes taking two out of three in a weather-shortened series in Iowa City this year.
A couple of school records were broken last weekend and a few more could possibly fall or be closer to falling after this weekend. Drew O'Neil set the school record for saves in a single season last weekend by recording his eighth, while Scott Gaffney set the school single season record for sacrifices by recording his 15th sacrifice bunt.
Other records on the verge of going down include the season appearance record, which is held by Matt Ogrodnik from last year. Ogrodnik is just four shy of tying his own record and five from breaking it. Joe Blackburn currently has five triples and is just one shy of tying the school record of six in a single season. Finally, Cory Wine will almost certainly break his own school record set last year of 419 putouts in a season. He has 411 already this year.
Five seniors will play their final home games this weekend. All will be honored prior to Sunday's game. This year's seniors include Matt Cavagnaro, Jim Leitgeb, Craig Clark, Matt Ogrodnik and Travis Garrett.
Penn State has announced the following specials for fans for this weekend??s series. All youth that come to the game in a baseball uniform can purchase a ticket for just $1. Additionally, all students that are graduating from Penn State this weekend that show up to the game in their cap and gown will be given free admission and any family members that accompany them can get into the games for just $1 as well.
This weekend??s games start at 6:35 p.m. on Friday, 4:05 p.m. for Saturday??s doubleheader, and 1:05 p.m. for the regular season finale on Sunday.