Baseball Meets Michigan State For Three-Game SeriesBaseball Meets Michigan State For Three-Game Series
Mark Selders

J.T. Marr and Bobby Marsh

Baseball Meets Michigan State For Three-Game Series

EAST LANSING, Mich. – The Penn State baseball team continues Big Ten play this weekend, April 19-21, at Michigan State. The Nittany Lions and Spartans battle on Friday at 8 p.m. on Big Ten Network. Saturday's contest is set for 3:35 p.m. and Sunday's series finale begins at 1:05 p.m. Saturday and Sunday games will be broadcast on B1G+.
 
Penn State, led by Mike Gambino, is 18-15 after dropped its midweek contest against Kent State.
 
Michigan State, coached by Jake Boss Jr., is 15-19 overall after earning a 12-2 win over Western Michigan on Wednesday.
 
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 East Lansing for a three-game series at Michigan State.
  • The Blue and White is 44-50 all-time against Michigan State.
  • The Nittany Lions have won seven-straight games in the series, including a sweep in 2022.
  • Penn State looks to bounce back after dropping Tuesday's contest against Kent State.
  • Penn State took one of three games in its series at Indiana last weekend.
  • The Nittany Lions combined for 27 runs, 30 hits and 11 homers.
  • On Friday, six Nittany Lions combined to launch seven homers.
  • The seven homers in a game and six different players homering in a game are both PSU's most since at least 2004.
  • Cecere leads the Big Ten in both total homers (12) and homers in conference games (6), while pacing the league in OPS (1.215) and slugging (.728).
  • J.T. Marr had a pair of multi-hit games at IU, raising his season total to 18, and sits third in the Big Ten in average (.416) and second in hits per game (1.73).

 
SCOUTING MICHIGAN STATE

  • Michigan State is coached by Jake Boss Jr., in his 16th season.
  • Under Boss, the Spartans are 432-373.
  • Michigan State is 15-19 overall and 3-6 in Big Ten play after dropping three games at Purdue last weekend.
  • The Spartans are batting .291 as a team and averaging 6.1 runs per game.
  • Dillon Kark is batting .336 with a team-best 47 hits and 12 doubles to go with 23 RBI and 23 runs.
  • Jack Frank has team-highs with five homers, 26 RBI and 30 runs along with a .333 average. He also has a team-best 16 steals.
  • Michigan State has a 5.87 team ERA.
  • Joseph Dzierwa is 3-1 with a 3.99 ERA in nine starts. He has 57 strikeouts in 49.2 innings.
  • Nick Powers has a 5-3 mark in nine starts to go with 45 strikeouts in 56.1 innings.
     

AGAINST THE SPARTANS

  • Penn State is 44-50 all-time against Michigan State.
  • The Nittany Lions have captured the last seven games in the series by a combined score of 75-32.
  • In the last matchup, Penn State won 10-9 in 11 innings with the winning run scoring on a walk-off walk. Jay Harry collected six hits and scored three runs.

 
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 was the Nittany Lions' fourth Dollar Dog Night of the 2024 campaign.
  • Penn State set a new attendance record (5,025), topping 5,000 fans for the first time in program history. PSU fans consumed a Dollar Dog record 8,591 hot dogs, breaking the previous record of 6,151 against FDU.
  • On Tuesday, PSU drew more fans that night than current Top 25 teams Alabama (3,672), Clemson (4,567), Duke (469), North Carolina (3,268), Oklahoma State (4,803), Oregon (2,070), Tennessee (4,617), Virginia Tech (1,035) and West Virginia (4,614) and MLB's Oakland A's (3,296).
  • The Nittany Lions welcomed 4,902 fans against FDU on April 9 and 3,505 fans against Pitt on March 26.
  • Across nine Dollar Dog Nights in 2023 and 2024, Penn State fans have consumed 35,177 hot dogs, averaging 3,908.6 per Dollar Dog Night.

 
THE MARR-CHINE KEEPS HITTING

  • Grad student J.T. Marr's season average sits at .416 with a team-best 57 hits and 36 RBI.
  • Marr ranks third in the Big Ten with his .416 average, while ranking 17th in the country.
  • He also ranks eighth in the nation, and second in the Big Ten, averaging 1.73 hits per game.
  • Marr holds 28th in the country, and fourth in the conference, with 57 total hits.
  • He owns 18 multi-hit games, including seven against Big Ten opponents, and 11 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.
  • Among his 57 knocks, he has 10 doubles and six homers to go with 32 runs and a 1.070 OPS, good for 10th in the Big Ten. He has five homers and 17 RBI in conference play.

