May 7, 2018
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UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - Penn State baseball continues its in-state stretch of games with a Tuesday contest at Pittsburgh on Cost Field with first pitch set for 6 p.m. It is the first time the two teams are meeting this season after their Mar. 21 game at Penn State was canceled due to inclement weather. However, Penn State is making its second trip to the city of Pittsburgh after playing West Virginia in the Pirates' PNC Park on Apr. 10.
Essentials
Live Video: ACC Network Extra
Live Audio: GoPSUsports.com
Live Stats: PittsburghPanthers.com
TV: N/A
Radio: State College's ESPN Radio 1450
Series History: Penn State, 87-44-1
Last Series: Pittsburgh, 2-0 (2017)
Streak: L2
Tuesday Probables
PSU RHP Eric Mock (1-1, 7.66 ERA)
PITT RHP Derek West (2-4, 4.05 ERA)
Magnificent Seven
Penn State is hitting and pitching well above its season averages over the last seven games.
The Lions were batting just .218 in their first 33 games, but are hitting at a .281 clip in their last seven games and batted .317 over the weekend against Michigan State.
Penn State's ERA after 33 games was nearly a season-high 6.23, but the Lions' ERA over the last seven is 2.86, and it was a minuscule 1.33 against Michigan State last weekend.
Five Nittany Lions are batting over .300 over the last seven, led by catcher Ryan Sloniger going 7-for-16 (.438) with a home run, double, seven runs scored and three RBIs in six games. He also has six walks and was plunked once for a .591 on-base percentage.
Junior Conlin Hughes owns the team's longest active hitting streak at six games, going 9-for-22 (.409) with three doubles and four RBIs. A .255 hitter as a sophomore, Hughes was batting just .136 until the streak started, raising his average 58 points.
Jordan Bowersox (.345, 6 R, 6 RBI), Shea Sbranti (.316, 3 2B, 4 RBI) and Connor Klemann (.304, 6 R, 4 RBI) have also been hot at the dish.
Over the last seven, LHP Marko Boricich has been lights out in the bullpen, not allowing an earned run in six innings pitched and striking out nine. RHP Conor Larkin (5.2 IP), RHP Kyle Virbitsky (4.2 IP ) and RHP Jake Pilewicz (3.2 IP) have combined to allow just an earned run each, so the quartet has combined for a 1.35 ERA over 20 innings pitched.
Midweek Success
Predominantly due to weather, Penn State has been limited to just four midweek games this season, going 2-2 with two games at home and two at neutral sites.
Penn State has won its last two midweek games, defeating Mount St. Mary's and Lafayette.
All-Time vs. Pittsburgh
Penn State and Pittsburgh are meeting for the first and only time this season after the opening game of the series in Happy Valley was canceled due to weather. Penn State leads the all-time series against Pittsburgh 87-44-1, claiming 11 of the last 16 meetings, but was swept by the Panthers in 2017. Penn State leads 29-17-1 when playing at Pitt. Penn State's second most frequent opponent all-time, the first Penn State-Pitt match-up dates back to 1912 with Penn State winning 11-3.
Head Coach Joe Jordano
Joe Jordano is in his 11th season as head coach for Pitt. He is the winningest coach in program history and has 10 postseason appearances. Jordano was named Big East Coach of the Year in 2004 and 2013. He is a 2009 Mercyhurst College Hall of Fame Inductee and 2010 Pennsylvania Sports Hall of Fame Inductee.
Scouting Pitt
Pittsburgh, a member of the ACC is 26-19 overall and 11-13 in the ACC. West Virginia is the only common opponent Penn State and Pitt share this season, with WVU defeating Penn State, 3-2, in 10 innings at PNC Park and Pitt, 12-1, the very next day. Liam Sabino ranks fifth in the ACC and 43rd in the country with 12 home runs this season, and his 37 RBIs are tied for the team lead with team batting leader Frank Maldonado (.294). Pitt has been strong defensively with a .977 fielding percentage to rank third in the ACC.
Mock Gets the Start
RHP Eric Mock will take the ball against Pittsburgh for his third start of the season.
