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Baseball Travels To Cary For Four Games

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – The Penn State baseball team is set to play its first of three weekends at the USA Baseball Complex in Cary, N.C. On Friday, Feb. 24, the Nittany Lions will take on Northern Illinois in a doubleheader, beginning at 1 p.m. Penn State matches up against Maine on Saturday with a time TBA. PSU concludes the weekend on Sunday with a 10 a.m. contest against Monmouth.
 
All games are free admission at the USA Baseball Complex.
 
A live stream will be available for all games on USABaseball.TV. Fans must sign up for an account to watch, but the account is free. Once logged into the site, pick the game you want to view.
 
The Nittany Lions, led by head coach Rob Cooper, opened the 2023 campaign going 1-2 in a tight series at No. 22 Miami. Penn State took the Friday night game, 9-5, before falling 10-2 on Saturday. In the series finale, the Nittany Lions dropped a 3-2 decision on a walk-off in the ninth.
 
Season and single game tickets for the 2023 Penn State baseball season are available here. Season tickets are $75 for adults and free for youth (ages 12 and under).
 
The 2023 Penn State baseball season is presented by The Family Clothesline.
 
FULL WEEKEND SCHEDULE
Friday, Feb. 24 –
Penn State vs. Northern Illinois, 1 p.m. (DH)
Maine vs. Monmouth, 1:30 p.m. (DH)
 
Saturday, Feb. 25 –
Penn State vs. Maine, TBA
Monmouth vs. Northern Illinois, TBA
 
Sunday, Feb. 26 –
Penn State vs. Monmouth, 10 a.m.
Maine vs. Northern Illinois, 10 a.m.
 
FOLLOW ALONG

 
PROBABLE STARTERS*
Friday (1 p.m.)  – PSU: RHP Travis Luensmann (1-0, 1.80 ERA) vs. NIU: RHP Dominic Hann (0-1, 11.81 ERA)
 
Friday (Game 2) – PSU: TBA vs. Northern Illinois: TBA
 
Saturday (TBA) – PSU: TBA vs. Maine: TBA
 
Sunday (10 a.m.)  – PSU: TBA vs. Monmouth: TBA
 
*subject to change
 
LEADING OFF

  • Penn State travels to Cary, N.C. for the first of three weekends playing at the USA Baseball complex.
  • The Nittany Lions are set to play four games in three days, taking on Northern Illinois in a doubleheader on Friday, Maine on Saturday and Monmouth on Sunday.
  • The Nittany Lions opened the 2023 campaign with a 9-5 win over No. 22 Miami last Friday. PSU collected nine runs on 16 hits.
  • Penn State earned its first win over a ranked non-Big Ten team since March 2, 2019 against Duke (8-7).
  • Travis Luensmann fired five innings, allowing just one run, to earn the win, while Jay Harry had a three-run double and Kyle Hannon and Tayven Kelley launched solo homers.
  • On Sunday, Tommy Molsky threw five shutout innings and struck out five against the Hurricanes.
  • PSU starting pitchers combined for 13.1 innings, a 2.70 ERA and a .170 opponent batting average on opening weekend.

 
MIAMI SERIES RECAP

  • Penn State began the 2023 season with a 9-5 win over No. 22 Miami last Friday.
  • Miami was ranked 22nd in the D1Baseball Poll and No. 8 in the Baseball America rankings.
  • PSU secured its first win over a ranked non-conference opponent since an 8-7 victory against Duke on March 2, 2019.
  • Penn State collected the program's first ever win over Miami.
  • The Nittany Lions tallied nine runs on 16 hits as six different Nittany Lions had multiple hits and eight Nittany Lions had at least one hit.
  • Travis Luensmann fired five innings on the mound, allowing one run on two hits and striking out four.
  • Jordan Morales, Jaden Henline and Steven Miller combined to close the game out, collecting five strikeouts.
  • Kyle Hannon and Tayven Kelley each launched a solo homer, while Jay Harry had a key three-run, bases-clearing double.
  • Billy Gerlott and Johnny Piacentino each had three hits, while Thomas Bramley added an RBI double.
  • In game two, Penn State fell 10-2.
  • Daniel Ouderkirk made his PSU debut on the mound, going 3.1 innings and striking out three.
  • Hannon and Harry both had a pair of hits, including an RBI single.
  • In a pitcher's dual on Sunday, Penn State never trailed until the final pitch, but fell 3-2 on a walk-off homer.
  • Tommy Molsky fired five shutout innings and struck out five.
  • Kelley had two hits, including an RBI single.

