Baseball Opens Series at Miami (Ohio) Thursday; Game Times AdjustedBaseball Opens Series at Miami (Ohio) Thursday; Game Times Adjusted
Andy Mead

Baseball Opens Series at Miami (Ohio) Thursday; Game Times Adjusted

Opens in a new window Game Notes (PDF) Opens in a new window Live Stats

OXFORD, Ohio - Penn State baseball continues its six-game road trip with three games at Miami (Ohio) starting Thursday at 4 p.m., Friday at 2 p.m. and Saturday at 1 p.m. The Thursday and Friday games were originally scheduled for 6 and 5 p.m., respectively, but were moved earlier due to expected inclement weather.

Essentials
Live Video:    N/A
Live Audio:    N/A
Live Stats:    GoPSUsports.com
TV:    N/A
Radio:    N/A

Series History:    Miami, 2-1
Last Series:    Miami, 2-1; 1998
Streak:    L1

Thursday Probables
MU    LHP Tyler Bosma (1-1, 6.59 ERA) 
PSU    RHP Bailey Dees (1-1, 1.14 ERA)

Friday Probables
MU    RHP Sam Bachman (1-2, 3.42 ERA) 
PSU    RHP Kyle Virbitsky (1-1, 4.02 ERA)

Saturday Probables
MU    RHP Jonathan Brand (1-0, 1.32 ERA) 
PSU    RHP Conor Larkin (1-0, 1.69 ERA)

Pitching Prowess

  • Penn State enters the weekend ranking fourth in the NCAA with a 0.98 WHIP and also fourth with a 1.93 team ERA. The Nittany Lions also rank 11th with 6.01 hits allowed per nine innings and 21st with a 3.63 strikeout-to-walk ratio. All figures lead the Big Ten.
  • RHP Bailey Dees ranks third in the Big Ten with a 1.14 ERA and second with a 0.76 WHIP.
  • RHP Conor Larkin ranks eighth in the Big Ten with a 1.68 ERA and seventh with 28 strikeouts.


Stealing Bases

  • Penn State has stolen 32 bases on 33 attempts (97.0 percent) this season, ranking the Nittany Lions second to only Charleston Southern (37-for-38; 97.4 percent) in success rate with as many stolen base attempts.
  • Penn State's 32 stolen bases rank 19th in the NCAA, and its 2.29 stolen bases rank 11th. Both figures lead the Big Ten.
  • Penn State's 2.29 stolen bases per game is a record pace. Penn State's record total is 91 set in 2000.
  • Penn State is only 16 stolen bases shy of last year's total of 48. 

Offense Clicking

  • Penn State is among the conference leaders offensively, ranking second in batting average (.295), on-base percentage (.402), slugging (.430), triples (7), doubles (30), and walks (77). The Nittany Lions are also third in scoring (7.1 runs/game) and runs (99).
  • Gavin Homer is batting .429 to rank fifth in the Big Ten and 34th in the NCAA, while his .529 on-base percentage ranks third in the Big Ten and 32nd in the NCAA, and .738 slugging percentage ranks second in the conference and 36th in the NCAA. His 17 RBIs also rank second in the Big Ten.
  • Homer is on a seven-game hitting streak and has a team-best seven multi-hit games.
  • Homer and Curtis Robison have six doubles each to rank fifth in the Big Ten.
  • Penn State leads the Big Ten and ranks 14th in the NCAA with a .425 on-base percentage.
  • Johnny Piacentino leads the Big Ten and ranks ninth in the NCAA with a .607 on-base percentage, while Gavin Homer ranks fifth in the Big Ten and 29th in the NCAA with a .568 on-base percentage.

 No-Hitter

  • RHP Bailey Dees, LHP Tyler Shingledecker and RHP Mason Mellott held Navy hitless for 10.1 innings for the first combined no-hitter and first extra-inning no-hitter in program history.
  • The no-hitter was the 10th in Penn State history and first since Steven Hill no-hit Iowa in 2012. 
  • However, Navy drew five walks, moved base runners and took advantage of late errors to scratch across two runs for a one-run victory.

