Feb. 23, 2012
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - The Penn State baseball team heads to UNC Greensboro this weekend for a three-game set with the Spartans. The Nittany Lions will be taking on Greensboro for the first time in program history. Penn State is coming off a 1-2 weekend at the Big Ten/BIG EAST Challenge in Clearwater, Fla.
Fans can follow the game via a live stats link on GoPSUSports.com. Twitter updates will also be available by following @psubaseball.
Coming off tough back-to-back losses to Seton Hall and West Virginia, Penn State (1-2) fought back from a 3-2 deficit and defeated the Cincinnati Bearcats on Sunday afternoon by a score of 5-2. Senior Jordan Steranka (Pittsburgh, Pa.) put together a 2-for-5 effort, which included the game-tying homerun in the eighth inning.
The homer by Steranka was the spark for the Nittany Lions, as the bats came alive afterwards. Senior Joey DeBernardis (Lake Zurich, Ill.) followed Steranka's at-bat with a double. Senior Sean Deegan (Readington, N.J.) then responded with a big, go-ahead RBI triple to give Penn State a 4-3 lead. Junior Luis Montesinos (Miami, Fla.) capped off the rally with an RBI single to score Deegan.
The Spartans of UNC Greensboro are off to an impressive 4-0 start, earning three wins over Delaware State last weekend and a mid-week win over UNC Ashville on Tuesday afternoon. Through their first four games, the Spartans have scored a total of 44 runs (11.0 per contest), including scoring 13 in three of those games.
UNC Greensboro has allowed just 10 runs through its first four games as well. In two of the three wins over Delaware State, the Spartans won by scores of 13-0 and 13-1, while allowing four and five runs in the other two contests.
The Spartans, who are hitting .366 through its first four games, have three players that have slugging percentages over 1.000 including, Andrew Spleth (1.167), Kris Richards (1.154) and Zach Leach (1.222). Leach and Richards have two homeruns each to go along with eight and six RBI respectively. Trevor Edwards leads the team with three homeruns in the first four games.
On the mound, the Spartans have a team ERA of 2.50. Tyler Hollstegge, who earned a start last weekend for UNC Greensboro, went five innings, giving up one hit in a combined shutout effort against Delaware State.
Next up for Penn State will be its Spring Break Trip, lasting from March 3-11, as it will spend time in Birmingham, Ala. and Starkville, Miss. The Nittany Lions will open the trip with a three-game series against Samford University. Following that, Penn State will head over to Mississippi State to take on the Bulldogs on March 6 and 7. From there, the Lions will go back to Birmingham to take on UAB to close out the trip.
Follow Penn State baseball on Twitter: www.twitter.com/psubaseball.