March 2, 2012
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - The Penn State baseball team (1-5) heads to Birmingham, Ala. this Saturday to take on the Samford Bulldogs to begin its eight-game spring break road trip. The Nittany Lions, who are coming off a tough weekend at UNC Greensboro, will then make the trek to Mississippi State for a pair before returning back to Birmingham to take on UAB in three-game series.
Fans can follow the games via a live stats link on GoPSUSports.com. Twitter updates will also be available by following @psubaseball.
Head coach Robbie Wine will hand the ball to juniors Cody Lewis on Saturday, John Walter on Sunday and Steven Hill on Monday. Penn State's probables for Monday and Tuesday's game are TBA.
Penn State will look to improve on the trip after being swept by UNC Greensboro last weekend. Senior Jordan Steranka (Pittsburgh, Pa.) has put together a nice start to the season so far, hitting a team-best .385 with four multi-hit games and two extra-base hits. Steranka is creeping up on the Nittany Lion record books as well. The senior currently sits fourth all-time in hits (220), fourth in RBI (145), third in total bases (346) and eighth in doubles (40).
Samford is led at the plate by Saxon Butler, who is hitting .500 with two home runs and 12 RBI. Brandon Miller leads the team in home runs with six and in RBI with 16. Kyle Putkonen, who will start on the mound on Saturday, enters the weekend with a record of 0-1 and an ERA of 3.27. Sunday's scheduled starter, Charles Basford, has a record of 1-0 and an ERA of 4.22 coming into the series. Josh Martin (2-0, 5.33) will make the start on Sunday.
Penn State has played Samford just once in the program's history. Samford one that game back on March 8, 1995 by a score of 8-6.
The Nittany Lions will be taking on Mississippi State for the first time ever. The Bulldogs carry a 6-2 record heading into this weekend's games. Mississippi State is hitting .298 as a team and has a combined ERA of 2.13.
Penn State continues its road trip back down to UAB beginning next Friday for a three-game set to close out spring break. The Nittany Lions will then head to East Carolina on March 16 for a series with the Pirates. The Nittany Lions open up the 2012 home slate on March 21 against Pittsburgh.
Student season ticket sales for the 2012 season will begin on March 12 and continue through March 16 at the HUB, 10 a.m.-4 p.m. each day. Season tickets are just $20 and each student that purchases them will get a Penn State Baseball three-quarters sleeve t-shirt, tickets to 19 home games, a free hot dog and soda at Friday home games and two batting practice sessions with the team.
Follow Penn State baseball on Twitter: www.twitter.com/psubaseball.