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Caleb Craig

Grant Norris

Baseball Hosts St. Bonaventure For Dollar Dog Night On Tuesday

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – The Penn State baseball team welcomes St. Bonaventure on Tuesday for a midweek contest at Medlar Field at Lubrano Park. First pitch is set for 5 p.m. as Penn State hosts its first Dollar Dog Night of the season. The game is free admission for all ages.
 
Penn State, led by head coach Mike Gambino, is 11-6 after a series victory against UMass Lowell last weekend. The Nittany Lions earned a 3-2 win on Thursday and a 21-14 victory on Saturday.
 
St. Bonaventure, coached by Jason Rathbun, is 7-11 this season. The Bonnies won three of four games against Mount St. Mary's.
 
For updates on the Penn State baseball team, please check @pennstatebase on X and Instagram.
 
The 2024 Penn State baseball season is presented by The Family Clothesline.
 
FOLLOW ALONG

 
PROMOTIONS

  • Tuesday is Dollar Dog Night, featuring $1 hot dogs.
  • All concessions items are cashless transactions.

 
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:

 
LEADING OFF

  • Penn State hosts St. Bonaventure for a midweek contest on Tuesday.
  • The Nittany Lions are playing their fourth game of an eight-game homestand.
  • The blue and white is 32-6-1 all-time against St. Bonaventure and has won seven of the last eight meetings.
  • Penn State is coming off a series win over UMass Lowell.
  • On Thursday, PSU earned a 3-2 win behind six strong innings by Travis Luensmann and a solo homer by Billy Gerlott.
  • On Saturday, the Nittany Lions overcame a 9-run deficit after the Top 1st and posted their own 9-run inning in the eighth to claim a 21-14 win.
  • J.T. Marr leads the Big Ten with a .465 average, ranking 11th in the country, while sitting fourth in the nation in hits per game (1.94) and 20th in total hits (33).
  • Marr had three hits in Thursday's game and four hits in Saturday's game and now has nine multi-hit games this season.
  • Adam Cecere launched two homers in Friday's game against UML and now has five this season to raise his career total to 37 homers.

 
SCOUTING ST. BONAVENTURE

  • Head Coach Jason Rathbun is in his second season leading the St. Bonaventure program.
  • The Bonnies have 15 wins over the last two seasons.
  • In 2024, they are 7-11 with wins over The Citadel, Louisville, Presbyterian, MTSU and Mount St. Mary's (3).
  • The Bonnies are batting .267 as a team and averaging 6.6 runs per game.
  • Antonio Cordeiro leads the squad with a .320 average to go with four doubles, three homers and 15 RBI.
  • Adam Rankie has a .317 average with eight doubles, two triples, a homer and 16 RBI.
  • Jack Putney leads the team with five homers to go with 15 RBI.
  • The St. Bonaventure pitching staff has an 8.05 team ERA and allows a .330 opponent batting average.
  • Tristan Ciampa leads the team with seven appearances (three starts).
     

AGAINST THE BONNIES

  • Penn State is 32-6-1 all-time against St. Bonaventure.
  • The Nittany Lions have won seven of the last eight games in the series.
  • Penn State earned a 3-2 win in 10 innings in 2022 on a walk-off single by Jay Harry.
  • The PSU pitching staff tallied 13 strikeouts in the 2022 game.

 
THE MARR-CHINE KEEPS HITTING

  • Grad student J.T. Marr is off to an incredible start to begin the 2024 campaign.
  • After going 8-of-14 at the plate in the series against UMass Lowell, Marr raised his season average to .465 with a team-best 33 hits.
  • Marr leads the Big Ten with his .465 average, while ranking 11th in the country.
  • He also ranks fourth in the nation, and second in the Big Ten, averaging 1.94 hits per game.
  • Marr holds 20th in the country, and fourth in the conference, with 33 total hits.
  • This past weekend, he had three hits on Thursday and four hits on Saturday, raising his season total to nine multi-hit games. He also has four multi-RBI games.
  • On the year, Marr has two games with four hits and four games with three hits.
  • Among his 33 knocks, he has three doubles and a homer to go with 16 RBI and 16 runs.

