Penn State Battles Illinois In Final Regular Season SeriesPenn State Battles Illinois In Final Regular Season Series
Mark Selders

Senior Hutch Gagnon

Penn State Battles Illinois In Final Regular Season Series

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – The Penn State baseball team welcomes Illinois for its final series of the 2022 regular season. The series begins on Thursday at 5 p.m. with a broadcast on Big Ten Network. Friday's contest starts at 6 p.m. Saturday's regular season finale is scheduled for 1 p.m. Friday and Saturday's games will be on B1G+.
 
The Nittany Lions, led by Rob Cooper, are 25-24 overall and 11-10 in Big Ten play. Penn State is coming off an incredible 19-6 win over Pitt on Tuesday. The Nittany Lions tallied 14 runs in the ninth inning, including three-run homers by Josh Spiegel and Kyle Hannon and a three-run triple by Tayven Kelley.
 
Penn State is working to clinch a spot in next week's Big Ten Tournament. The Nittany Lions currently sit fifth in the Big Ten standings, but is one of four teams between 11-10 and 9-10.
 
With at least one win over Illinois OR a loss by Nebraska (vs. Michigan State) and Northwestern (at Minnesota), Penn State will clinch its spot.
 
The 2022 Penn State baseball season is presented by The Family Clothesline.
 
FOLLOW ALONG

 
PARKING
All Penn State Athletics non-football events will require a valid permit or payment of the applicable parking fee for campus lots. Complimentary parking will no longer be issued for season ticket holders.
 
Fans with valid Penn State University Park parking permits will be permitted to park at non-football athletics events for free, following Transportation Services parking policies and access.
 
Fans without a permit are encouraged to prepay for event parking at a discounted rate through ParkMobile - https://psu.parkmobile.io/. Prepayment is available through 11:59 p.m. the day prior to each event. Season packages will be available for general parking for most sports, and information on VIP parking options available for select events will be released later.
 
Please visit the 2022 Baseball Parking page for additional information.
 
Non-football event parking is managed by Penn State Transportation Services. For more information on parking for this event, please email parking@psu.edu or call 814-865-1436. 
 
PROMOTIONS
Thursday's game will be Throwback Thursday.
 
Friday's contest will be Penn State's annual Bark In The Park.
 
Saturday will be Senior Day, presented by the Penn State Alumni Association, featuring a ceremony following the game.
 
PROBABLE STARTERS
Thursday (5 p.m.)  – PSU: RHP Jaden Henline (2-2, 4.28 ERA) vs. Illinois: LHP Cole Kirscheiper (7-2, 2.78 ERA)
 
Friday (6 p.m.)  – PSU: TBA vs. Illinois: RHP Riley Gowens (5-3, 5.34 ERA)
 
Saturday (1 p.m.)  – PSU: TBA vs. Illinois: TBA
 
*subject to change
 
LEADING OFF

  • Penn State hosts Illinois for the final series of the regular season.
  • The Nittany Lions look to clinch a spot in the Big Ten Tournament.
  • Penn State needs at least one win or at least one loss by Nebraska and Northwestern this weekend to clinch a spot.
  • The Nittany Lions are one of four Big Ten teams between 11-10 and 9-10 in conference play.
  • Penn State exploded for 14 runs in the ninth inning in a 19-6 win at Pitt at PNC Park on Tuesday.
  • The 14-run inning was sparked by a three-run homer by Pittsburgh area native Josh Spiegel. Kyle Hannon added a three-run homer and Tayven Kelley had a three-run triple.
  • Kelley's triple was Penn State's 18th of the season, a new program record.
  • After two hits and four runs on Tuesday, Matt Wood is now hitting a Big Ten-best .407 to go with a 1.203 OPS.
  • Among DI catchers, Wood is second in batting average, on-base % and OPS.

 
SCOUTING ILLINOIS

  • Dan Hartleb is in his 17th season leading the Illinois program.
  • Hartleb is 476-349-1 in his time at Illinois, leading the Illini to four NCAA Tournament appearances.
  • He has led Illinois to 13 winning seasons, with only one season under .500, in the last 16 years.
  • A balanced Illinois offense features our starters batting over .325, led by Cam McDonald's .379 average. McDonald has 72 hits, including 16 doubles and six homers, to go with 51 RBI.
  • Justin Janas holds a .359 average and sits second in the Big Ten with a .507 on-base percentage.
  • Illinois' pitching staff is led by LHP Cole Kirschsieper, who is 7-2 with a 2.78 ERA and 82 strikeouts.
  • As a team, Illinois ranks 23rd in the country in fielding percentage (.978).

