UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - Penn State opens its 2019 baseball season with a three-game series against Monmouth beginning Friday at 2 p.m. at the USA Baseball National Training Center in Cary, North Carolina. The series continues Saturday at 1 p.m. and Sunday at 11 a.m.
Essentials
Live Video: N/A
Live Audio: N/A
Live Stats: GoPSUsports.com
TV: N/A
Radio: N/A
Series History: Monmouth, 3-1
Last Game: Monmouth, 9-8 (2018)
Streak: L3
Friday Probables
PSU LHP Dante Biasi (3-6, 5.20 ERA)
MON RHP Dan Klepchick (5-1, 3.47 ERA)
Saturday Probables
PSU RHP Bailey Dees (1-2, 5.14 ERA)
MON RHP James Kelly (1-0, 3.03 ERA)
Sunday Probables
PSU RHP Eric Mock (2-1, 5.97 ERA)
MON TBD
The Team
Penn State is carrying the NCAA maximum 35 student-athletes on its roster, which includes 23 returners and 12 newcomers.
Returning starting position players include: C Ryan Sloniger, C/IF Shea Sbranti, IF Conlin Hughes, IF Parker Hendershot, IF Connor Klemann, OF Jordan Bowersox and OF Curtis Robison.
LHP Dante Biasi returns to the weekend rotation after starting last season as a redshirt freshman, while RHP Bailey Dees and RHP Eric Mock both made four starts each last season.
Newcomers include five transfers and seven freshmen.
Penn State is a sophomore heavy team with 15 student-athletes in their second year of eligibility..
Season Openers
The Nittany Lions are 2-3 in season starts during head coach Rob Cooper's tenure.
Last season, Penn State swept Elon to open 2018.
This is the fifth time in the past six seasons that Penn State has opened its season in the state of North Carolina.
Road Swing Begins
Penn State is playing its first 14 games of the season on the road.
Penn State is going to be the home team for the first 10 though, hosting Monmouth (Feb. 15-17) and Fairfield (Feb. 22-24) at neutral sites for the first seven (USA Baseball National Training Center - Cary, N.C.) and Duke (Mar. 1-3) at the IMG Academy in Bradenton, Florida.
The Duke series opens a six-game spring break trip in Florida. Penn State rounds out the trip with its first true road games, playing three games at UCF in Orlando.
The Nittany Lions return to the Keystone State Mar. 12 at Pittsburgh.
Tight Games
Small improvements could lead to a big improvement in Penn State's overall record, as it went 5-13 in 18 one-run games last season.
Penn State had the third-highest percentage of games decided by one run in Division I baseball last season at 36.7 percent (18-of-49). Only William & Mary (42.6 percent) and Virginia (37.0 percent) had higher percentages.
Penn State's 18 one-run games were its most since playing in a program-record 19 one-run games in 2006.
