Baseball Welcomes Bucknell On TuesdayBaseball Welcomes Bucknell On Tuesday
Mark Selders

CJ Pittaro

Baseball Welcomes Bucknell On Tuesday

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – The Penn State baseball team hosts Bucknell on Tuesday, April 4 to continue a nine-game homestand. The Nittany Lions and Bison are set for a 6 p.m. first pitch at Medlar Field at Lubrano Park. The game will be broadcast on B1G+.
 
The Nittany Lions, led by Rob Cooper, are 14-10 overall after taking one of three games against Indiana. In game one, PSU won 7-2, boosted by four shutout innings in relief by Travis Luensmann and homers by Billy Gerlott and Tayven Kelley.
 
Bucknell is 13-14 this season after dropping Monday's doubleheader at Holy Cross.
 
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

 
LEADING OFF

  • Penn State welcomes Bucknell in a non-conference matchup to continue its nine-game homestand.
  • The Nittany Lions are 131-31-1 all-time against the Bison.
  • The teams split a pair of one-run games last season.
  • Penn State is 5-2 at home this season and 2-1 in midweek games.
  • The Nittany Lions took one of three games against Indiana last weekend.
  • Penn State won the first game of the series, 7-2, but fell 4-1 in game two and 22-11 in game three.
  • Travis Luensmann was named Big Ten Co-Pitcher of the Week after throwing four shutout innings in relief in game one. He recorded a career-best 10 strikeouts.
  • Luensmann notched his fourth appearance of 4+ innings and 1 or less run this season.
  • Thomas Bramley leads PSU with a .333 average, 22 walks and a 1.011 OPS to go with 29 hits.
  • Jay Harry paces the squad with 20 hits and 20 RBI, while batting .300.

 
SCOUTING BUCKNELL

  • Scott Heather is in his 11th season as head coach of the Bucknell program.
  • Heather has led the Bison to 191 wins in his tenure.
  • Bucknell is 13-14 this season, including 7-5 in Patriot League play, after dropping a doubleheader at Holy Cross on Monday.
  • The Bison are batting .285 as a team.
  • Kyle Lyons leads the squad with a .366 average and 34 hits, while Sean Keys is batting .316 with 30 hits, including a team-best six homers, and 26 RBI.
  • Bucknell's pitching staff has a 5.82 ERA and is allowing a .282 opponent batting average.
  • Theo Farynick leads the staff with 10 appearances.
  • Ryan Osinski has a 1.50 ERA in seven appearances, while Nick Mulvey is 1-0 with a 2.30 ERA in nine outings.

 
AGAINST THE BISON

  • Penn State holds a 131-31-1 advantage in the series.
  • Last season, the teams split a pair of games with the Bison winning the second game, 8-7.
  • In the first matchup last season, Penn State overcame a five-run first inning by the Bison to earn a 7-6 win.
  • Bucknell is one of five opponents Penn State has played more than 100 times, joining Michigan (49-54), Ohio State (40-73), Pitt (90-46-1) and West Virginia (72-43).

 
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 45 strikeouts in 28.1 innings and has multiple strikeouts in 14 different innings this season. In seven starts, he has limited opponents to a .222 average.
  • The 6-9 righty ranks 14th in the nation in strikeouts per nine innings (14.29), sitting second in the Big Ten. He's fifth in the conference in total strikeouts (45).
  • 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 eight 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 seven appearances (five starts), Luensmann is 4-1 with a 3.06 ERA and 36 strikeouts in 32.1 innings.
  • 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.

 
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 seven starts, Ouderkirk has 45 strikeouts in 28.1 innings and an opposing batting average of .222. His 14.29 strikeouts per nine innings sit second in the Big Ten.
  • Fellow grad student Thomas Bramley has started all 24 games, splitting time between catcher, outfield and designated hitter. Bramley is batting .333 with 29 hits, including six doubles, a triple and three homers, and has drawn a team-high 22 walks.  He has reached base in 28-straight games, dating back to 2022.
  • Norris has started 15 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 .308 with two homers and 17 RBI.
  • Freshman Bobby Marsh, a Bellefonte native and transfer from Florida Atlantic, has played in 18 games (12 starts). He owns six doubles, two homers and eight RBI.
  • Marsh launched his first career homer against Holy Cross and added a solo homer against Brown.

 
BALANCED BATS

  • Thomas Bramley is batting a team-best .333 with 29 hits and 22 walks, while Jay Harry leads the team with 30 hits and 20 RBI to go with 21 runs and a .300 average.
  • Grant Norris (.308), Johnny Piacentino (.305) and Josh Spiegel (.305) are also hitting above .300 with Piacentino contributing 22 runs and 13 RBI, while Norris has 17 RBI and Spiegel had four hits and four RBI in game three against Indiana.
  • Kyle Hannon is pacing the team with six homers, 25 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 (0.62), good for 21st in the nation, and total steals (15), sitting 34th in the country.
  • Hannon is one of seven Division I players with 6+ 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

  • The Nittany Lions host Delaware State next weekend, beginning on Thursday, April 6. Thursday and Friday games are set for a 6 p.m. start and Sunday's series finale is set for 2 p.m.
  • Penn State continues its home stand against No. 24 West Virginia on Tuesday, April 11. First pitch is set for 6 p.m. with a broadcast on B1G+. Every Tuesday home game is Dollar Dog Night ($1 hot dogs).