March 13, 2015
| PENN STATE AT LIBERTY INVITATIONAL | |
| Friday, Mar. 13 - 11:30 a.m. ET vs. Western Carolina | |
| Saturday, Mar. 14 - 1 p.m. ET at Liberty | |
| Sunday, Mar. 15 - 1 p.m. ET at Liberty | |
| Liberty Baseball Stadium | Lynchburg, Va. | |
| GAME DAY LINKS |
TV: ESPN2 -->Game 1: Live StatsGame 2: Live Stats | ESPN3Game 3: Live Stats | ESPN3Baseball Blog | Baseball VideosFollow Us: @PennStateBASE | Facebook | InstagramGameday Central
Game Notes:Statistics:
LYNCHBURG, Va. - Concluding its spring break trip, Penn State will play a pair of schools in Western Carolina (Southern Conference) and Liberty (Big South) that were picked to win their respective conference championships. PSU's game against WCU Friday. Has moved earlier to 11:30 a.m. due to weather.
The Nittany Lions will challenge host Liberty in games Saturday at Sunday.
Coverage: Live video will be available on ESPN3 for the games against Liberty. Live Stats will be available on StatBroadcast.com.
All-Time Series: This is the first meeting between Western Carolina and Penn State and the second series with Liberty. The Nittany Lions were swept by Liberty in three-game series in Lynchburg in 2013.
On Deck: Penn State will travel to Pittsburgh Tuesday before opening its home slate Wednesday against Canisius.
Catamounts at a Glance: The defending Southern Conference regular season champions preseason pick to repeat, Western Carolina brings a 6-7 record. The Catamounts opened the season by taking two out of three against Purdue. Second baseman Bradley Strong leads the team batting .411 with 20 RBIs, while catcher Danny Bermudez has hit three home runs for 18 RBIs.
Flames at a Glance: Liberty enters the weekend with an 8-6 record, most recently taking two of three from Kent State. Catcher Becker Sankey leads the team with a .341 average, two home runs and 10 RBIs. The Flames have reached the NCAA Regionals the past two seasons and were picked to win the Big South conference championship.
Last Time Out: No. 7 South Carolina lived up to its ranking, earning a two-game sweep of the Nittany Lions. LHP Geoff Boylston had a career game in the opener Tuesday, holding the Gamecocks to three runs (two earned) on five hits and a walk with seven strikeouts, but USC was able to shutout PSU for the 3-0 win. The Gamecock bats came to life Thursday while their pitching continued to be stellar in a 13-3 victory.
Super Novak: On Sunday at Charleston Southern, Aaron Novak became the fourth Nittany Lion to tally eight RBIs in a game (first since 1984), as he tallied two home runs and doubled as part of a 4-for-5 day at the plate. The totals were career highs, and his eight RBIs matched a team record. It was also his first game of the season in the cleanup role. Novak had at least two hits in all three games this past weekend, going 8-for-12 (.667), and he also walked once and was hit by a pitch for a .714 weekend on-base percentage. Riding a career-best nine-game hitting streak, Novak is currently batting .531 with a .595 on-base percentage this season, making him one of the hottest hitters in the nation, officially ranking third in batting average nationally and tops in the Big Ten. He is also slugging .906, and has a team-best three home runs and 10 RBIs.
Rookies on the Mound: Penn State has used nine first-year pitchers so far this season, and they have combined to account for 52.8 percent of innings pitched (47 IP). The Lion rotation includes two true freshmen: LHP Taylor Lehman and RHP Nick Distasio. Both are from head coach Rob Cooper's first recruiting class. Lehman was drafted in the 34th round of the MLB draft in June by the Florida Marlins, but did not sign. He stands at a towering 6-8. Distasio and Lehman are both Pennsylvania natives. The top two relievers in terms of innings pitched used by Cooper are freshmen Sal Biasi and Marko Boricich. Biasi has thrown 6.1 innings in three appearances with a 2.84 ERA. Boricich has 10 strikeouts in 9.0 innings pitched.
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