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Mark Selders

Joe Jaconski

Baseball Travels To Indiana For Big Ten Series

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – The Penn State baseball team heads to Bloomington this weekend for a three-game series against Indiana. The series begins on Friday at 6 p.m. and continues Saturday at 2 p.m. Sunday's series finale is set for 1 p.m. All three games will be broadcast on B1G+.
 
Penn State, led by head coach Mike Gambino, is 17-12 overall and 4-5 in the Big Ten after a 12-2 win over FDU on Tuesday. The top four hitters in the PSU lineup each had three or more hits.
 
Indiana, coached by Jeff Mercer, is 18-15 overall and 3-3 in the Big Ten after winning two of three at Maryland last weekend.
 
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

 
LEADING OFF

  • Penn State travels to Bloomington to take on Indiana in a three-game series.
  • The Nittany Lions are 43-47 all-time against the Hoosiers.
  • Last season, Penn State won one of three games in Happy Valley.
  • Penn State enters the series on a four-game win streak.
  • Penn State is coming off a 12-2 win over FDU on Tuesday.
  • The top four hitters in the lineup each had at least three hits.
  • In Big Ten play, Bobby Marsh is hitting .486 with 14 RBI, while Bryce Molinaro is batting .469.
  • Marsh has multiple hits and multiple RBI in each of the last five games.
  • J.T. Marr ranks second in the Big Ten with a .421 average and 51 total hits.
  • Adam Cecere enters the weekend leading the Big Ten in OPS (1.211), slugging percentage (.704) and on-base percentage (.507), while tying for the Big Ten lead with nine homers.
  • As a team, Penn State paces the Big Ten in slugging percentage (.499) and is one of two Big Ten teams, joining Indiana, with seven players owning 21+ RBI.

 
SCOUTING INDIANA

  • Indiana is led by head coach Jeff Mercer, in his sixth season.
  • Under Mercer, Indiana is 160-114 and has played in three NCAA Tournaments.
  • In 2024, Indiana is 18-15 overall and 3-3 in the Big Ten after taking two of three at Maryland last weekend.
  • Indiana ranks fourth in the Big Ten with a .299 team average, second with 43 homers  and second in runs per game (8.5).
  • Devin Taylor leads the Hoosiers with a .359 average and seven homers to go with 26 RBI and 34 runs.
  • Tyler Cerny paces the squad with 60 hits, 14 doubles, 38 RBI and 38 runs, while posting a .350 average and six homers.
  • Carter Mathison also has seven homers along with 21 RBI.
  • Indiana is 12th in the Big Ten with a 6.68 team ERA and sits second averaging 10.3 strikeouts per nine innings.
  • Connor Foley ranks second in the Big Ten with 64 strikeouts to go with a 4-1 record and 3.21 ERA.
  • Ty Bothwell is 4-1 with a 4.87 ERA and 40 strikeouts in 40.2 innings.
     

AGAINST THE HOOSIERS

  • Penn State is 43-47 all-time against Indiana.
  • In 2023, the Nittany Lions took the first game of the series, but dropped the final two.
  • In a wild series finale last season, Penn State held an early 6-4 lead, but Indiana posted 10 runs over the next four innings to hold a 14-6 lead. Penn State chipped away with five runs in the seventh, to cut the deficit to three, before Indiana exploded for eight runs in the ninth.

 
DOLLAR DOG NIGHT RETURNS

  • Penn State's Dollar Dog Nights became popular in 2023 and have returned with strong numbers in 2024.
  • Tuesday's contest against Kent State will be the Nittany Lions' fourth Dollar Dog Night of the 2024 campaign.
  • On April 9 against FDU, Penn State set a new attendance record with 4,902 fans, bettering the previous record of 3,946 vs. Northwestern in 2007, and a new Dollar Dog record as fans consumed 6,151 hot dogs. That previous record was 5,287 against West Virginia in 2023.
  • On March 26 against Pitt, the Nittany Lions welcomed 3,505 fans to Medlar Field at Lubrano Park, Penn State baseball's fourth-largest attendance. The 3,505 fans downed 5,021 hot dogs.
  • Across eight Dollar Dog Nights in 2023 and 2024, Penn State fans have consumed 26,586 hot dogs, averaging 3,323 per Dollar Dog Night.