 
SCOUTING MAINE, NIU, MONMOUTH

  • Maine is coached by Nick Derba, in his sixth season. The Black Bears are 2-1 after opening the season with a series win over Pitt. After falling 11-10 on Friday, Maine bounced back for an 11-7 victory on Saturday and an 8-5 win on Sunday.
  • Maine batted .336 as a team with four players recording at least five hits. Jake Rainess leads the squad with seven hits, including two doubles and a homer. Jeremiah Jenkins hit two homers on opening weekend, while Connor Goodman drove in nine runs.
  • Northern Illinois is led by head coach Mike Kunigonis, in his ninth year. The Huskies are 0-4 after playing Oral Roberts last weekend.
  • Matt Salomonson threw six shutout innings in a start, while striking out seven, while Brandon McPherson threw three scoreless frames and struck out three in his start.
  • Monmouth head coach Dean Ehehalt is in his 30th year leading the program. The Hawks dropped all three games against FAU last weekend.
  • Austin Denlinger led the team with seven hits, while Phil Stahl and Harry Padden each had a homer.

 
AGAINST THE BLACK BEARS, HUSKIES, HAWKS

  • Penn State meets Maine for the eighth time in program history. PSU leads 4-3 in the series.
  • The Nittany Lions won two of three games against the Black Bears in 2022.
  • Penn State takes on Northern Illinois for the first time between the schools.
  • Penn State leads the all-time series, 5-4, against Monmouth.
  • The Nittany Lions fell 10-1 in last year's matchup, but won the previous four contests in 2019 and 2020.

 
NITTANY LIONS RETURN EXPERIENCED PITCHING STAFF

  • The Nittany Lions welcome back an experienced pitching staff.
  • Penn State pitchers had a strong start to the 2023 season at No. 22 Miami.
  • The Nittany Lions' starting pitchers, Travis Luensmann, Daniel Ouderkirk and Tommy Molsky, combined to throw 13.1 innings, allowing eight hits and four earned runs, while striking out 13 batters.
  • The three starters recorded a 2.70 ERA and held Miami hitters to a .170 batting average.
  • On Friday, Luensmann threw five innings to earn the win. He allowed just one run on two hits, while striking out four. Luensmann held Miami's lineup to a .125 average.
  • Luensmann led the Nittany Lions with 78 strikeouts and 67.2 innings in 2022 and sat fifth in the Big Ten with a 3.25 ERA against conference opponents and 10th in the conference with 10.37 strikeouts per nine innings.
  • He was ranked as the No. 110 starting pitcher by D1Baseball in the preseason.
  • Tommy Molsky fired five shutout frames on Sunday, giving up just three hits and striking out five. He limited Miami hitters to a .176 average.
  • Grad transfer Daniel Ouderkirk made his PSU debut on Saturday, striking out three in 3.1 innings.
  • Ouderkirk joined the pitching staff after throwing in 23 games over the last two seasons at West Virginia.
  • Steven Miller threw 4.2 innings in relief and stirking out four.
  • Freshman Jacob Coffin pitched 1.1 scoreless frames in his first appearance as a Nittany Lion.
  • Penn State set a program record with 503 strikeouts in 2022 as six members of the staff recorded at least 40 strikeouts.
  • The Nittany Lions return 406 of their 503 strikeouts (81 percent) from last year.
  • Penn State is one of nine Power Five programs, and the only Big Ten school, returning 400+ strikeouts from last season.
  • Among Power Five schools returning 400+ strikeouts, only Wake Forest (92%) returns a higher percentage of strikeouts returning.
  • In 49 of 55 games last season, Penn State's starting pitcher was a Pennsylvania native.
  • Penn State's pitching staff takes a versatile approach with eight different pitchers recording both a start and a save in 2022.
  • Since 2016, eight Penn State pitchers have been selected in the MLB Draft, including Conor Larkin (9th round, Toronto Blue Jays), Kyle Virbitsky (17th round, Oakland A's) and Bailey Dees (18th round, New York Yankees) in 2021.

