Baseball Hosts Pitt On TuesdayBaseball Hosts Pitt On Tuesday
Caleb Craig

Ben DeMell

Baseball Hosts Pitt On Tuesday

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – The Penn State baseball team welcomes Pitt on Tuesday, March 28 for a non-conference matchup at Medlar Field at Lubrano Park. First pitch is set for 6 p.m. with a broadcast on B1G+. The contest begins a nine-game homestand.
 
The Nittany Lions, led by head coach Rob Cooper, look to get back on track after its Big Ten-opening series at Michigan. Billy Gerlott had three hits on the weekend, including a triple, while Jay Harry and Johnny Piacentino both homered.
 
Penn State is 12-8 overall, while Pitt enters the matchup with an 11-10 mark.
 
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.
 
PARKING
Parking for Penn State Baseball games at Medlar Field at Lubrano Park will be available at the following locations beginning two hours prior to the start of each game:


Please visit the 2023 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
Tuesday – Dollar Dog Night ($1 hot dogs)

  •     Hot dog sales are limited to four hot dogs per purchase.

 
FOLLOW ALONG

 
PROBABLE STARTERS*
Tuesday (6 p.m.)  – PSU: RHP Ben DeMell (0-0, 4.50 ERA) vs. Pitt: RHP Holden Phelps (0-1, 3.71 ERA)
 
*subject to change
 
LEADING OFF

  • Penn State welcomes Pitt for a midweek non-conference matchup.
  • Pitt (89-46-1) is one of five opponents Penn State has played more than 100 times, joining Bucknell (131-31-1), Michigan (49-54), Ohio State (40-73) and West Virginia (72-43).
  • The Nittany Lions look to get back on track after falling in all three games at Michigan last weekend.
  • Billy Gerlott had eight hits, including a triple, while Thomas Bramley and Johnny Piacentino each had four hits. Bramley recorded two doubles and Piacentino hit his second homer of the year.
  • Jaden Henline went six strong innings on Sunday, allowing two runs, and striking out three.
  • Kyle Hannon is one of seven Division I players with 5+ homers and 14+ steals this season, while leading the Big Ten in steals per game (0.70) and total steals (14).
  • Daniel Ouderkirk leads the conference in strikeouts per nine innings (14.85), good for 10th in the nation, and sits fourth in total strikeouts (44).

 
SCOUTING PITT

  • Pitt is led by head coach Mike Bell, in his fifth season. Bell has led Pitt to 94 wins in his tenure.
  • The Panthers are 11-10 overall and 3-4 in the ACC this year.
  • Pitt is coming off a series win over Virginia Tech. Pitt won Friday and Sunday games, both by a 5-4 score.
  • Second baseman Justin Acal hit two homers in Saturday's game and drove in five RBI on the weekend.
  • Pitt is batting .261 as a team and is patient at the plate, drawing 142 walks, good for 16th in the nation.
  • Noah Martinez leads the squad with a .351 average, 26 hits, 26 RBI and 25 walks to go with 25 runs and six homers.
  • Jack Anderson is hitting .308 with 24 hits, while Sky Duff has 24 hits and 25 runs. Bellefonte native CJ Funk leads the team with eight homers and 29 runs.
  • Pitt has a 6.49 team ERA and a .288 opponent batting average.
  • Nash Bryan leads the team with 10 appearances and has 20 strikeouts in 16 innings.

 
AGAINST THE PANTHERS

  • Penn State has played 136 previous times against Pitt, with PSU holding an 89-46-1 lead.
  • Pitt is one of five opponents Penn State has played more than 100 times, joining Bucknell (131-31-1), Michigan (49-54), Ohio State (40-73) and West Virginia (72-43).
  • In 2022 at PNC Park, the Nittany Lions exploded for 14 runs in the Top 9th to earn a 19-6 win.

