Feb. 15, 2018
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UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - Penn State baseball opens its 2018 season at Elon Friday at 4 p.m. in Latham Park. It continues Sunday at 2 p.m. and concludes Sunday at 1:30 p.m.
Essentials
Live Video: N/A
Live Audio: N/A
Live Stats: ElonPhoenix.com
TV: N/A
Radio: N/A
Elon Series History: 0-4
Last Series: 2015, Away, 0-3
Streak: L4
Friday Probables
PSU RHP Justin Hagenman (0-0, 0.00 ERA)
ELON RHP George Kirby (0-0, 0.00 ERA)
Saturday Probables
PSU LHP Taylor Lehman (0-0, 0.00 ERA)
ELON RHP Kyle Brnovich (0-0, 0.00 ERA)
Sunday Probables
PSU LHP Dante Biasi (0-0, 0.00 ERA)
ELON LHP Owen Lorenz (0-0, 0.00 ERA)
The Team
Penn State is carrying the NCAA maximum 35 student-athletes on its roster, which includes 21 returners and 14 newcomers. Returning starters include six position players (outfielders Jordan Bowersox, Braxton Giavedoni and Mason Nadeau, infielders Conlin Hughes and Logan Goodnight, and catcher Ryan Sloniger) and two starting pitchers (Justin Hagenman and Eric Mock).
Season Openers
Penn State is looking to snap a three-game skid in season openers.
The Nittany Lions are 1-3 in season starts during head coach Rob Cooper's tenure.
Last season, Penn State dropped a 6-3 decision at No. 1 TCU. Penn State fell to Monmouth, 3-1, in a neutral site game in Cary, North Carolina, in 2016, and lost a 16-15 slug fest at Elon in 2015.
2018 marks the fourth time in the past five seasons that Penn State has opened its season in the state of North Carolina.
Road Swing Begins
Penn State is playing its first 12 games of the season on the road.
Next weekend, the Nittany Lions will host UMBC, Monmouth and St. John's in a three-game series at the USA Baseball National Training Center in Cary, North Carolina.
Penn State will spend spring break (Mar. 3-10) in the Southwest, playing three games at UC Santa Barbara in California and three games at Grand Canyon University in Phoenix, Arizona.
All-Time vs. Elon
Penn State and Elon have met four times, with Elon winning all four contests. The first meeting came in 1928 and the Nittany Lions also opened their 2015 season at Elon.
Scouting Elon
Elon went 24-32 overall and 12-12 in the Colonial Athletic Association last season.
Three Elon student-athletes were recognized with preseason honors and the Phoenix were selected to finish in a tie for fifth place in the upcoming 2018 season. Named to the Preseason All-CAA Baseball Team were junior shortstop Ryne Ogren and sophomore starting pitcher Kyle Brnovich. Senior catcher Hayden Platt was an honorable mention selection.
one-out single to left-center to score him.
Miller led the sixth off with a base hit, and a two-out walk and wild pitch put two Huskers in scoring position. Second baseman Jake Schleppenbach then delivered with a two-RBI single to centerfield for a 5-0 lead. The Huskers took advantage of an error in the seventh for the final margin.
At the Plate
Penn State returns the majority of its leading offensive contributors. Jordan Bowersox, a junior, was batting a team-best .333 through the first 33 games of the 2017 season before an injury ended his season.
Braxton Giavedoni and Mason Nadeau both made impacts as freshmen, as Giavedoni led the team in batting officially with a .287 average, while Nadeau batted .308 in an injury-limited 35 games.
As juniors, Bowersox, Conlin Hughes and Ryan Sloniger are the team's veteran position players, as there are no returning senior batters on the roster.
On the Mound
Penn State will be without All-Big Ten starter Sal Biasi, who elected to forego his final year of eligibility and was drafted in the 11th round by the Kansas City Royals in June. However, his younger, left-handed brother, Dante Biasi, is set to make his debut on the mound as the Sunday starter after medically-redshirting last season as a true freshman.
Justin Hagenman, a junior, is the team's most experienced starter, while senior Nick Distasio, last year's team-saves leader, also returns.
Additionally, redshirt junior reliever Marko Boricich is returning from injury, and seniors Taylor Lehman and Jake Pilewicz bring experience to the group.
Welcome Aboard
The Lions will remain a young team in 2018 with 14 newcomers, of which none have played in an NCAA Division I baseball game yet. The group features 11 true freshmen who have been with the team since the fall, two dual sport student-athletes and one transfer.
The freshmen were ranked as the 42ndââ'¬"best recruiting class in 2017 by leading recruiting service Perfect Game. Seven of the freshmen are in-state products.
Bringing veteran experience to the newcomers will be junior transfer Shea Sbranti and senior Penn State wrestler Matt McCutcheon.
Originally an Arizona commit, Sbranti played two seasons at San Joaquin Delta Community College, earning all-conference honors last season.
