April 14, 2015
| PENN STATE at WEST VIRGINIA | |
| Tuesday, Apr. 14 - 6:05 p.m. ET | |
| Monongalia County Ballpark | Morgantown, W. Va. | |
| PENN STATE vs. BUCKNELL | |
| Wednesday, Apr. 15 - 6:30 p.m. ET | |
| Medlar Field at Lubrano Park | University Park, Pa. | |
| GAME DAY LINKS |
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Game Notes: Penn State | WVU | BUStatistics: Penn State | WVU | BU
PENN STATE NITTANY LIONS (10-20, 2-6 B1G)
at WEST VIRGINA MOUNTAINEERS (21-12, 4-5 Big 12)
Monongalia County Ballpark - Morgantown, W. Va. - Apr. 14
vs. BUCKNELL BISON (18-16, 4-8 PL)
Medlar Field at Lubrano Park - University Park, Pa. - Apr. 15
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - Penn State will take on a pair of regional rivals this week, visiting West Virginia Tuesday at 6:05 p.m. before hosting Bucknell again Wednesday at 6:30 p.m. "Blue Collar Baseball" t-shirts will be given away Wednesday while supplies last.
COVERAGE
TV
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Radio
WQWK-AM/ESPN Radio 1450
Location: State College, Pa.
Dates: All
Talent: Brian Tripp, Tyler Feldman
Internet
Video: N/A Audio: GoPSUsports.com
Twitter: @PennStateBASE
Facebook: PennState Baseball
Instagram: @PennStateBASE
On the Mound:
TUE., April 14 - 6:05 p.m.
(WVU) RHP Shane Ennis (1-1, 3.31) vs. (PSU)RHP Dakota Forsyth (0-4, 5.73)
WED., April 15 - 6:30 p.m.
(BU) RHP Austin Zimmerman (0-0, 4.50) vs. (PSU) RHP Tom Mullin (2-0, 3.86)
Promotions: "Blue Collar Baseball" t-shirt giveaway Wednesday while supplies last!
Forsyth to Start: Dakota Forsyth will be making his third career start against West Virginia and first of the season. As a freshman last season, he made starts at Fresno State (3/7) and at Minnesota (4/26).
Streaking: Aaron Novak is on a career and season long 11-game hitting streak. Over the last 11 games, Novak is 17-for-46 (.370) with three doubles and five RBIs, a .420 on-base percentage and .500 slugging percentage.
From Feb. 14 (Game 2) at Elon to Mar. 11 at No. 7 South Carolina, Novak assembled a career-best nine-game hitting streak. Novak batted .548 (17-for-31) with three homers, three doubles and 10 RBIs. His on-base percentage was .611 and his slugging percentage was .935.
Super Novak: Aaron Novak has been Penn State's top hitter, ranking third in the conference in batting (.364). He has two four hit games. At Charleston Southern (3/8), 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. He also went 4-for-4 in the series opener with CCSU (3/27).
All-Time Series vs. West Virginia: The Nittany Lions and Mountaineers will face each other on the diamond for the 109th time on Tuesday. Penn State holds a 28-game advantage in the all-time series with a record of 68-40. The two sides have met just four times since the turn of the millenium with both teams spliting the series evenly In games played in Happy Valley, the Lions are 36-17 against the Mountaineers, winners of the last four matchups.
West Virginia at a Glance: West Virginia enters the game with a 21-12 record, winning 12 of its last 14 games, including a weekend sweep of Butler in the grand opening of Monongalia County Ballpark. This will be just the fourth game in the new park. Kyle Davis continues to lead the team with a .367 batting average, while posting 14 doubles, three home runs and 23 RBIs. Justin Fox is hitting .321 with nine doubles, one triple, three home runs and 16 RBIs, while senior shortstop Taylor Munden leads the team with eight home runs to go along with a .296 batting average and nine doubles. Freshman right-hander Shane Ennis (2-0) will get the nod for West Virginia. Ennis has a 3.31 ERA in nine appearances with three starts. He has struck out eight in 16.1 innings and opponents are hitting .211. As a team, WVU is batting a Big-12 leading .288 with 113 extra-base hits and 196 runs driven in. The pitching staff has a 3.57 ERA in 297.2 innings with 225 strikeouts.
All-Time Series vs. Bucknell: The Bison are Penn State's oldest active rivals, as the two teams' first meeting came in 1882, with the Nittany Lions recording a win. The two sides have met a combined 155 times and Penn State leads the all-time series 125-29-1. Currently, the Blue and White have won 23 out of the last 24 meetings, including a 4-2 win last week. The two teams played a four-game weekend series last season, in which PSU took three games. The Bison managed to halt their losing streak to the Lions at 21 games by claiming the third game of the series. Previously, the last time Bucknell defeated the Lions was on March 31, 1998 in a 3-2 game. Penn State has an overall record of 66-10-1 against BU at home and a 20-game home winning streak, as Bucknell's last win in University Park was April 6, 1995 (3-2). The Bison are 0-11 on Medlar Field.