 
AGAINST THE FIGHTING ILLINI

  • Penn State meets Illinois for the 70th time in program history.
  • The Nittany Lions hold a 15-17 record against the Illini at Medlar Field at Lubrano Park.
  • Penn State's last series win over Illinois came in 2012, when the Nittany Lions swept the series.
  • Last year, PSU dropped the first two games of the series but bounced back for a 13-4 win in game three.
  • Cole Bartels led PSU with two hits, including a homer, and three RBI. Kyle Virbitsky went seven innings, allowing four runs, and striking out eight. Mason Mellott closed out the game with two shutout innings.

 
14-RUN INNING

  • In Tuesday's 19-6 win over Pitt, the Nittany Lions exploded for 14 runs in the top of the ninth.
  • The inning came after Penn State surrendered a 5-1 lead in the bottom of the eighth.
  • It was Penn State's first inning with 10+ runs since scoring 10 in the first inning vs. Michigan State on May 1, 2021.
  • Penn State sent 18 batters to the plate and faced 72 pitches. The Nittany Lions had seven players come to the plate before an out was recorded.
  • Pitt used five different pitchers, including three before the first out of the inning.
  • After walks by Jay Harry and Matt Wood, Josh Spiegel launched the first pitch he saw over the North Side Notch in left-center, the deepest part of the ballpark, to give Penn State an 8-6 lead.
  • Kyle Hannon added a three-run homer of his own, which landed in the bushes beyond center field, to extend the Nittany Lions' lead to 11-6.
  • PSU then took advantage of erratic pitching by the Panthers with Tayven Kelley scoring on a wild pitch and Cole Bartels scoring on a walk. An RBI single by Johnny Piacentino drove in Harry before a walk by Hannon scored Wood.
  • With the bases loaded, a triple to the gap in right-center by Kelley cleared the bases and a wild pitch scored Kelley for the 14th run.

 
BARTELS, WOOD HONORED FOR EFFORTS IN CLASSROOM

  • Graduate student Cole Bartels and junior Matt Wood were named CoSIDA Academic All-District First Team on Thursday.
  • Bartels (3.92 GPA in business analytics) and Wood (3.80 GPA in supply chain management/information systems) move on to Academic All-American voting.
  • Bartels graduated in May 2021 with his bachelor's degree in advertising/public relations.

 
WOOD LEADING BIG TEN IN BATTING AVERAGE

  • Through 48 games played, junior Matt Wood is batting .402 with 14 doubles, three triples, 10 homers, 48 RBI and 49 runs. He has reached base in 31-straight games.
  • He leads the Big Ten in batting average (.407), good for 11th in the country and second among Division I catchers.
  • Wood also sits second in OPS (1.203), fourth in slugging percentage (.698), sixth in triples (3), sixth in hits per game (1.46) and ninth in hits (70).
  • Wood leads the Nittany Lions in batting average, hits, runs, triples, homers, RBI, walks (32), slugging percentage and on-base percentage.
  • Among Division I catchers, Wood ranks second in batting average, on-base percentage and OPS, fifth in slugging percentage and sixth in triples.
  • The lefty batter has been impressive facing righty (.398) and lefty (.429) pitchers.
  • Wood is batting .476 with runners in scoring position.
  • In Big Ten play, Wood is hitting .443 with 35 hits in 21 games. He has seven doubles, two triples, six homers and 27 RBI. He has an OPS of 1.300.
  • Wood paces PSU with 23 multi-hit games and 11 multi-RBI games this season and tallied a 26-game hit streak, which was snapped at Georgetown. The 26-game streak is the second-longest in program history behind only Michael Campo (41, 2000).
  • During the 26-game hit streak, Wood had 15 multi-hit performances. He batted .469 (45-of-96) with eight doubles, two triples and four homers. He also drew 16 walks and three hit-by-pitches.

