Baseball Hosts Youngstown State On TuesdayBaseball Hosts Youngstown State On Tuesday
Steven Walter

Tyson Cooper

Baseball Hosts Youngstown State On Tuesday

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – The Penn State baseball team welcomes Youngstown State on Tuesday at Medlar Field at Lubrano Park for its final home midweek game of the season. First pitch is set for 6 p.m. on Dollar Dog Night. The game will be broadcast on B1G+.
 
The Nittany Lions, led by head coach Rob Cooper, are 19-13 overall after taking one of three games at Purdue last weekend. The Nittany Lions won 15-3 on Friday, boosted by a 12-run sixth inning, but fell in a pair of one-run games on Saturday.
 
Youngstown State is 7-28 overall after dropping three games at Wright State this past weekend.
 
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

  • Dollar Dog Night Round 5 – $1 hot dogs (limit of four hot dogs per purchase).
    • Penn State's Dollar Dog Night has quickly become a popular promotion. Beginning on March 21 against Binghamton, Dollar Dog Night has grown in both attendance and hot dogs consumed.
    • On April 11 against West Virginia, the Nittany Lions welcomed 2,700 fans who consumed 5,287 hot dogs. In total, Penn State fans have consumed 10,984 Dollar Dogs.
    • The 2,700 fans were the fifth-largest attendance at a Penn State baseball game in Medlar Field at Lubrano Park, and the largest midweek attendance, behind only 3,946 vs. Northwestern (4/21/07), 3,739 vs. Indiana (4/19/08), 3,279 vs. Illinois (4/24/09) and 2,749 vs. Illinois (4/25/09).

 
FOLLOW ALONG

 
LEADING OFF

  • Penn State welcomes Youngstown State for its final home midweek game of the season.
  • The Nittany Lions meet the Penguins for the 12th time in program history.
  • Penn State fell 2-1 in last season's matchup despite not allowing an earned run.
  • It is the final Tuesday Dollar Dog Night of the season. Last week against West Virginia, Penn State welcomed 2,700 fans who consumed 5,287 hot dogs.
  • Penn State took one of three games against Purdue this past weekend, snapping a five-game win streak on Saturday.
  • The Nittany Lions earned a 15-3 win on Friday, boosted by a 12-run sixth inning in which Thomas Bramley launched a grand slam and Grant Norris added a two-run homer.
  • Bramley's slam was Penn State's second this season, joining Ben Kailher's slam against Holy Cross on March 6.
  • After three steals over the weekend, Kyle Hannon now has 23 on the season, sitting in sole possession of fifth in a season at Penn State.

 
SCOUTING YOUNGSTOWN STATE

  • Dave Bertolini is in his seventh season leading the Youngstown State program.
  • Bertolini led the Penguins to 21 wins in 2022 and 32 wins in 2021 to help YSU post back-to-back 20-win seasons for the first time since 2005-06.
  • Youngstown State is 7-28 this season and 3-11 in Horizon League play.
  • The Penguins' wins include a 9-4 victory over Pitt and a pair of 7-5 wins over Baylor.
  • YSU is batting .265 as a team and averaging 5.6 runs per game.
  • Trey Law leads the Penguins with a .364 average and 56 hits to go with 11 doubles and 20 RBI.
  • Padraig O'Shaughnessy owns a .273 average with six homer and a team-best 34 RBI.
  • The Youngstown State pitching staff has a 9.14 ERA and allows a .294 average to opposing hitters.
  • Brandin Anderson leads the staff with 19 appearances.
  • Travis Perry paces the Penguins with 41 strikeouts in 42.1 innings.

 
AGAINST THE PENGUINS

  • Penn State and Youngstown State are set for the 12th meeting in program history.
  • The Nittany Lions have won five of the last six meetings, but fell 2-1 against the Penguins in 2022.
  • In last year's 2-1 setback, Penn State did not allow an earned run and struck out 12 batters, but YSU scored on an error and a wild pitch (after a passed ball).

 
HANNON EMERGES AS POWER, SPEED THREAT

  • Kyle Hannon leads the team in homers (six), runs (38) and steals (23). He's also riding a 16-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 23 steals are already good for fifth in a season at PSU and are the most by a PSU player since Deegan's 24 steals in 2010. Hannon needs just four steals to tie the season record held by Michael Campo (27, 1999).
  • Hannon leads the Big Ten in steals per game (0.72), good for 15th in the nation, and total steals (23), sitting 17th in the country.
  • Hannon is one of five Division I players with 6+ homers and 23+ steals this season, joining Toledo's Jeron Williams (8 HR, 33 SB), West Virginia's JJ Wetherholt (8 HR, 27 SB), VMI's Justin Starke (8 HR, 26 SB) and Cal's Rodney Green Jr. (8 HR, 24 SB)
  • Hannon has six 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 53 strikeouts in 36.2 innings and has multiple strikeouts in 16 different innings this season. In nine outings, he has limited opponents to a .217 average.
  • The 6-9 righty ranks 26th in the nation in strikeouts per nine innings (13.01), sitting second in the Big Ten. He's eighth in the conference in total strikeouts (53).
  • 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. He threw 3.1 shutout innings at Purdue.
  • 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 nine appearances (six starts), Luensmann is 5-2 with a 3.05 ERA and 46 strikeouts in 41.1 innings. His five wins rank second in 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 32 games, splitting time between catcher, outfield and designated hitter. Bramley is batting .331 with 39 hits, including seven doubles, a triple and four homers, including a grand slam at Purdue, and has drawn a team-high 29 walks. In the third game against Purdue, snapped a 36-game reached base streak.
  • Norris has started 23 games at third base after transferring from Duke and is batting .317 with four homers and leads the team with 30 RBI.
  • He recently snapped a 10-game hit streak.
  • Freshman Bobby Marsh, a Bellefonte native and transfer from Florida Atlantic, has played in 26 games (20 starts). He owns eight doubles, three homers and 15 RBI.
  • Marsh launched a solo homer in game two at Purdue.

 
BALANCED BATS

  • The Nittany Lions currently rank 33rd in the country with a .305 team average, 36th in triples (11) and 54th in steals per game (1.63).
  • Thomas Bramley is batting a team-best .331 with 39 hits and 29 walks, good for second in the Big Ten in walks, while Jay Harry leads the team with 44 hits to go with 32 runs and a .324 average. Grant Norris holds the team RBI lead (30) and is batting .317 with 12 extra-base hits.
  • Kyle Hannon (.304), Bobby Marsh (.325), Johnny Piacentino (.305) and Josh Spiegel (.315) are also hitting above .300 with Piacentino contributing 22 runs and 13 RBI, while Spiegel has 17 RBI. Marsh has 11 extra-base hits and 15 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

  • Penn State welcomes Ohio State for a Big Ten series, beginning on Friday, April 21 at 6 p.m. for Wear White night. Saturday's game is set for a 2 p.m. start on Sandlot Day with a T-shirt giveaway in honor of the 30th anniversary of the movie along with postgame autographs. Sunday's series finale is Little League Day and features postgame kids run the bases.
  • The Nittany Lions travel to Morgantown on Tuesday, April 25 to take on West Virginia at 6:30 p.m.