Bucknell at a Glance: After dropping eight of nine, including its loss to PSU, Bucknell won three out of four in a weekend series with Army. Joe Ogren leads the team in nearly every major offensive category.
Dominate the State: Penn State is 3-0 against in-state foes this season. Greg Guers was the hero in the first two, as he drove in the go-ahead runs in the eighth against Villanova, and the deciding runs at Pitt, tying it in the third with an RBI-double, and then singling with runners on the corners in the 12th.
Last Time Out: Penn State won the series opener over Michigan in convincing fashion, 11-1, behind seven shutout innings from LHP Nick Hedge, but came up short in the final two games, 3-5 and 3-8. Hedge earned his first win of the season and matched his career high with seven innings pitched.
On Deck: Following the Bucknell game, Penn State will play its next four on the road, traveling to Minnesota for a three-game Big Ten series, Friday-Sunday, and traveling to Kent State Tuesday. The Lions will then open their final home stand of the season (7 games) against No. 11 Illinois Friday, April 24.
Powering Up: Penn State hit just four home runs in its first 22 games, but with four home runs from Greg Guers and another from Aaron Novak, PSU has totaled totaled five in eight games in April. The Lions only sent five out of the park last season. Guers homered twice in 2014 and was the only Nittany Lion to go deep in spacious Medlar Field, doing so once. His three homers at home are the only PSU homers in Medlar this season. The opposition has just one homer in Medlar, a grand slam from Indiana`s Craig Dedelow, but Penn State rallied from a 7-0 deficit in that game to win 13-7
Senior Smith Heating Up: Ryky Smith saw his average dip to .167 after an 0-for-6 night at Pitt (3/17), but went 3-for-4 with four RBIs the following night in a win over Canisius (3/18). Over the last 11 games, Smith is batting a team-best .432 with three doubles and 11 RBIs.
Last Chance: When the going gets tough, the Lion bats heat up. With less than two outs, Penn State bats just .257, but improves to .273 when down to its final out. The Lions have 65 RBIs with two outs and 77 with less than two. Ryky Smith is the most clutch hitter on the team, batting a team-best .419 (13-for-31) with a team-best 14 RBIs. With less than two outs, Smith is 10-for-41 (.244) with just 4 RBIs.
The two-out success is the same for the Lion pitchers. Opponents are batting .230 with two outs and have driven in just 41 of the 155 (26.5 percent) runs batted in this season with two outs.
Slow Starts, Strong Finishes: Penn State, has been outscored 56-12 in the first two innings, and 94-47 through the first four innings. The tables turn in the fifth inning and beyond though, as PSU holds a 122-83 advantage over its opponents, as well as a 54-30 advantage in the eighth inning and beyond. PSU has scored 31 runs in the eighth this season.
Rookies on the Mound: Penn State has used nine first-year pitchers so far this season, and they have combined to account for 47.9 percent of innings pitched (125 2/3 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.
Back of the Bullpen: Sal Biasi and Jack Anderson have emerged as Penn State's most reliable late-inning arms. Biasi leads with a 2.22 ERA, Anderson follows with a 3.00 ERA. Anderson leads the team with 17 appearances and three wins. He tallied his first save of the season against Bucknell (4/7). Biasi is off to a strong start in his young career, and earned the save in three consecutive games (4/25-29). He is second on the team with 13 appearances and his 23 strikeouts rank third on the team.
Turn It!: Led by the stellar middle infield duo of SS Jim Haley and 2B Taylor Skerpon, the Nittany Lions rank second in the nation and tops in the Big Ten with 1.27 double plays per game, turning a total of 38 They turned four in a 12-inning win at Pittsburgh (3/17).
Close Doesn't Count: Penn State's 4-2 win over Bucknell was its first this season by a margin of less than three runs. The Lions have struggled in close games, going 0-6 in one-run games and 1-11 in games decided by two runs or less. Penn State suffered two consecutive one-run, walk-off losses at Ohio State (4/5-6).
Bonus Baseball: The Lions are giving fans their money's worth this season, with two 12-inning games. Last season, PSU played just one extra inning, a 4-3 win at Gardner-Webb in the finale of the opening series. Just seven of the 50 games played went over three hours, with the longest finishing in just 3 hours, 12 minutes. Through 27 games in 2015, the Lions have played 14 games that have gone beyond the three-hour mark, and three that have gone beyond the four-hour mark. Penn State's season opener at Elon, a 15-16 defeat, went 4:03, while 12-inning affairs at Pitt (4:05) and vs. No. 21 Indiana (4:04) both went into Red Sox-Yankees territory.
Home Sweet Home: The Lions are 2-16 away from Medlar Field (one loss at a neutral site), but 8-4 at Medlar, and 9-4 in Pennsylvania.