Baseball Meets Indiana For B1G SeriesBaseball Meets Indiana For B1G Series
Mark Selders

Grant Norris

Baseball Meets Indiana For B1G Series

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – The Penn State baseball team hosts Indiana for a three-game Big Ten series at Medlar Field at Lubrano Park. The series begins on Friday, March 31 with a 6 p.m. start. Saturday's game is set for a 2 p.m. first pitch and Sunday's series finale begins at 1 p.m. All games will be broadcast on B1G+.
 
The Nittany Lions, led by Rob Cooper, are 13-8 overall after a 16-8 win over Pitt on Tuesday. Penn State plated five runs in the sixth and six runs in the eighth. PSU tallied 21 hits with eight batters recording multi-hit games.
 
Indiana is 18-7 on the season and enters the weekend on an eight-game win streak.
 
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
Friday – 4 for $24 ticket deal (4 tickets, 4 hot dogs, 4 drinks)
Saturday – Postgame Autographs
Sunday – Kids Run The Bases
 
FOLLOW ALONG

 
PROBABLE STARTERS*
Friday (6 p.m.)  – PSU: RHP Daniel Ouderkirk (1-2, 5.06 ERA) vs. IU: TBA
Saturday (2 p.m.) – PSU: TBA vs. IU: RHP Luke Sinnard (3-0, 3.82 ERA)
Sunday (1 p.m.) – PSU: TBA vs. IU: TBA
 
*subject to change
 
LEADING OFF

  • Penn State hosts Indiana to continue Big Ten play.
  • The Nittany Lions look to bounce back after falling in all three games at Michigan last weekend.
  • The Hoosiers will make their first appearance at Medlar Field at Lubrano Park since 2015 and enter the weekend on an eight-game win streak.
  • Penn State is coming off a 16-8 win over Pitt, boosted by a five-run sixth and a six-run eighth.
  • The NIttany Lions tallied 21 hits with eight players recording multiple hits, four recording multiple RBI and four scoring multiple runs.
  • Billy Gerlott, Jay Harry and Tayven Kelley each had three hits. Gerlott and Kelley drove in three runs, while Harry crossed the plate three times.
  • Kyle Hannon is one of three Division I players with 5+ homers and 15+ steals this season, while leading the Big Ten in steals per game (0.71) and total steals (15).
  • Daniel Ouderkirk leads the conference in strikeouts per nine innings (14.85), good for ninth in the nation, and sits fourth in total strikeouts (44).

 
SCOUTING INDIANA

  • Indiana is led by head coach Jeff Mercer, in his fifth season. Mercer has a 117-86 record with the Hoosiers.
  • The Hoosiers enter the weekend with an 18-7 mark and have won eight-straight games. It's tied for the fifth-longest current winning streak in Division I.
  • Indiana is coming off a 4-3 win over Kent State on Tuesday and a sweep against Ohio State last weekend to open Big Ten play.
  • Brock Tibbitts was named Big Ten Player of the Week after batting .500 in the series with three multi-hit games, eight runs and seven RBI.
  • Indiana is batting .300 as a team, sitting fifth in the Big Ten, and ranks 18th in the country with 57 doubles.
  • Phillip Glasser ranks fifth in the nation with 13 doubles, seventh with 44 hits and 15th in batting average (.440) and hits per game (1.76).
  • Devin Taylor is hitting .380 with four doubles, four homers and 16 RBI, while Tibbitts is batting .333 with three homers and a team-high 28 RBI.
  • Tyler Cerny has a .329 average and ranks 20th in the country with three doubles.
  • The Hoosiers have a 4.60 team ERA, holding second in the conference.
  • Luke Sinnard paces the Big Ten with a 6.71 strikeout-to-walk ratio and sits 20th in the nation with 47 strikeouts to go with a 3-0 record and a 3.82 ERA.

 
AGAINST THE HOOSIERS

  • Penn State has played 87 previous matchups against the Hoosiers.
  • The teams will meet for the first time in Happy Valley since 2015.
  • Penn State played a four-game series at Indiana in 2021.

 
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 ninth 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 .325 with 25 hits, including six doubles, a triple and two homers, and has drawn a team-high 19 walks.  He recently snapped a 10-game hit streak, but has reached base in 24-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 12 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 .310 with two homers and 14 RBI.
  • Freshman Bobby Marsh, a Bellefonte native and transfer from Florida Atlantic, has played in 17 games (12 starts). He owns four doubles, two homers and seven 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 .325 with 25 hits and 18 walks, while Jay Harry leads the team with 27 hits and 19 RBI to go with 19 runs and a .310 average.
  • Grant Norris and Johnny Piacentino are also hitting .310 with Piacentino contributing 19 runs and 12 RBI, while Norris has 14 RBI.
  • Kyle Hannon is pacing the team with five homers, 23 runs and 15 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 (0.71), good for 16th in the nation, and total steals (15), sitting 22nd in the country.
  • Hannon is one of three Division I players with 5+ homers and 15+ 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 continues its home stand against Bucknell on Tuesday, April 4. First pitch is set for 6 p.m. with a broadcast on B1G+. Every Tuesday home game is Dollar Dog Night ($1 hot dogs).
  • The Nittany Lions host Delaware State next weekend, beginning on Friday, April 6.