In his two previous starts (Vs. West Virginia, 4/10; vs. Lafayette, 4/25), Mock has a 1-0 record, 3.60 ERA and eight strikeouts in 5.0 innings pitched.
Tight Games
An NCAA-leading (courtesy Chris Rash, Elon) 40 percent of Penn State's games this season (16 of 40) have been decided by one run, with Penn State going 4-12 in those 16 games.
Penn State's 16 one-run games are its most since playing in 16 one-run games in 2007.
Penn State's 12 one-run losses are its most since dropping 12 games by a run in 2006.
Four of Penn State's 11 wins have been by one run, and six have been decided by two runs or less. RHPs Eric Mock and Mason Mellott have three saves each.
Twenty of Penn State's 40 games played this season have been decided by two runs or less. Penn State is 7-13 in those games.
Staying in the Keystone State
Penn State is staying close to home until the last weekend of the regular season, as it is seven games into a stretch of 13-straight within the state of Pennsylvania.
Penn State is visiting three different regions of the state during a 13-game stretch of games within the Keystone State. The Nittany Lions took on Lafayette in Allentown (Apr. 25) to open the slate, and will play games at Pittsburgh (May 8) and at Villanova (Plymouth Meeting, Pa., May 15).
Penn State is also three games into a stretch of 12 games in 15 days to finish the regular season. The home finale set for Monday, May 14 against St. Bonventure is a make-up of a game postponed from earlier in the season due to weather.
Slugging Sloniger
Catcher Ryan Sloniger leads the team with a .309 batting average, and he's batting at a .396 (19-for-48) clip over his last 14 games played, raising his batting average 42 points over the stretch.
Sloniger's four home runs, 10 doubles and 24 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.
He has started all but four games behind the plate this season, including the first 18-straight, and started the first 29 consecutive games of the season overall with 28 starts at catcher and one at designated hitter.
Sloniger had a hit in 17 of the first 19 games this season. He 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 had a consecutive games played streak of 50 that ended when he did not appear in the Mount St. Mary's game.
Bats Break Scoring, Big Ten Slumps
Penn State's 13 runs in a series opening win against Michigan State were its most overall since scoring 20 in a win at Lafayette on April 6, 2016, most at home since scoring 16 in a win over Niagara on March 19, 2016 and most in a Big Ten game since scoring 15 in a win over Indiana on March 22, 2015.
Penn State's 15 hits were its most since May 16, 2017 against Villanova.
Penn State has scored five or more runs in nine of its last 12 games for an average of 6.3 runs per game. Penn State is averaging 4.45 runs per game for the year.
The Michigan State win snapped a 15-game Big Ten losing streak for Penn State, and its second win over Michigan State secured its first series win since sweeping Northwestern in April 2016
Freshmen On the Mound
Freshmen have pitched 155 2/3 of the 350 2/3 innings pitched (43.7 percent) for Penn State this season and started 16 of 40 games (40 percent) games this season.
Freshman RHP Bailey Dees made his second career start against Mount St. Mary's and earned his first career win.
Dees is one of four freshmen to draw starts on the mound along with Dante Biasi (11), Conor Larkin (2) and Jeff Taylor (1).
Biasi has been a regular in the weekend rotation and ranks second on the team with 50.0 innings pitched.
Increasing Power
Redshirt sophomore infielder Connor Klemann, sophomore outfielder Braxton Giavedoni and junior catcher Ryan Sloniger lead the team with four home runs 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 four home runs this season best his total for all of last season.
Penn State has 18 homers this season hit by eight different players.
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 726 putouts. He is trailing Todd Stoner, who totaled 871, (1986-89) for eighth.
Junior pitcher Justin Hagenman ranks sixth all-time at 40 career starts. Next on the list are Craig Clark (2004-07) and Dan Goebler (1997-00), who are tied for fourth with 41 career starts.
Senior LHP Taylor Lehman is the only Nittany Lion pitcher to rank on both the Penn State career appearances and career starts top-10 lists. With 64, Lehman has moved into a three-way tie for eighth with Josh Palm (2002-05) and Mike Watson (1999-02) Penn State, while with 38 starts, he has tied Steven Hill (2010-12) for seventh.