Baseball Resumes Big Ten Play at PurdueBaseball Resumes Big Ten Play at Purdue
Steven Walter

Bobby Marsh

Baseball Resumes Big Ten Play at Purdue

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – The Penn State baseball team travels to Purdue for a three-game series at Alexander Field this weekend, beginning on Friday, April 14. Friday's first pitch is set for 6 p.m. Saturday's game is scheduled for a 2 p.m. start and Sunday's contest begins at 1 p.m.
 
The Nittany Lions, led by head coach Rob Cooper, are 18-11 overall and 1-5 in Big Ten play. Penn State has won four-straight games after Tuesday's 11-6 victory over West Virginia. PSU rallied for seven runs in the sixth and three in the seventh.
 
Purdue is 14-17 overall and 3-3 in conference action. The Boilermakers fell 4-1 against Indiana State on Tuesday.
 
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

 
LEADING OFF

  • Penn State travels to West Lafayette, Ind. to resume Big Ten play against Purdue.
  • The Nittany Lions won two of three games against the Boilermakers last season in Happy Valley.
  • Penn State is riding a four-game win streak after rallying for an 11-6 win over West Virginia.
  • The Nittany Lions scored seven runs in the sixth and three in the seventh.
  • Kyle Hannon cleared the bases for the go-ahead run in the sixth with a little league grand slam, helped by errors, and Jay Harry added a solo homer in the seventh.
  • The Penn State pitching staff allowed just one run over the final five innings.
  • Grant Norris extended his hit streak to nine games with a two-run double.
  • Kyle Hannon is riding a 13-game hit streak and has reached 20 steals on the season, tied for sixth in a season at PSU and the most by a PSU player since Greg Guers (20) in 2016.
  • Travis Luensmann leads the Big Ten with five wins on the mound.
  • He has not allowed a run over his last nine innings of work.

 
SCOUTING PURDUE

  • Greg Goff is in his fourth year leading the Purdue program.
  • Under Goff, the Boilermakers are 66-71.
  • Purdue is 14-17 this season, including 5-4 in Big Ten play, after falling 4-1 against Indiana State on Tuesday.
  • Last weekend, Purdue took two of three games against Minnesota.
  • Purdue ranks ninth in the Big Ten in batting average (.275) and runs per game (7.0).
  • Evan Albrecht leads the Boilermakers with a .355 average, 28 hits and 28 runs.
  • Mike Bolton Jr. is batting .315 with 28 hits and 28 runs, while Paul Toetz has eight homers and 39 RBI and Jake Jarvis owns eight homers and 27 RBI.
  • Purdue's pitching staff has a 4.96 ERA, sitting fourth in the Big Ten.
  • Jonathan Blackwell paces the staff with a 3.50 ERA and 37 strikeouts in eight starts.

 
AGAINST THE BOILERMAKERS

  • Penn State and Purdue are set for a Big Ten series in West Lafayette.
  • The Nittany Lions won the series in 2022, taking two games in Happy Valley.
  • Josh Spiegel recorded five hits, including a homer, and seven RBI in the series last year.
  • The Nittany Lions last played a traditional road series at Purdue in 2019, dropping both games.

 
HANNON EMERGES AS POWER, SPEED THREAT

  • Kyle Hannon leads the team in homers (six), runs (34) and steals (20). He's also riding a 13-game hit streak.
  • 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). His 20 steals are already tied for sixth in a season at PSU and are the most by a PSU player since Greg Guers (20) in 2016. Hannon needs just seven steals for the season record.
  • Hannon leads the Big Ten in steals per game (0.69), good for 16th in the nation, and total steals (20), sitting 19th in the country.
  • Hannon is one of four Division I players with 6+ homers and 20+ steals this season, joining West Virginia's JJ Wetherholt (7 HR, 26 SB), VMI's Justin Starke (8 HR, 24 SB) and Cal's Rodney Green Jr. (8 HR, 21 SB)
  • Hannon has five games this season with multiple steals.

 
LUENSMANN, OUDERKIRK LEAD STAFF

  • Grad student Daniel Ouderkirk, a West Virginia transfer, has made an immediate impact in the Penn State rotation.
  • Ouderkirk has tallied 49 strikeouts in 33.1 innings and has multiple strikeouts in 15 different innings this season. In eight starts, he has limited opponents to a .220 average.
  • The 6-9 righty ranks 22nd in the nation in strikeouts per nine innings (13.23), sitting second in the Big Ten. He's seventh in the conference in total strikeouts (49).
  • 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 16 Division I pitchers with multiple starts of 11+ strikeouts and 1 or less earned run this season and one of nine DI pitchers with three-straight 10+ strikeout starts this year.
  • Junior Travis Luensmann was named Big Ten Co-Pitcher of the Week after striking out 10 in four relief shutout innings against Indiana. His 10 strikeouts were a career high.
  • In eight appearances (five starts), Luensmann is 5-1 with a 2.70 ERA and 43 strikeouts in 36.2 innings. His five wins lead the Big Ten.
  • He allowed just one run in five innings at No. 22 Miami, one run in five innings against Northern Illinois and no runs in five innings against Georgetown and no runs in 4.1 innings against Delaware State.

 
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).
  • Fellow grad student Thomas Bramley has started all 29 games, splitting time between catcher, outfield and designated hitter. Bramley is batting .340 with 36 hits, including six doubles, a triple and three homers, and has drawn a team-high 28 walks.  He has reached base in 33-straight games, dating back to 2022.
  • Norris has started 20 games at third base after transferring from Duke.
  • Norris is batting .314 with three homers and leads the team with 27 RBI.
  • He had a double, triple and homer in the Delaware State series.
  • Freshman Bobby Marsh, a Bellefonte native and transfer from Florida Atlantic, has played in 23 games (17 starts). He owns seven doubles, two homers and 11 RBI.
  • Marsh launched his first career homer against Holy Cross and added a solo homer against Brown.

 
BALANCED BATS

  • The Nittany Lions currently rank 37th in the country with a .304 team average, 36th in triples (10) and 54th in steals per game (1.71).
  • Thomas Bramley is batting a team-best .340 with 36 hits and 28 walks, tied for the Big Ten lead in walks, while Jay Harry leads the team with 38 hits to go with 28 runs and a .311 average. Grant Norris holds the team RBI lead (27) and is batting .314 with 11 extra-base hits.
  • Billy Gerlott (.305), Johnny Piacentino (.305), Bobby Marsh (.303) and Josh Spiegel (.316) are also hitting above .300 with Piacentino contributing 22 runs and 13 RBI, while Gerlott has 16 RBI and Spiegel has 14 RBI. Marsh has nine extra-base hits and 11 RBI.
  • Tayven Kelley leads PSU with three triples this season and has nine for his career, tied for eighth all-time at Penn State.
  • 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. He also had three strikeouts and an RBI single against Delaware State.

 
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

  • The Nittany Lions return to Medlar Field at Lubrano Park on Tuesday, April 18 to host Youngstown State at 6 p.m. Every Tuesday home game is Dollar Dog Night.
  • Penn State welcomes Ohio State for a Big Ten series, beginning on Friday, April 21.