 
NEWCOMERS LEADING BALANCED LINEUP

  • The Nittany Lions lead the Big Ten in sac flies (25) and rank Top 5 in the conference in total home runs (47; 2nd), home runs per game (1.42; 2nd), slugging percentage (.504; 2nd), batting average (.309; 3rd), runs per game (8.1; 4th), on-base percentage (.407; 4th), total runs (268; 5th) and doubles per game (2.03; 5th).
  • Penn State has five players with a .317 or better average, five with a .416+ on-base percentage and seven with a .420+ slugging percentage.
  • Penn State and Indiana are the only Big Ten teams with seven players owning at least 24 RBI.
  • The Nittany Lions' 47 home runs this year are its most since hitting 60 in 2000.
  • Graduate student J.T. Marr paces the squad with a .416 average and 57 hits. He owns 10 doubles, six homers, 36 RBI and 32 runs.
  • With a 23-of-48 start (.479) and 17 RBI at the plate in conference play, Bobby Marsh is hitting .376 with 44 hits, including nine doubles, one triple, three homers, 31 RBI and 26 runs. His .376 average sits fifth in the Big Ten, while he paces the league with his .479 average and 23 hits in Big Ten play.
  • Holding a .386 average (17-of-44) in Big Ten play, Bryce Molinaro owns six homers, among 40 hits, and 28 RBI to go with a .317 average. He had two homers at Indiana (4/12).
  • Graduate student Adam Cecere is hitting .342 with 39 hits, including eight doubles and 12 homers, 35 RBI and a team-best 35 runs. He has a team-high 28 walks and eight hit-by-pitches. He is hitting .367 in Big Ten play with six homers and 16 RBI.
  • The Pennsylvania native homered in four-straight games last week against FDU and Indiana.
  • He ranks first in Big Ten with a 1.215 OPS and slugging percentage (.728), while sitting sixth in on-base percentage (.487). He leads the conference in homers (12) and home runs in conference play (6), while sitting third in homers per game (0.36). He's also fifth in the conference in total walks (28) and third in walks per game (0.85).
  • Cecere is one of 12 current Division I players with 44+ homers and 151+ RBI in their career. Among active DI players, Cecere is 14th in homers (44).
  • Grant Norris has 34 hits, including six doubles and nine homers, 30 RBI and 24 runs.
  • Norris collected his first career multi-homer game against Northwestern (4/6).
  • Norris is tied fifth in the Big Ten with nine homers.
  • Joe Jaconski is seventh in the Big Ten in walks (27) and owns 39 hits and 34 runs. He has five homers, including two to lead off games in the Indiana series.

 
INDIANA SERIES RECAP

  • Penn State took one of three games in its series at Indiana.
  • The Nittany Lions collected 27 runs and 30 hits, while blasting 11 homers, in the series.
  • Bobby Marsh batted .462 with six hits, including a double and a homer, three RBI and four runs.
  • Adam Cecere crushed three homers, one in each game, with six RBI and a .417 average.
  • Joe Jaconski, J.T. Marr and Bryce Molinaro each launched two homers.
  • In game one on Friday, six Nittany Lions combined to hit seven homers.
  • The seven homers and the six different players homering are both Penn State's most in a game since at least 2004.
  • In game two, Penn State jumped out to an 8-0 lead in the top of the second, including back-to-back homers by Marr and Cecere.
  • Jaconski and Cecere both homered in game three.

 
NITTANY LIONS CLIMB RECORDS LISTS

  • With 22 steals this year, senior Kyle Hannon Hannon has moved up to fourth all-time at Penn State with 45 career steals. He is currently five steals behind Doug Keener (50, 1984-87) for third place.
  • Hannon ranks eighth in the Big Ten in total steals (11).
  • 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).
  • Grad student Grant Norris' .537 career slugging percentage sits seventh all-time at Penn State, while sophomore Bobby Marsh's .534 slugging percentage is eighth all-time.
  • Grad student Adam Cecere is tied ninth in a season at Penn State with 12 homers.