 
SPIEGEL LEADS CATCHERS

  • The Penn State roster features three experienced catchers and a talented freshman.
  • Redshirt senior Josh Spiegel made two starts behind the plate and one at DH last weekend, tallying three hits.
  • Spiegel, a second-team All-Big Ten selection in 2022, led Penn State with 17 doubles in 2022 to go with a .300 average, 62 hits, two triples, 10 homers and 43 RBI.
  • Entering the 2023 campaign, Spiegel held the seventh-best slugging percentage (.504) in program history.
  • Grad transfer Thomas Bramley started Saturday's game at catcher and Friday and Sunday contests at DH against Miami.
  • Bramley recorded three hits, including two doubles, two runs and an RBI. He also drew four walks to finish the weekend with a .467 on-base percentage.
  • The Mount St. Mary's transfer was tabbed as the 19th-best catcher in the nation by D1Baseball in their preseason player rankings.
  • Bramley joins the Penn State roster after starting 112 games at Mount St. Mary's, splitting time between catcher and third base.
  • Tyson Cooper has appeared in 31 games as a Nittany Lion, making 10 starts.
  • Penn State welcomes freshman Jimmy Nugent, who was named Ohio's Johnny Bench Award winner.
  • The Nittany Lions will look to replace the production of Matt Wood, who won the Big Ten Batting Average title in the regular season and became the highest position player drafted in program history when he was selected in the fourth round (132nd overall) by the Milwaukee Brewers in the 2022 MLB Draft.

 
HARRY HIGHLIGHTS DEEP INFIELD

  • Junior Jay Harry has started 98 games at shortstop as a Nittany Lion and was ranked among D1Baseball's Top 50 SS in the preseason.
  • He began the year going 5-for-15 against Miami with a double, a run and four RBI. He had one of the biggest hits of the weekend, a bases-clearing, three-run double to give Penn State a lead in the second inning on Friday.
  • Harry had two multi-hit games last weekend, with two hits in each game on Friday and Saturday.
  • The New Jersey native owns a .308 career average, 114 hits, 63 runs and 48 RBI. Harry's 114 career hits include 21 doubles, two triples and six homers. In 2022, Harry batted .333 with 71 hits, 20 multi-hit games and six multi-RBI games.
  • Kyle Hannon also batted .333 on opening weekend, tallying four hits. He launched a solo homer on Friday and ended the weekend with two runs and three RBI. Hannon started all three games at second base.
  • After earning All-Big Ten Freshman honors in 2022, Steele started all three games at first base and collected two hits.
  • Grad transfer Grant Norris made his PSU debut on Friday and started all three contests at third base.

 
THREE STARTERS RETURN IN OUTFIELD

  • Penn State returns experience and pop in its outfield with Billy Gerlott, Tayven Kelley and Johnny Piacentino.
  • Piacentino, who owns 94 career starts, went 4-of-11 (.364) at the plate against Miami while scoring two runs and driving in one.
  • Kelley blasted a solo homer to left in Friday's win over Miami and finished the weekend with three hits, two runs and two RBI.
  • Gerlott had three hits, drew three walks, and scored a run against the Hurricanes.
  • Freshman and Bellefonte native Bobby Marsh joined the Nittany Lions as a transfer from Florida Atlantic. He had a pinch-hit double and scored a run in Saturday's contest at Miami.

 
UP NEXT

  • Penn State returns to Cary, N.C. next weekend for another stretch of four games in three days to begin its Spring Break week.
  • The Nittany Lions take on Wagner at 11 a.m. and Dartmouth at 2 p.m. on Saturday, March 4. Penn State battles Holy Cross on Sunday and Monday with both games beginning at 1 p.m.
  • PSU plays its first mid-week game on Wednesday, March 8 at No. 12 North Carolina, a 4 p.m. first pitch.