April 17, 2018
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UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - Penn State concludes a four-game homestand by hosting Mount St. Mary's in non-conference baseball game in Medlar Field at Lubrano Park Wednesday at 6:30 p.m.
Essentials
Live Video: GoPSUsports.com
Live Audio: GoPSUsports.com
Live Stats: GoPSUSports.com
TV: N/A
Radio: State College's ESPN Radio 1450
Mount St. Mary's Series History: Penn State, 5-3-1
Last Meeting: Penn State, W (5-3) 2012
Streak: W1
Wednesday Probables
PSU RHP Bailey Dees (0-0, 10.57 ERA)
MSM RHP Brenden Kennedy (1-2, 8.15 ERA)
Promotions
- Two for Wednesday
Home Opener?
The Penn State-Mount St. Mary's game is a rescheduling of what was supposed to be the Nittany Lions' home opener on March 14.
The game was postponed to Tuesday, April 17 due to continuing winter weather, but the unusually cold weather continued into April, despite a recent sun-splashed weekend of two 80-degree days, forcing a second postponement to Wednesday.
Dees Gets The Ball
Freshman RHP Bailey Dees is slated to make his second career start.
Dees is one of four freshmen to draw starts on the mound along with Dante Biasi (8), Conor Larkin (2) and Jeff Taylor (1).
Dees' start will mark the 12th game out of 30 started by a freshman for Penn State.
Hendershot, Goodnight Heat Up
Freshman Parker Hendershot and sophomore Logan Goodnight joined usual suspects Ryan Sloniger and Jordan Bowersox among the team's offensive leader's last week.
Goodnight went 5-for-12 in the Ohio State series, adding a walk with a double and a run scored. He tallied a hit in all three games of the series to match his career-long hitting streak, and posted back-to-back multi-hit games for the first time in his career with two two-hit games to open the series. Goodnight also reached best against West Virginia and owns the team's longest active reached base streak at four games.
Hendershot tallied a hit in the PNC Park game against West Virginia and in the Ohio State series opener, and then enjoyed a career day in the finale by reaching base four times with a 3-for-4 effort at the plate and a walk. He drove in two runs and scored two runs.
All-Time vs. Mount St. Mary's
Penn State holds a 5-3-1 lead in the all-time series against Mount St. Mary's. The two teams first met in 1897 and met five times between 1897 and 1905, but then did not meet again for 102 years. In the most recent meeting, Penn State earned a 5-3 victory in 2012.
Scouting The Mount
Mount St. Mary's is 10-21 overall and 4-9 in NEC play. The Mount enters on a two-game winning streak after taking the final two games in a series against LIU Brooklyn. Penn State is the second Big Ten team it has faced this season, The Mount faced Minnesota in its third game of the season, falling 16-5. Myles Nicholson leads the NEC with 16 stolen bases, while Vaughn Parker leads the team batting .320 with four home runs and 25 RBIs.
Tight Games
Nearly 45 percent of Penn State's games this season (13 of 29) have been decided by one run, with Penn State going 4-9 in those 13 games.
Penn State's 13 one-run games are its most since playing in 14 one-run games in 2012.
Penn State's nine one-run losses are its most since 2011.
Four of Penn State's seven wins have been by one run, and all (six) but one have been decided by two runs or less. RHPs Eric Mock and Mason Mellott have three saves each.
Sixteen of Penn State's 29 games played this season have been decided by two runs or less. Penn State is 6-10 in those games.
Hitting Leaders
Jordan Bowersox is Penn State's hottest-hitter with hits in seven of the last nine games and an average of .324 (12-for-37). The stretch includes two three-hit games, including most recently a 3-for-3 performance that included a walk and double in the series opener against Ohio State on Friday, and a home run against West Virginia in PNC Park.
Ryan Sloniger has three multi-hit games in his last four outings, highlighted by a 3-for-5 effort against West Virginia in PNC Park and a triple as part of a 2-for-3 game against Ohio State Saturday.
Starting With a Triple
Freshmen Kris Kremer and Derek Orndorff have both tallied triples for their first career hits.