 
THE MARR-CHINE KEEPS HITTING

  • Grad student J.T. Marr's season average sits at .421 with a team-best 51 hits and 30 RBI.
  • Marr ranks second in the Big Ten with his .421 average, while ranking 18th in the country.
  • He also ranks eighth in the nation, and second in the Big Ten, averaging 1.76 hits per game.
  • Marr holds 27th in the country, and second in the conference, with 51 total hits.
  • He owns 16 multi-hit games, including five against Big Ten opponents, and nine multi-RBI games. Marr has two games with four hits and five games with three hits.
  • Marr tied a PSU game record with three doubles against FDU on Tuesday.
  • Among his 51 knocks, he has 10 doubles and four homers to go with 27 runs and a 1.062 OPS, good for ninth in the Big Ten. He has three homers and 11 RBI in conference play.

 
NEWCOMERS LEADING BALANCED LINEUP

  • The Nittany Lions lead the Big Ten in slugging percentage (.499; 1st) and sac flies (23; 1st) and rank Top 5 in the conference in on-base percentage (.415; 2nd), runs per game (8.2; 3rd), batting average (.315; 3rd), home runs per game (1.24; 3rd), total home runs (36; 4th), doubles per game (2.14; 5th) and total runs (238; 5th).
  • Penn State has six players with a .312 or better average, six with a .400+ on-base percentage and seven with a .400+ slugging percentage.
  • Penn State and Indiana are the only Big Ten teams with seven players owning at least 21 RBI.
  • Graduate student J.T. Marr paces the squad with a .421 average and 51 hits. He owns 10 doubles, four homers, 30 RBI and 27 runs.
  • With a 17-of-35 start (.486) and 14 RBI at the plate in conference play, Bobby Marsh is hitting .380 with 38 hits, including eight doubles, one triple, two homers, 27 RBI and 22 runs. His .486 average in conference play ranks seventh in the Big Ten.
  • Marsh has multiple hits and multiple RBI in each of the last five games.
  • Riding a 13-game hit streak and holding a .469 average (15-of-32) in Big Ten play, Bryce Molinaro owns four homers, among 36 hits, and 25 RBI to go with a .324 average.
  • Graduate student Adam Cecere is hitting .347 with 34 hits, including eight doubles and nine homers, 29 RBI and a team-best 30 runs. He has a team-high 27 walks and eight hit-by-pitches. He is hitting .351 in Big Ten play with three homers and 10 RBI.
  • The Pennsylvania native hit two homers on March 15 against UMass Lowell, his sixth career multi-homer game, launched a three-run homer at Illinois (3/30) and hit a solo homer against Northwestern (4/5) and a solo homer vs. FDU (4/9).
  • Cecere paces the team with a .704 slugging percentage and a .507 on-base percentage.
  • He ranks first in Big Ten with a 1.211 OPS, slugging percentage (.704) and on-base percentage (.507). He's tied first in homers (9) and homers per game (0.31). He's also fourth in the conference in total walks (27) and third in walks per game (0.93).
  • Cecere is one of 16 current Division I players with 41+ homers and 144+ RBI in their career. Among active DI players, Cecere is 17 in homers (41).
  • Grant Norris has 31 hits, including six doubles and eight homers, 27 RBI and 22 runs.
  • Norris collected his first career multi-homer game against Northwestern (4/6).
  • Norris is tied fifth in the Big Ten with eight homers.
  • Joe Jaconski is ninth in the Big Ten in walks (23) and owns 34 hits and 28 runs. He crushed a grand slam in the series finale against Northwestern (4/7).
  • Junior Matt Maloney is batting .312 with 25 RBI along with seven doubles and a homer.

 
NORTHWESTERN SERIES RECAP

  • Penn State earned its first series sweep of the 2024 season and picked up its first Big Ten sweep since April 21-23, 2023 against Ohio State.
  • In the series, the Blue and White batted .408 at the plate with 42 hits, including nine doubles, three triples and seven homers, and 35 runs in 25 innings.
  • On the mound, Penn State's starting pitchers, Travis Luensmann, Jaden Henline and Frankie Sanchez, earned the win in each game and combined for 18 innings.
  • Bobby Marsh went 8-of-12 (.667), with two doubles, a triple and seven RBI, while Bryce Molinaro hit .636 (7-of-11) with three extra-base hits and three RBI. Grant Norris launched three homers and drove in five runs.
  • In game one, Norris, Adam Cecere and J.T. Marr each homered.
  • On Saturday, Norris blasted a pair of two-run homers.
  • On Sunday, Joe Jaconski launched a grand slam and drove in six runs, while Molinaro homered. Sanchez threw six innings, allowing one run.

 
HANNON, KELLEY, NORRIS CLIMB RECORDS LISTS

  • Senior Kyle Hannon already has 10 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 eighth in the Big Ten in total steals (10).
  • 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' .547 career slugging percentage sits sixth all-time at Penn State, while sophomore Bobby Marsh's .531 slugging percentage is eighth all-time.