Baseball Faces Brown For Four-Game WeekendBaseball Faces Brown For Four-Game Weekend

Travis Luensmann

Baseball Faces Brown For Four-Game Weekend

CARY, N.C. – The Penn State baseball team is set for a weekend series against Brown at the USA Baseball National Training Complex in Cary, N.C. The Nittany Lions and the Bears will meet for a 2 p.m. first pitch on Friday, March 10. A Saturday doubleheader is set for noon and Sunday's series finale is set for an 11 a.m. start.
 
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, are 7-4 after dropping a 15-5 decision at No. 14 North Carolina on Wednesday. Billy Gerlott hit a solo homer and added an RBI single, while Jay Harry recorded three hits.
 
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.
 
FOLLOW ALONG

 
PROBABLE STARTERS*
Friday (2 p.m.)  – PSU: RHP Daniel Ouderkirk (1-1, 2.87 ERA) vs. Brown: RHP Tobey McDonough (0-2, 7.50 ERA)
Saturday (Game 1, noon) – PSU: TBA vs. Brown: RHP Santhosh Gottam (0-2, 11.00 ERA)
Saturday (Game 2) – PSU: TBA vs. Brown: RHP Bobby Olsen (0-1, 6.75 ERA)
Sunday (11 a.m.) – PSU: TBA vs. Brown: RHP Dylan Reid (0-1, 3.60 ERA)
 
*subject to change
 
LEADING OFF

  • Penn State takes on Brown in a four-game series at the USA Baseball National Training Complex in Cary, N.C.
  • Penn State is 0-4 all-time against Brown, with the last matchup coming in 1925.
  • The Nittany Lions are 86-70 all-time against current Ivy League members, including an 8-2 win over Dartmouth on March 4.
  • Penn State fell 15-5 against No. 14 North Carolina on Wednesday.
  • Billy Gerlott drove in two runs with a solo homer and an RBI single, while Jay Harry had three hits.
  • Six Nittany Lions own above a .300 average, eight Nittany Lions have at least 10 hits and five have at least seven RBI.
  • Tayven Kelley paces the team with a .364 average, 16 hits, 11 runs and six doubles.
  • Kyle Hannon leads the Big Ten with nine steals, good for 17th in the country.
  • Daniel Ouderkirk ranks second in the Big Ten with 25 strikeouts and is one of three DI pitchers with multiple starts of 10+ strikeouts and 1 or less earned run this season.

 
SCOUTING BROWN

  • Head Coach Grant Achillies is in his ninth season leading the Brown program.
  • The Bears are 0-7 this season after dropping three games at New Orleans last weekend.
  • Shortstop Gunner Boree had a hit in each game and two RBI in the New Orleans series.
  • As a team, Brown is batting .186 with 40 hits, including 10 extra-base hits.
  • Boree leads the team with a .267 average.
  • Derian Morphew paces the squad with seven hits and three doubles, while Jacob Hurley has five hits, including a double and a homer.
  • The Bears have a 7.88 team ERA and allow a .305 average to opposing hitters.
  • Santhosh Gottam, Tobey McDonough and Dylan Reed have each made three starts this season.
  • Reid leads the starters with a 3.60 ERA and has seven strikeouts in 10 innings.
  • McDonough owns eight strikeouts in six innings, while Gottam has seven strikeouts in nine innings.
  • Carter Rasmussen leads the bullpen with a 2.08 ERA and eight strikeouts.

 
AGAINST THE BEARS

  • Penn State takes on Brown for the fifth time in school history.
  • The Nittany Lions dropped all four previous matchups, with the last one in 1925.
  • Penn State is 86-70 all-time against current members of the Ivy League.
  • The Nittany Lions earned an 8-2 win over Dartmouth on March 4 in its most recent contest against an Ivy League program.

 
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.

 
LUENSMANN'S STRONG START

  • Junior Travis Luensmann has enjoyed a strong start to the 2023 campaign.
  • He has a 3-0 record and a 2.40 ERA and has limited opposing hitters to a .167 average.
  • Luensmann opened the season for the Nittany Lions, starting against Miami.
  • The junior fired five innings, allowing just one run on two hits, while striking out four and holding Miami hitters to a .125 average.
  • He followed that with five innings against Northern Illinois, giving up one run on four hits and striking out three and got the win against Wagner, allowing two runs in five innings and striking out five.
  • Luensmann entered the season as the No. 110 starting pitcher by D1Baseball in its preseason player rankings.

 
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.
  • Grad student pitcher Daniel Ouderkirk, a West Virginia transfer, earned his first win as a Nittany Lion in game two against Northern Illinois.
  • Ouderkirk struck out a career-high 11 batters in seven innings, giving up just one run and three hits.
  • Ouderkirk became the first Nittany Lion with 10+ strikeouts in a game since Kyle Virbitsky's 12 strikeouts against Minnesota on May 29, 2021.
  • He followed that with 11 strikeouts in 5.1 frames against Dartmouth, joining Dante Biasi (13 vs. UMass Lowell, 3/15/19; 12 vs. Minnesota, 3/23/19) as the only PSU pitchers since 2004 with 10+ strikeouts in back-to-back starts.
  • He is one of three Division I pitchers with multiple starts of 11+ strikeouts and 1 or less earned run this season and one of five DI pitchers with multiple 11-strikeout starts.
  • Through three starts, Ouderkirk has 25 strikeouts in 15.2 innings and an opposing batting average of .161. His 25 strikeouts rank second in the Big Ten.
  • Fellow grad student Thomas Bramley has started all 11 games, splitting time between catcher, outfield and designated hitter. Bramley is batting .325 with 13 hits, including three doubles and a homer, and has drawn a team-high 10 walks. He has reached base in 14 straight games, dating back to 2022, and is riding an eight-game hit streak.
  • The Mount St. Mary's transfer was tabbed as the No. 19 catcher in the nation in the D1Baseball preseason player rankings.
  • Grant Norris has started nine 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 .300 with two homers and 10 RBI.
  • Freshman Bobby Marsh, a Bellefonte native and transfer from Florida Atlantic, has played in seven games and started three. He owns two doubles, a homer and three RBI.
  • Marsh launched his first career homer against Holy Cross.

 
BALANCED BATS

  • As a team, Penn State is hitting .308 and has drawn 59 walks to contribute to a .404 on-base percentage.
  • Six Nittany Lions own above a .300 average, eight Nittany Lions have at least 10 hits and five have at least seven RBI.
  • Tayven Kelley leads the team with a .364 average to go with a team-high 16 hits, including six doubles and four homers, 11 runs and nine RBI, and a 1.053 OPS.
  • Jay Harry is hitting .341 with 15 hits and has reached base in 27 games dating back to the 2022 season.
  • After an 8-for-15 weekend in Cary, Johnny Piacentino is batting .310 with 13 hits and 10 runs, while Billy Gerlott is batting .353 and Thomas Bramley is hitting .325. Bramley is riding an eight-game hit streak.
  • Grant Norris paces the team with 10 RBI, while Kelley, Norris and Kyle Hannon each have two homers.
  • Hannon leads the Big Ten with nine steals and ranks 14th in the country averaging 0.82 steals per game.

 
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.

 
UP NEXT

  • The Nittany Lions welcome Navy for their home opener on Wednesday, March 15. First pitch is scheduled for 5 p.m.
  • Penn State hosts Georgetown for a three-game series beginning on Friday, March 17.