 
OUDERKIRK'S STRONG START

  • Grad student Daniel Ouderkirk, a West Virginia transfer, has made an immediate impact in the Penn State rotation.
  • Ouderkirk has tallied 44 strikeouts in 26.2 innings and has multiple strikeouts in 14 different innings this season. In five starts, he has limited opponents to a .221 average.
  • The 6-9 righty ranks 10th in the nation in strikeouts per nine innings (14.85), sitting second in the Big Ten. He's fourth in the conference in total strikeouts (44).
  • Ouderkirk recorded at least 10 strikeouts in three straight starts: 11 vs. Northern Illinois, 11 vs. Dartmouth and 10 vs. Brown. He has allowed just one earned run in each start against NIU, Dartmouth and Georgetown.
  • Ouderkirk became the first Nittany Lion with three straight starts of 10+ strikeouts since at least 2004.
  • He is one of 14 Division I pitchers with multiple starts of 11+ strikeouts and 1 or less earned run this season and one of six DI pitchers with three-straight 10+ strikeout starts this year.

 
TRANSFERS PROVIDE SPARK

  • The Nittany Lions welcomed four transfers to the program ahead of the 2023 season and all four have had strong starts to the year.
  • Joining Ouderkirk are grad students Thomas Bramley (Mount St. Mary's) and Grant Norris (Duke) and freshman Bobby Marsh (Florida Atlantic).
  • Through five starts, Ouderkirk has 44 strikeouts in 26.2 innings and an opposing batting average of .221. His 14.85 strikeouts per nine innings lead the Big Ten.
  • Fellow grad student Thomas Bramley has started all 20 games, splitting time between catcher, outfield and designated hitter. Bramley is batting .315 with 23 hits, including five doubles, a triple and two homers, and has drawn a team-high 17 walks.  He recently snapped a 10-game hit streak, but has reached base in 23-straight games, dating back to 2022.
  • The Mount St. Mary's transfer was tabbed as the No. 19 catcher in the nation in the D1Baseball preseason player rankings.
  • Norris has started 11 games at third base after transferring from Duke.
  • Norris hit his first homer as a Nittany Lion off the foul pole in game two against Northern Illinois and is batting .306 with two homers and 11 RBI.
  • Freshman Bobby Marsh, a Bellefonte native and transfer from Florida Atlantic, has played in 16 games (11 starts). He owns four doubles, two homers and five RBI.
  • Marsh launched his first career homer against Holy Cross and added a solo homer against Brown.

 
BALANCED BATS

  • The Nittany Lion offense has benefitted from multiple strong contributors this season.
  • Thomas Bramley is batting a team-best .315 with 23 hits and 17 walks, while Grant Norris is hitting .306 with two homers and 11 RBI.
  • Jay Harry and Johnny Piacentino are tied for the team lead with 24 hits, while Harry paces the squad with 18 RBI to go with four homers.
  • Kyle Hannon is pacing the team with five homers, 22 runs and 14 steals.
  • He is on pace to become Penn State's first player with 10+ homers and 10+ steals in a season since Sean Deegan (12 HR, 15 SB).
  • Hannon leads the Big Ten in steals per game (0.70), good for 17th in the nation, and total steals (14), sitting 26th in the country.
  • Hannon is one of seven Division I players with 5+ homers and 14+ steals this season.
  • Against Binghamton, Anthony Steele went two-for-four with a homer, four RBI and a stolen base before taking the mound and striking out two. Steele is one of three Division I players this season with a homer, a stolen base and a pitched strikeout in the same game, joining Wright State's Jay Luikart and Lafayette's Seif Ingram.

 
OPENING WIN OVER MIAMI

  • Penn State opened the 2023 season with a 9-5 win over Miami on February 17.
  • The Hurricanes were ranked 22nd in the D1Baseball Poll and No. 8 in the Baseball America rankings.
  • The Nittany Lions earned the program's first win over Miami and collected the program's first win over a ranked non-conference opponent since an 8-7 win over No. 21 Duke in 2019.
  • Travis Luensmann threw five innings in the win, allowing just one run on two hits and striking out four.
  • Penn State tallied 16 hits, including six Nittany Lions with multiple hits.
  • Billy Gerlott and Johnny Piacentino each had three hits, while Kyle Hannon and Tayven Kelley launched solo homers.

 
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.
  • 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.

 
UP NEXT

  • Penn State welcomes Indiana this weekend for its Big Ten home-opening series. The series begins on Friday, March 31 with a 6 p.m. first pitch.