Orndorff tripled at Elon in February, while Kremer tripled in Penn State's last outing against Ohio State.
Increasing Power
Redshirt sophomore infielder Connor Klemann leads the team with four home runs and junior catcher Ryan Sloniger and sophomore outfielder Braxton Giavedoni have three each.
Sloniger had two home runs in his first two seasons and Klemann had not hit a home run prior to this season. Giavedoni's three home runs this season match his total for all of last season.
Penn State has 15 homers this season hit by eight different players.
Junior transfer Shea Sbranti hit his first home run as a Nittany Lion for Penn State's most recent home run. Three men were on.
Hagenman Leads Rotation
Junior RHP Justin Hagenman continues to lead the Penn State pitching rotation and is among the leaders in the Big Ten in ERA (2.92, t-8th), innings pitched (52.1, 10th) and strikeouts (49, t-7th).
His ERA ranks eighth in the Big Ten.
Hagenman is particularly adept at striking out hitters looking, as he ranks second in the conference with 25 backwards K's.
Hagenman is 2-4 on the season in eight starts, leaving with the lead twice and in a tie game once in three no decisions. Two of his losses have come when Penn State scored one or fewer runs.
Record Watch
A trio of Nittany Lions are making their mark on the program's career records list.
Junior catcher Ryan Sloniger ranks ninth all-time at Penn State with 669 putouts. He is trailing Todd Stoner, who totaled 871, (1986-89) for eighth.
Junior pitcher Justin Hagenman is tied for seventh all-time with 37 career starts with Clayton Hamilton (2000-04) and Aaron Tressler (2001-04). His next start will tie him for sixth with Steven Hill (2010-12) with 38 starts.
Senior LHP Taylor Lehman is on track to become the only Nittany Lion pitcher to rank on both the Penn State career appearances and career starts top-10 lists.
With 61 career appearances, Lehman is two shy of tying Pete Yodis (1998-01) for 10th all-time at Penn State, while with 35 starts, he is two starts short of tying both Mike Bellaman (1982-85) and Nick Hedge (2013-16) for 10th.
Yodis currently is Penn State's career starts record holder with 53 starts, but would be bumped from the Top 10 in appearances after three more Lehman appearances.
Check Your Calendar
Penn State has had to postpone six midweek games from their original dates due to weather.
A game against Binghamton, originally scheduled for Tuesday, March 27, was postponed due to inclement weather to Wednesday, April 11, but that game wsa postponed again dur to a conflict for Binghamton.
The Mount. St. Mary's game was postponed a second time, but just for one more day, due to continuing poor weather.
A game against St. Bonaventure as been rescheduled for May 14.
Make-up dates to host Pitt, Bucknell and West Virginia are to be determined.
Penn State has not had the worst weather though this spring. It's series at Minnesota this past weekend had to be moved to Purdue in West Lafayette, Indiana, due to continuing winter weather in Minneapolis.
Slugging Sloniger
Catcher Ryan Sloniger had a hit in 17 of the first 19 games this season and leads the team with a .292 batting average. He has started all but two games behind the plate this season, including the first 18, and started the first 29 consecutive games of the season overall with 28 starts at catcher and one at designated hitter.
Sloniger's three home runs, eight doubles and 19 RBIs surpass his 2017 totals of one home run, four doubles and seven RBIs. He had two career home runs, 10 doubles and 24 RBIs in 78 games played over his first two seasons.
Sloniger opened the season on a nine-game hitting streak. It was the longest hitting streak to start a season since Jim Haley tallied at least one hit in the first 10 games of 2016 and it remains the longest hitting streak by a Nittany Lion this season.
Ironmen
Penn State has two position players that have started and played in every game this season: Connor Klemann and Jordan Bowersox.
Braxton Giavedoni has appeared in each game but did not start Penn State's most recent game, the series finale against Ohio State. It ended a streak of 49 consecutive starts dating back to April 14, 2017.
Giavedoni still owns the team's longest consecutive games played streak at 50.