 
NEWCOMERS LEADING BALANCED LINEUP

  • The Nittany Lions sit among the Top 5 in the Big Ten in batting average (.303; 4th), runs per game (7.9; 4th), home runs per game (1.12; 5th), slugging percentage (.463; 5th) and OPS (.875; 5th).
  • Penn State has five players with a .302 or better average, six with a .400+ on-base percentage and seven with a .400+ slugging percentage.
  • Graduate student J.T. Marr paces the squad with a .465 average and 33 hits. He owns three doubles, a homer, 16 RBI and 16 runs.
  • Redshirt junior Billy Gerlott is hitting .344 with four doubles, a homer, three RBI and 13 runs.
  • Junior Matt Maloney is batting .341 with a team-high 18 RBI along with three doubles and a homer.
  • Maloney leads the Big Ten in RBI per game (1.38).
  • Bobby Marsh is hitting .340 with 18 hits, including three doubles, nine RBI and nine runs.
  • Graduate student Adam Cecere is hitting .302 with 16 hits, including four doubles and a team-high five homers, 15 RBI and 20 runs. He has a team-high 18 walks and seven hit-by-pitches.
  • He hit two homers in Saturday's game against UMass Lowell, his sixth career multi-homer game.
  • Cecere paces the team with a .660 slugging percentage and a .519 on-base percentage.
  • He ranks fifth in Big Ten with a 1.179 OPS and slugging percentage (.660) and third in on-base percentage (.519). He's also tied-first in the conference in total walks (18) and first in walks per game (1.06).
  • Cecere is one of 16 current Division I players with 37+ homers and 131+ RBI in their career.
  • Among active DI players, Cecere is 17th in homers (37).
  • Joe Jaconski is fifth in the Big Ten in walks (16) and owns 15 hits and 12 runs, while Grant Norris has 15 hits, including five doubles and four homers, and 14 RBI.
  • Bryce Molinaro owns two homers, among 18 hits, and 14 RBI, while Kyle Hannon has 14 hits, one homer and 14 runs.

 
NITTANY LIONS EARN SERIES WIN OVER UMASS LOWELL

  • Penn State picked up a 3-2 win on Thursday and a 21-14 win on Saturday to claim a series victory over the River Hawks.
  • In the series, PSU batted .352 with 33 runs, 37 hits, eight doubles and five homers.
  • J.T. Marr led the Nittany Lions with a .571 average (8-of-14) with three RBI and six runs, including three hits in game one and four knocks in game three.
  • Adam Cecere launched two homers to go with four RBI and four runs, while Billy Gerlott had a double, a homer and three RBI. Grant Norris added a double and a homer.
  • In game one, Matt Maloney had a two-run double and Gerlott homered, while Travis Luensmann fired six innings, allowing one run.
  • In game three, PSU overcame a 9-run deficit in the first inning and put together a 9-run eighth inning to take the lead. Marr and Bobby Marsh each had four hits and three RBI, while Marr scored four times. Bryce Molinaro added three hits, an RBI and four runs.

 
HANNON, KELLEY, NORRIS CLIMB RECORDS LISTS

  • Senior Kyle Hannon already has nine steals in 2024, including four in the series vs. Harvard.
  • With 10 steals this year, Hannon has moved up to fourth all-time at Penn State with 44 career steals. He is currently six steals behind Doug Keener (50, 1984-87) for third place.
  • Hannon ranks second in the Big Ten in total steals (10) and steals per game (0.62).
  • Senior+ Tayven Kelley owns 12 career triples, tied third all-time at Penn State. He is tied with Michael Campo (1997-00) and Jordan Steranka (2009-12).
  • Graduate student Grant Norris' .534 career slugging percentage sits seventh all-time at Penn State.

 
LUENSMANN POSTS BACK-TO-BACK SOLID STARTS

  • Senior Travis Luensmann picked up his second win of the season on Thursday against UMass Lowell.
  • Luensmann fired six innings, giving up one run on two hits, while striking out five.
  • He did not allow a run until a solo homer in the sixth.
  • Luensmann has thrown six innings in back-to-back starts, including a six-inning, two-run outing against Harvard on March 8.
  • He has 16 strikeouts in five starts and is allowing a .177 opponent average.
  • Frankie Sanchez returned to the mound against UMass Lowell and has a 1.93 ERA over three appearances (two starts) with 11 strikeouts in 9.1 innings.
  • Anthony Steele is 2-0 with a 3.14 ERA and 15 strikeouts in eight appearances.
  • David Lee earned his third save of the season on Thursday and ranks fourth in the Big Ten in saves.

 
UP NEXT

  • Penn State welcomes Michigan to open Big Ten play on March 22-24.
  • First pitch on Friday is set for 5:30 p.m. Fans are encouraged to Wear White. The first 100 students will receive Dunkin Giftcards.
  • Saturday is set for a 2 p.m. start. It is Bark In The Park Day in honor of National Puppy Day and features a dog bandana giveaway. Saturday also features postgame autographs and a trading cart set giveaway.
  • Sunday's series finale begins at 1 p.m. with postgame kids run the bases.