McCutcheon, a three-time NCAA Wrestling Championships qualifier, played baseball through his sophomore season at high school before devoting his full attention to wrestling.
Additionally, freshman football wide receiver Mac Hippenhammer joined the baseball team at the start of the spring semester. Hippenhammer earned three letters playing shortstop at Snider High School, helping the team to a sectional championship in 2017 by batting .431 with 19 runs scored and 15 stolen bases for the year.
Staff Changes
Head coach Rob Cooper, entering his fifth season at Penn State, has two new coaches on his staff, while Andre Butler, entering his third season with the team, was promoted from his volunteer role to a full-time position as the team's hitting coach.
Now working with the pitchers is former Major Leaguer Josh Newman, who spent the previous four seasons as the pitching coach at Marshall. Newman is no stranger to the Big Ten, as he was a three-time All-Big Ten and Academic All-Big Ten selection as a pitcher at Ohio State, and he also spent three seasons on his alma mater's coaching staff following the conclusion of his playing career.
Serving as the volunteer assistant coach is Blaise Lezynski A native of Newtown, Pennsylvania, Lezynski graduated from Notre Dame in 2015 after playing baseball for three seasons and redshirting as a senior due to injury. He finished his collegiate career as a graduate student at Mercer, helping the team win the 2016 Southern Conference Championship.
Return to PNC Park
Penn State and West Virginia will trek to Pittsburgh for a second consecutive year to play in the home of Major League Baseball's Pittsburgh Pirates on Tuesday, April 10.
Penn State played in the park for the first time last season after a rain out at Medlar Field at Lubrano Park was rescheduled for the Pirates' home.
Happy Valley to Lehigh Valley
The Lehigh Valley IronPigs of the Triple-A International League will host Penn State and Lafayette in the first-ever NCAA Division I baseball game in Coca-Cola Park, located in Allentown, Pennsylvania, Wednesday, April 25.
Coca-Cola Park is Minor League Baseball's most visited ballpark since 2008.
Penn State baseball received National Letters of Intent from eight student-athletes, head coach Rob Cooper announced Friday. The class will begin participation in the 2018-19 academic year.
Additional Schedule Highlights
The 2018 54-game schedule features 26 home games in Medlar Field at Lubrano Park, 23 road games and five neutral site games.
West Virginia is among the five teams on the Nittany Lions' schedule that played in last season's NCAA Baseball Tournament. Penn State will host at-large selection St. John's (Feb. 25) at its tournament at the USA Baseball National Training Center in Cary, North Carolina, host West Virginia (Apr. 3) in addition to the PNC Park game, visit Big Ten foes Michigan (Apr. 20-22) and Iowa (May 17-19) and host defending Big East Tournament Champions Xavier (May 10-12) in the home finale.
The home opener is slated for Wednesday, Mar. 14 against Mount St. Mary's, which will open a six-game homestand, including NJIT over the weekend (Mar. 16-18) and midweek contests against Bucknell (Mar. 20) and Pitt (Mar. 21).
The Nittany Lions open their Big Ten slate at Rutgers (Mar. 23-25), and will also visit Minnesota (Apr. 6-8), Michigan (Apr. 20-22) and Iowa (May 17-19). Penn State hosts Purdue (Mar. 30-Apr. 1), Ohio State (Apr. 13-Apr. 15), Northwestern (Apr. 27-29) and Michigan State (May 4-5).
Additional midweek non-conference games at Medlar include Binghamton (Mar. 27), Cornell (Mar. 28), St. Bonaventure (Apr. 4) and Bucknell (Apr. 24). Penn State will also play across the state, at Lafayette (Apr. 25), at Pittsburgh (May 8) and at Villanova (May 15).
Eight Sign NLIs for 2019 Season
The initial 2019 class includes one transfer and seven incoming freshmen, a distinct regional footprint with seven of the eight attending high school in either the eastern half of Pennsylvania or in New Jersey, and it breaks down to four pitchers, three infielders and a catcher.
Transferring to Penn State will be left-handed pitcher Joe Baran (West Hazleton, Pa./Hazleton Area), who played at Stony Brook the past two seasons.
Joining Baran as Pennsylvania natives are incoming freshmen catcher Cole Chesnet (Coatesville, Pa./Archbishop Carroll), pitcher Hutch Gagnon (Downingtown, Pa./Downingtown East), infielder Isaiah Payton (Newerk, Del./The Episcopal Academy) and infielder Justin Williams (Mechanicsburg, Pa./ Cumberland Valley).
Hailing from New Jersey are infielder Ryan Ford (Freehold, N.J./Freehold Township) and pitcher Brendan Mullins (Toms River, N.J./Toms River North), while Tyler Shingledecker (Huntersville, N.C.) is the second pitcher in as many years to sign out of Hough High School, which is located just north of Charlotte, North Carolina.
The Nittany Lions will announce additional members of the Class of 2022 later in the academic year.