Penn State Meets Pitt In PNC Park On TuesdayPenn State Meets Pitt In PNC Park On Tuesday
Craig Houtz

Josh Spiegel

Penn State Meets Pitt In PNC Park On Tuesday

Opens in a new window Tickets

PITTSBURGH, Pa. – The Penn State baseball team visits PNC Park on Tuesday to take on Pitt. First pitch is scheduled for 6 p.m. at the home of the Pittsburgh Pirates. The game will be broadcast on ACCNX.
 
The Nittany Lions, led by Rob Cooper, are 24-24 overall and 11-10 in Big Ten play. Penn State won the first game of its series at Ohio State, 13-7, this past weekend but dropped the final two games.
 
The 2022 Penn State baseball season is presented by The Family Clothesline.
 
TICKETS

  • Tickets for the matchup can be found here.
  • Tickets are $10 each. However, students and alumni can use discount codes. The discount code for students ($2) is PSUSTUDENT and for alumni ($7) it's NITTANYLION.

 
FOLLOW ALONG

 
PROBABLE STARTERS
Tuesday (6 p.m.)  – PSU: RHP Tommy Molsky (0-6, 7.21 ERA) vs. Pitt: RHP Jonathan Bautista (0-1, 8.35 ERA)
 
*subject to change
 
LEADING OFF

  • Penn State takes on Pitt at PNC Park in its final non-conference game of the season.
  • The Nittany Lions meet Pitt for the 135th time in series history, with Penn State holding an 88-46-1 lead.
  • Penn State will play its third game at PNC Park since 2017 with both previous games coming against West Virginia.
  • The Penn State roster includes five Pittsburgh area natives: OF Noah Burke (Pittsburgh/Canon McMillan), RHP Steven Miller (Pittsburgh/North Hills), LHP Ryan Partridge (Wexford/North Allegheny), C/1B Josh Spiegel (Jeannette/Penn-Trafford) and C Matt Wood (Gibsonia/Pine-Richland).
  • Wood leads the Big Ten with a .402 average and is batting .443 in Big Ten games. He has reached base in 30-straight games and sits second in the Big Ten with a 1.187 OPS.
  • Projected starter Tommy Molsky will make PSU's 44th start, out of 48 games, by a Pennsylvania native this season.

 
SCOUTING PITTSBURGH

  • Pitt is led by head coach Mike Bell, in his fourth season. Bell has an 81-82 record at Pitt.
  • The Panthers are 27-22 overall and 13-13 in ACC play.
  • The Panthers are batting.271 as a team.
  • Tatem Levins paces Pitt with a .310 average, 57 hits, 14 homers and 47 RBI.
  • Ron Washington Jr. has 13 homers and 35 RBI on the season.
  • Pitt's pitching staff has a 5.70 ERA.
  • Baron Stuart leads the Panthers with 22 appearances and has struck out 57 batters in 40.2 innings.

 
AGAINST THE PANTHERS

  • Penn State meets Pitt for the 135th time in series history.
  • The Nittany Lions lead the series, 88-46-1 and will battle the Panthers for the first time since 2019.
  • Penn State's 7-3 win over Pitt on March 12, 2019 featured a start on the mound by Cole Bartels and a win in relief by Tyler Shingledecker.
  • Justin Williams went three-for-five with a double and four RBI.
  • Pitt is one of five opponents Penn State has played more than 100 times, joining Bucknell (131-31-1), Michigan (49-51), Ohio State (40-73) and West Virginia (72-43).

 
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 47 games played, junior Matt Wood is batting .402 with 13 doubles, three triples, 10 homers, 48 RBI and 45 runs. He has reached base in 30-straight games.
  • He leads the Big Ten in batting average (.416), good for 16th in the country and third among Division I catchers.
  • Wood also sits second in OPS (1.187), third in slugging percentage (.692), fifth in triples (3), sixth in hits per game (1.45) and ninth in hits (68).
  • Wood leads the Nittany Lions in batting average, hits, runs, triples, homers, RBI, walks (30), slugging percentage and on-base percentage. He's tied with Ben Kailher for the team lead in steals (5).
  • Among Division I catchers, Wood ranks third in batting average, fourth in on-base percentage and OPS, fifth in slugging percentage and sixth in triples.
  • The lefty batter has been impressive facing righty (.392) 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 17 triples this season, one away from the program record (18 in 1986, 2007, 2010).
  • Penn State's pitching staff has collected 447 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.
  • Matt Wood is in on pace to finish with the fifth-best slugging percentage (.692) in a season at PSU and is tied 10th for total bases (117).
  • Wood is in range to enter the season Top 10 for hits (68; needs 74), runs (45; needs 50), RBI (48; needs 51), doubles (13; needs 16), Triples (3; needs 5), home runs (10; needs 12) and walks (30; need 34).

 
PENNSYLVANIA INFLUENCE IN PITCHING STAFF

  • In 43 of 48 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 10 starts, and 13 appearances, tallying 39 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 13 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 23 appearances and has 49 strikeouts and only nine walks. He is 3-0 on the season.
  • Carson Kohls has been another effective member out of the bullpen in 14 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 13 doubles, while Spiegel paces PSU with 16 doubles. Spiegel has seven homers and 36 RBI this season, while Billy Gerlott has six homers and Jay Harry has five. Gerlott also has 10 doubles and two triples.
  • Led by Wood, Tayven Kelley and Johnny Piacentino's three triples, six Nittany Lions have multiple triples this season.

 
UP NEXT

  • The Nittany Lions welcome Illinois for the final series of the regular season, a key Big Ten series.
  • Thursday's game will begin at 5 p.m. on Big Ten Network, followed by Friday's game at 6 p.m.
  • Saturday will begin at 1 p.m. followed by a Senior Day ceremony.
  • Thursday is Throwback Thursday and Friday in Bark In The Park.