 
RECORDS WATCH

  • As the Nittany Lions enter the last week of the regular season, a couple team records are in reach as well as Top 10 individual performances in program history. The Nittany Lions have already set the program triples record with 18. Penn State hits its 18th on Tuesday at Pitt.
  • Penn State's pitching staff has collected 459 strikeouts, closing in on the program record of 491.
  • Josh Spiegel is already tied for the ninth-most doubles in a season at PSU (16) with Ben Heath (2010) and Jordan Steranka (2010).
  • Cole Bartels is tied ninth in a season with nine hit-by-pitches with four former Nittany Lions, most recently Gavin Homer in 2019, while Tayven Kelley has four triples, one shy of tying for 10th-most in a season.
  • Matt Wood is in on pace to finish with the fifth-best slugging percentage (.698) in a season at PSU and is tied eighth for total bases (120).
  • Wood is in range to enter the season Top 10 for hits (70; needs 74), runs (49; needs 50), RBI (48; needs 51), doubles (14; needs 16), home runs (10; needs 12) and walks (32; need 34).

 
PENNSYLVANIA INFLUENCE IN PITCHING STAFF

  • In 44 of 49 games this season, Penn State's starting pitcher has been a PA native.
  • Sophomore Travis Luensmann (Altoona) has made 11 starts, and 13 appearances, with 70 strikeouts in 59.2 innings. Luensmann struck out eight in six innings against Maine (2/25).
  • In Big Ten games, Luensmann has a 3.45 ERA in seven appearances (five starts), sitting sixth in the conference.
  • Freshman Tommy Molsky has made 11 starts, and 14 appearances, tallying 43 strikeouts. Molsky tied a career high with six strikeouts against UMass (3/12).
  • Graduate student Mason Mellott has made four starts and 19 appearances.
  • Mellott, graduating in August 2021 with a bachelor's degree in Kinesiology, is tied third all-time at Penn State with 15 saves and second with 86 appearances.
  • Junior Kellan Tulio has made nine starts and 14 appearances with 41 strikeouts in 33.2 innings. He threw five innings, allowing no earned runs, and struck out a career-high seven at Northwestern (4/9).
  • Jaden Henline has struck out 53 batters in 54.2 innings and sits fourth in the Big Ten in strikeout-to-walk ratio (4.07). He threw a complete game to earn the win against Michigan State (5/8), allowing three runs (two earned) and striking out six. It was PSU's first complete game since Greg Welsh vs. Michigan State on May 17, 2013.
  • Senior Pittsburgh native Steven Miller made his first career start at Northwestern (4/9), throwing three shutout innings and striking out three.  He has 30 strikeouts.
  • Senior Tyler Shingledecker has made 19 appearances and three starts with a team-high six wins. The lefty has held opponents without an earned run in 12 of his 19 outings.  He has 48 strikeouts and only 14 walks.
  • Junior Souderton native Jordan Morales leads PSU with 24 appearances and has 52 strikeouts and only 10 walks. He is 3-0 on the season.
  • Carson Kohls has been another effective member out of the bullpen in 15 appearances (one start), including three scoreless outings where he went three or more innings.
  • Entering the season, Penn State was challenged with replacing a 2021 rotation that featured three MLB draft selections in Conor Larkin (9th round, Toronto Blue Jays), Kyle Virbitsky (17th round, Oakland A's) and Bailey Dees (18th round, New York Yankees).
  • The Nittany Lions were one of only four Division I schools to have all three members of their starting rotation selected. Penn State has eight pitchers who have been drafted since 2016.

 
NITTANY LIONS FINDING POWER IN BIG TEN PLAY

  • In 21 Big Ten games, Penn State has collected 75 extra-base hits, including 39 doubles, 10 triples and 26 homers.
  • Matt Wood leads the Nittany Lions with 15 extra-base hits, including seven doubles, two triples and six homers, to go with 27 RBI.
  • Jay Harry has 12 extra base hits (six doubles, two triples, four homers), while Josh Spiegel also has 12 (seven doubles, one triple, four homers). Spiegel has 20 RBI, while Harry has scored 21 runs.
  • On the season, Wood leads PSU with 10 homers to go with 14 doubles, while Spiegel paces PSU with 16 doubles. Spiegel has eight homers and 40 RBI this season, while Billy Gerlott has six homers and Jay Harry has five. Gerlott also has 11 doubles and two triples.
  • Led by Tayven Kelley's four triples and Wood and Johnny Piacentino's three triples, six Nittany Lions have multiple triples this season.

 
UP NEXT

  • The Big Ten Tournament, played at Charles Schwab Field (formerly TD Ameritrade Park) in Omaha, Neb., begins on Wednesday, May 25 and runs through Sunday, May 29.
  • The full tournament schedule and info can be found here.