All-Time vs. Miami (Ohio)

  • Penn State and Miami (Ohio) faced each other three times at neutral sites in Florida in 1998, with the Redhawks taking two of three. trails in the short all-time series against Miami (Ohio), 2-1. This marks the first time Penn State will travel to Miami (Ohio).

Scouting Miami (Ohio)

  • Miami is off to a 7-7 start this season, sweeping Milwaukee over the weekend, but falling at Wright State Tuesday, 16-5. The RedHawks were tabbed to finish fourth in the MAC in the preseason poll coaches' poll.

Touching Home

  • Penn State's 81 runs scored in the first 10 games of the year were its most since scoring 105 runs in the first 10 games of the 2000 season.
  • Penn State scored 10 or more runs four times in the first 10 games of the season, doing so for the first time since scoring double-digits six times in the first 10 games of the 2000 season.
  • Penn State scored 10 or more runs four times all of last season.

Hit Parade

  • In the first three weeks of the season Penn State has posted two of its highest hit totals in recent years.
  • Penn State's 19 hits against Princeton (2/28) were its most since totaling the same at Houston Baptist on March 9, 2013.
  • Penn State's 18 hits against Monmouth (2/16) were its most in a game since also totaling 18 against Rutgers on May 2, 2015. 

Walk-Off

  • Penn State closed its series with Wagner on a walk-off, three-run home run by Curtis Robison.
  • It was Penn State's first walk-off win since defeating UMass Lowell on a Ryan Ford single on Mar. 17, 2019.
  • It was Penn State's first walk-off home run since Gavin Homer slugged one over the fence at the USA Baseball NTC on Feb. 24, 2019 to down Fairfield.
  • It was Penn State's first extra inning win since defeating Rutgers in the 11th inning on May 4, 2019.

Mellott on Stopper of the Year Watch List

  • Junior RHP Mason Mellott was named to the initial watch list for the 16th Annual National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association Stopper of the Year Award.
  • The award is annually given to the top relief pitcher in NCAA Division I baseball. Mellott was one of six Big Ten pitchers and 70 overall to be placed on the preseason watch list.
  • Mellott ranks tied for sixth on Penn State's career saves list (Jeff Emerlich, 1993-96) with nine after posting five last season. He was one of the most crucial members of the Nittany Lion pitching staff in 2019, totaling 63.0 innings in relief and posting a 2.43 ERA that led the team and ranked third in the Big Ten. Mellott also led the team with six wins, which were the most by a Penn State reliever since at least 2004. He also ranked among the top-10 in the conference with 2.00 walks allowed per nine innings (5th), a 3.71 strikeout-to-walk ratio (9th) and a 1.16 WHIP (10th).

At the Plate

  • Penn State returns Big Ten All-Freshman third baseman Justin Williams. Last season, Williams made his presence in the lineup felt during his first career start at Pittsburgh in mid-March, going 3-for-5 with a double and four RBIs. He finished the year tied for the team lead in home runs with four, and batted .262 with five doubles, a triple and 18 RBIs. Williams flashed his potential with a 445-foot home run against Lafayette in April and a 12-game reached-base streak from late April through early May. During the streak, Williams led the team with a .442 on-base percentage, .333 batting average, eight runs, 14 hits, two home runs, .548 slugging percentage, 23 total bases and nine walks.
  • OF/IF Mac Hippenhammer boasts the top returning batting average. He batted .272 in 2019 with a .350 on-base percentage, four doubles, two triples and eight RBIs in 39 games (35 starts).

The 2020 Slate

  • The 56-game schedule includes six opponents that participated in the 2019 NCAA Baseball tournament, including College World Series finalist Michigan. The Wolverines will visit Medlar Field at Lubrano Park Apr. 17-19, as will NCAA Regional teams Indiana (Apr. 3-5), West Virginia (Apr. 28) and Illinois (May 1-3). Penn State will also play at Nebraska (May 8-10) and Creighton (May 12).
  • Power Five non-conference match-ups include a home-and-home series against Pittsburgh (Mar. 24 [H] & Apr. 7 [A]), a visit from West Virginia (Apr. 28) and a three-game series at Arizona (May 14-16)
  • Penn State plays eight Big Ten series, opening its conference slate at Northwestern (Mar. 20-22) and its home conference slate the following weekend against Iowa (Mar. 27-29).