UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – The Penn State baseball team had four players honored by the Big Ten on Tuesday as the conference released its All-Big Ten awards. Junior catcher Matt Wood was named first-team All-Big Ten, while Josh Spiegel claimed second team honors. Anthony Steele was selected to the All-Freshman team and Mason Mellott was Penn State's representative for the Big Ten Sportsmanship Award.
The Nittany Lions, led by head coach Rob Cooper, begin Big Ten Tournament play on Wednesday. Penn State takes on Iowa at 10 a.m. ET on Big Ten Network.
Matt Wood – All-Big Ten First Team
Wood became Penn State's first All-Big Ten first-team selection since Jordan Steranka in 2012. Wood was honored for a tremendous junior season in which he won the Big Ten batting average crown, hitting .395 overall and .413 in conference play.
Wood earned his second career All-Big Ten honor after being named second team in 2021. He is the 16th first-team selection in program history.
The Gibsonia, Pa. native is the first Nittany Lion to win the Big Ten batting average title since Michael Campo in 2000. Wood finished the regular season with a 34-game reached base streak, including a 26-game hit streak from March 25 to May 9.
In 51 games, Wood has 73 hits, including 14 doubles, three triples and 11 homers. He drove in 50 RBI and scored 52 runs.
Wood's .395 average is good for 19th in the country and third among Division I catchers. He leads PSU in batting average, hits, runs, homers, RBI, walks (34), slugging percentage and on-base percentage. He paces PSU with 24 multi-hit games and 11 multi-RBI games.
Wood is on pace to finish with the seventh-best slugging percentage in a season at PSU. He ranks sixth for total bases (126) and is tied eighth in runs and 10th in walks.
In the Big Ten, Wood sits second in OPS (1.175), third in on-base percentage (.494), fifth in slugging percentage (.681), eighth in triples (3) and ninth in hits per game (1.43) and total hits (73).
Among Division I catchers, Wood ranks third in batting average, fifth in OPS, sixth in on-base and slugging percentages and seventh in triples.
In Big Ten regular season play, Wood hit .413 with 38 hits in 24 games. He had seven doubles, two triples, seven homers, 29 RBI and 21 runs. He has an OPS of 1.229.
Josh Spiegel – All-Big Ten Second Team
Spiegel earned his first career All-Big Ten accolade, earning Second Team as a designated hitter. Spiegel has split time this season between catcher, first base and designated hitter.
The redshirt junior is batting .305 with 60 hits this season. He has collected a team-high 16 doubles, two triples and 10 homers. He has driven in 42 RBI and scored 33 runs. He has a .558 slugging percentage and a .374 on-base percentage.
His 16 doubles are tied for the ninth-most in a season at Penn State with Ben Heath (2010) and Jordan Steranka (2012).
Spiegel has recorded 22 multi-hit games and 10 multi-RBI games in 2022.
In Big Ten regular season games, Spiegel notched 27 hits, including seven doubles, a triple and six homers. He recorded 22 RBI and 16 runs.
Spiegel tallied four RBI in each game against Purdue (4/16) and Pitt (5/17). He launched a three-run, go-ahead homer to park a 14-run ninth inning in a 19-6 win over Pitt. Spiegel had a career-best four hits in the game against Purdue.
Anthony Steele – All-Big Ten Freshman Team
Steele was selected to the All-Big Ten freshman team as a designated hitter. He played in 32 games this season, including 24 starts, primarily as designated hitter or first baseman.
He's batting .250 as a freshman with 22 hits, including a double, a triple and a homer. He has seven RBI and five runs. He had nine hits and three RBI against Big Ten opponents.
He has three multi-hit games and one multi-RBI game this season. Against Maine (2/25-26), Steele had three hits and scored a run in game one. He added two hits, including a triple, and drove in three RBI in game two. Steele launched a solo homer at VMI (3/8). He had two hits, including a double, against West Virginia (4/12).
Steele also made seven appearances on the mound in the regular season.
Mason Mellott – Sportsmanship Award
After graduating in December 2021 with a degree in kinesiology, Mellott returned to the Nittany Lions and is pursuing a second degree in recreation, parks and tourism management.
Mellott ranks second all-time in program history with 87 appearances and sits third with 15 saves.
The State College native as accumulated 13 wins, 152 strikeouts and a 3.73 ERA as a Nittany Lion.
In 2022, Mellott has three wins and two saves in 20 appearances. In 40 innings, Mellott has recorded 33 strikeouts.
He has not allowed an earned run in 10 of 20 appearances this season. Mellott earned his first win of the season throwing five shutout innings, allowing just one hit and one walk while striking out three, against UMass (3/13). He threw four scoreless frames at Minnesota (4/24), giving up just three hits. He also went four innings against Michigan State (5/9), giving up one hit and one run (unearned).
Matt Wood